Employer brand to help compete against the big graduate and tech recruiters

Success. The Softcat Way.

Softcat is one the UK’s leading technology solutions businesses; a FTSE 250 listed company that has grown rapidly to reach an annual turnover of more than £1billion. Operating in the business-to-business sector, they specialise in IT infrastructure and provide corporate and public sector clients  as a reseller for some of the biggest names in technology, including Apple, Microsoft, Cisco, Lenovo and Adobe.

Each year they recruit 100s of graduates and other hires into sales and tech roles across their 8 offices in the UK and Ireland. However, with no consumer brand, they were struggling to be heard when competing for talent with the likes of the big social media players. WDAD Communications won a pitch to help them raise their profile and to help them achieve their ambitious business growth plans.

Challenge

We needed to create a strong visible employer brand that succinctly captured what Softcat as a whole represented, and more importantly, what it offered. At it’s heart would be a new mobile-led careers website and a joined up approach to their attraction activities and employee engagement.

Solution

We undertook extensive research across numerous stakeholder groups around the country, and devised an EVP and its supporting brand pillars that perfectly encapsulated their employment offer. There’s a uniqueness to Softcat – what they do, how they do it and why they do it. They are a hugely successful technology solutions business that been built around their people with a unique culture of its own that gives everyone the chance to step up and show how much they can achieve. The company succeeds when everyone succeeds.  It was this message that underpinned all our employer branding.

If people have the ambition and motivation, the culture at Softcat will bring out the best in them. Everyone is encouraged to take responsibility for driving their own career progression. Ultimately, the more employees put in the more they get out; great performance is always recognised and well rewarded. They call it success, the Softcat way.

Results

Using original photography and direct quotes relating to themes such as achievement and success, career and personal development, and culture, we created a new careers site and stop-motion recruitment video designed to turn initial interest into applications. To drive candidates to the site, we produced a suite of bright, vibrant collateral  featuring their employees. From online banners to exhibition stands, to social media content to candidate packs and more. Everywhere we reinforced the quote with the strap line ‘Success. The Softcat Way‘.

Their employer brand identity gives a distinctive look, feel and tone of voice to all their recruitment communications. It was launched in May 2019 so it’s early days in terms of ROI, but the initial feedback from all concerned has been hugely positive.