Holy S%#t! Confessions from Inside Allianz Life�

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Employer Branding | Authenticity Brought to Life.

“Holy S%#t that’s a lot of stuff!”

So, ends a quote in a new candidate focused 20-page glossy magazine about to publish at Allianz Life - that�s Ahh..Lee..Ahnz Life. A little edgier than you’d expect from one of the largest financial services companies and insurer of health maintenance organizations isn’t it? But, as you’ll learn, Allianz is clearly NO stodgy insurance company.

Recent EXCELER8ion posts have focused on the importance of authenticity in Employer Branding. Our expertise and blog focus is on interactive marketing - but Jason Buss, Director, Talent and Business services at Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America gave us of a sneak preview at a new magazine called Confessions. It was so good and relevant to our recent topics that we wanted to feature it here on EXCELER8ion.

Confessions is still in the making by the Allianz Life^� marketing department - yes, that�s right, HR and Marketing play nice at Allianz and corporate marketing develops the recruitment marketing communications. Jason tells us that the final product will be a 15-20 page, high-gloss magazine, complete with bar codes and address labels for each Allianz Life^� job candidate.

Allianz Life^� gets that delivering an exceptional and authentic candidate experience is crucial to the development of their employer brand. With Confessions, Allianz is turning the candidate experience up a notch by offering candidates a true, no-holds-barred, glimpse inside the company. Their promise is that the secrets at Allianz will be revealed and candidates will have a complete view of the company�s culture and values.

To be fair - there are some more traditional topics covered in Confessions, such as Allianz�s commitment to its employee development, diversity and charity; but the publication remains true to its edgy theme with real employee quotes complete with profanity and admissions that the money is not that great. The authors even apologize to the reader saying that if you don’t like what they have to say that they are sorry for wasting your valuable time.

Buss said that the stories in Confessions honestly made him a little nervous at first. I mean, holy s%#t - they�re an insurance and annuities company!
More corporations and managers need to be willing to display this kind of courage and willingness to provide potential candidates with a true and accurate look into the company culture. The result will be a stronger, authentic employer brand. It almost goes without saying that Allianz will improve both their recruiting and employee retention results because of their vision.

Right on Ahh-Lee-Ahnz!

Feel free to us know of some other examples of cutting-edge employer branding you’ve seen out there.

A post by Julian and Shannon