Employer branding: show candidates who you are

Employer branding is how people see your company as a place to work. It is built from everything a candidate finds before applying: your LinkedIn page, the faces in your posts, the careers page, how a job advert reads. Design shapes it in three places above all. Culture posts show what the work is like, team spotlights show who does it, and careers page visuals make the whole thing look considered. The rule that ties them together is simple: show specific, true things, in your own look, consistently.

Start with what is actually true about working there

Most employer brands say the same four things: great culture, flexible working, amazing people, growth. None of it is proof. Before designing anything, write down three things that are specific to you and can be shown, then plan the evidence.

This exercise also protects you. Candidates compare your posts with what employees say elsewhere, and a mismatch costs more trust than saying nothing.

Culture posts that don't look like stock photos

A stock photo of diverse people laughing at a laptop tells a candidate nothing, and they know it. Culture posts work when they are specific and slightly unpolished in content, while staying polished in design: your real people and real moments, set inside a consistent, recognisable frame.

Recurring formats help here. A monthly recap, a quarterly milestone and an annual review give the team a rhythm and give candidates a body of evidence to scroll through. Milestone posts and event recap posts have layouts that suit them.

How to run team spotlights

Team spotlights persuade like little else, because they let candidates meet future colleagues. They also involve real people, so handle them with care.

1. 1

   Ask, and make it easy to say no

   Get clear consent for the photo, the quote and where it will appear. Let people review the finished post.

2. 2

   Ask about work, not adjectives

   "What did you ship last month?" gives better answers than "Describe the culture in three words".

3. 3

   Use their words

   Edit for length, never for meaning. A plain, honest sentence beats polished marketing copy.

4. 4

   Keep one layout for every spotlight

   Same position for the name and role, same type, same background family, so the series reads as a collection.

5. 5

   Plan for people leaving

   Agree that posts can be taken down on request. It is respectful and avoids awkwardness later.

Careers page visuals

The careers page is where your employer brand is checked. Candidates land there from job boards, LinkedIn and search, so it needs to look like the rest of you. Four images do most of the work.

The company cover is very wide and very short, so keep words in the centre and treat the edges as background. LinkedIn company cover size covers the crop. A matching profile banner offered to employees is a small gesture that makes your people visibly connected across LinkedIn, without asking anyone to post.

One look for customers and candidates

Some companies build a separate employer brand with its own colours. It usually ends up looking like a different company. Keep the same identity, and shift the tone: warmer photography, more people, more first person. A softer variant of your main background can signal the change without breaking the family.

This is also where brand consistency pays off. In practice, employer branding is often made by people in recruiting, not design, so the look has to be easy to apply. A shared brand kit with the logo, palette and fonts, and a background that is yours alone, lets anyone on the team produce a post that looks right. In Gradiently, a claimed Mark is a background only you can export with, and team workspaces on Pro let recruiting and marketing design together with editor and viewer roles.

A simple monthly plan

• Week one: a team spotlight.
• Week two: a behind the scenes look at how work gets done.
• Week three: a recap of something the team learned, shipped or celebrated.
• Week four: open roles, linked to the careers page, using your hiring post template.
• Every quarter: refresh the careers page hero with a recent photo or result.