The Untold Story -Storytelling in External Employer Branding

Abstract: In a cluttered landscape of brands storytelling could be a mean to get the message across. 80 percent of employers find it difficult to attract the right and talented people. Therefore, the aim of this study is to study how and why storytelling is used in organizations’ work with communicating their employer brand externally. We conduct a multiple case study of two successful employer brands: IKEA and SCA, together with a theoretical discussion, and interviews with two experts within the area of storytelling and employer branding. Further, we compiled a model, based on the theoretical framework and our findings, that consists of the storyteller, the stories, and the telling, and how these components relates to external employer branding. Our results show that the storytelling is a suitable tool in external employer branding since external stakeholders get the chance to feel the company; it is a way to verify that an organization lives its culture and values. A corporate story in this context can be everything from a small anecdote to a strategically harvested story but should come from the inside of the organization and always be true. Companies can thereby use storytelling to attract likeminded future employees and increase the chance of recruiting a perfect match.