Employer attractiveness
How we attract
future talents
Winning new candidates and keeping KWS attractive for existing employees – that’s the mission of our Employer Branding Expert Hub. The objective of its latest project was to find a solution for our IT team.
Appealing career opportunities: Image from the campaign for the IT team
Pandemic-driven changes in work models have created a raft of challenges and opportunities for employers, including how to best attract, retain and engage employees and offer people the value and purpose they now expect from work.
We at the Employer Branding Expert Hub at KWS analyze the needs and motivations of our candidates and employees so we can sustainably offer an employer value proposition that stays attractive and relevant.
To do that, we gather data and insights from multiple sources (surveys, reports, interviews) and craft the right messages for the appropriate touchpoints. We take care of the entire process that candidates undertake from their application to when they join KWS (the candidate journey) and take into consideration all the elements of our Employer Value Proposition (EVP), i.e. what KWS offers to make it an attractive employer.
▶ Example project: Attracting candidates for our R&D IT team
Some months ago,
an HR Business Partner got in touch with us asking for support to
boost the recruiting efforts for the IT team. The team was facing
challenges related to conveying their unique proposition to the
outside IT world. Many IT professionals are not aware that there are
interesting opportunities for them in the agricultural industry. The
R&D IT team at KWS also wanted to position itself better on
devlane.de, a platform for software developers.
To support them, we put in place a plan which included:
- A workshop to gather data and insights on the needs and motivations of their target candidates.
- Collection of further data through IT-specific channels (such as Stack Overflow and GitHub) and other channels such as LinkedIn.
- Coordination of a photo shooting and a video shooting.
- Collecting updated photo material and valuable employee testimonials.
- A successful content series on LinkedIn (“Meet the IT squad”) with video snippets portraying current employees.
- A new landing page on devlane.de featuring the vacant roles and what the team has to offer to potential candidates.
- A new landing page on kws.com/careers featuring the IT team (EVP, project highlights, job openings, videos, photos).
- As a next step, we are planning to run a series of paid advertisements on all the relevant channels.
This project is just one example of how pinpointed and personalized recruitment should be tackled. At the same time, we bear in mind our overarching goal of consistently finding strategies and activities that enhance the visibility of our employer’s value proposition. We aim to be an employer of choice for the right candidates and, at the same time, find the right colleagues to support the special culture and team spirit at KWS.
Digital
insideKWS welcome issue: for newcomers and old hands
We have published a welcome issue of insideKWS, with the goal of swaying candidates to sign on the dotted line or to allow recruits to get a feel for the company where they will soon be working. However, it’s also a useful read for anyone who has been with KWS for some time. “My colleagues and I would like to try to shed some light on the many different facets of KWS and explain them a little better,” says Hagen Duenbostel in his video message introducing the timeless magazine.
A digitally animated info graphic, for example, describes in an easy-to-understand way all the breeding steps leading to one variety out of hundreds of thousands of candidates being awarded approval. Similarly, we show how our seed is produced – from propagation to packaging of the orange pellets – taking sugarbeet as an example.
The magazine depicts our four corporate values in four articles and videos: Executive Board member Felix Büchting explains the importance of our independence, and our strategist Alexandra Molitor describes how a company like ours is already planning for the future with foresight. Alfonso Callegari from Argentina takes us on a journey over hundreds of kilometers: He shows how he builds a special closeness to our customers – farmers – in his vast country. And one such farmer from Germany lets us know why he, like generations before him, relies on KWS as a partner.
Short portraits offer a look back at important personalities over the 166 years of the company’s history. At the same time, we go beyond the past and present and look at eight trends that will shape KWS in the coming years.
For the first time, we have also compiled a summary of everyday items made from KWS seed – from the sugar in cola and barley in whisky to oilseed rape in dishwashing liquid and mustard in cosmetics.
The magazine is freely available at: insidekws.com/start |
© KWS SAAT SE & Co. KGaA 2025
