Lessons from Atlassian- fantastic employer branding and recruitment strategy

I was on the twitter machine this week and happened to come across this:

I checked out Atlassian’s website, and I thought I might blog about them because I think they do a great job in the employment brand space. I will disclose that I know some of the guys from Atlassian off twitter but want to make clear that this is not a shameless plug for the company. I was introduced to Atlassian at a HR Conference ages ago- and was enthralled by what they do- so read on and be prepared to get excited.

I think the toughest thing to convey to potential employees is what it’s REALLY like to work at the company underneath the all the glossy brochures and marketing speak on company websites. Atlassian do a great job at this with this amazing video on their website.

I like this because its real staff talking about what the values mean to them.

You also get a sense of what the working environment is going to be like, which is so important for someone deciding whether this is the place to be for them. Even the little things can be so important like:

• What is the culture really like? (Will I fit the culture here?)
• What do they wear to work? (Will I have to wear a suit or something I’m comfortable in?)
• What will my office space be like? (Do I work better in a closed office or am I comfortable in open plan?)
• What is the vibe at the office like? (Are they heads down and serious all the time or do they like to play games?)
• What are the people like there?
• What are the company values (and do my own values align with these?)
Ultimately a video like this will either make you excited about the prospect of working there, or cringe and think it’s not the place for me. No matter what the response, the individual and organisation get the most beneficial outcome.

Atlassian also have a lot of great incentives such as a ‘holiday before you start’, ‘refer-a-mate bonus’ and even a bounty hunter for recruiters. Which reminds me, they are on the look-out for 32 Engineers! Check their website out for more details.

Stay tuned and I’ll try and get one of the Atlassian crew to do a follow up post on the success of the campaign.