Dive Brief:

• Telling a good story is an art, and some employers are successfully using that ancient art to convince talented job candidates that their employee experience is top notch, according to Forbes.

• Forbes reports that this new narrative approach is humanizing the employers in question, typically moving past "this is what I do here" and expanding that one-dimensional approach to a "this is why I do what I do – here."

• Forbes singles out KPMG, Deloitte and Nurse Next Door as the three employers taking advantage of old-fashioned but potent storytelling as a way to build their recruiting strategies. KPMG, among other things, embeds a strong "making a difference” theme in their recruiting efforts. Deloitte’s theme boils down to “change everything,” appealing to the notion of something positive going on across its workforce. And Nurse Next Door, the third employer cited, creates compelling videos that are about “humanizing their caretakers, employees, and culture,” according to Forbes.

Dive Insight:

While the storytelling concept is not unique, the Forbes article provides some specifics from two similar and one very different employer in its use.

Lars Schmidt, founder of Amplify Talent, also makes a strong case for using the storytelling strategy in recruiting. Storytelling reflects the growing trend of treating employees and job candidates as well as you do customers. Give them the same attention and make a strong effort to tell the company's real story, as transparency is critical. The result is likely to be a more successful recruiting process and an increasingly competitive edge.