Volkswagen AG : Building strong relationships with jobseekers from the outset

Karen Le Marquand

| April 19, 2022

Giving a face, voice and personality to recruitment teams

The feature

Volkswagen AG puts members of its recruitment team front and centre of a bright and inspiring Careers site. A dedicated section ‘Meet our recruiters’ introduces the team one by one, with strong photography, videos and engaging Q&A profiles.

Profiles cover hobbies and interests, as well as VW career highlights and tips from their own experience as applicants. Jobseekers are invited to ‘Network with me’ via LinkedIn, Xing, or even in person at recruitment fairs. For international applicants, the overview page includes an indication of languages spoken.

The takeaway

By giving a face, voice and personality to its recruitment team, Volkswagen builds on the now well-used employee profile feature to establish a strong aspirational message for future applicants.

By showing the real people behind the application process, and by encouraging direct contact with each individual recruiter, jobseekers are repositioned from disconnected ‘hopefuls’ perusing the usual job listings, to confident, potential colleagues. The gap between the recruitment process and the reality of working for the company is reduced; jobseekers feel welcome and inspired. In a competitive recruitment market, Volkswagen distinguishes itself from the crowd by sending jobseekers the clear message that “HR people are human too”.