2015 Fortune 500 Top 100 Employment Brands

2015’s FORTUNE 500
TOP 100 EMPLOYMENT BRANDS

As experts in employment branding, WilsonHCG knows what it takes to attract and hire the
most promising candidates — and the high costs associated with inadvertently deterring them.
Employment trends are now in candidates’ favor: There are more open positions than there are
people to fill them, and employment challenges will increase as baby boomers continue to exit
the workforce. Candidates are more discerning about which companies they want to work for,
and they have more ways than ever to research a potential employer.
In this environment, only the companies with the most engaging employment brands will survive.
In this report, we take a scientific approach to measuring employment brands. We have reviewed
all Fortune 500 companies, focusing on career pages, job boards, candidate experience, accolades,
recruitment marketing and corporate social responsibility. Which companies came out on top?
The rankings have changed since last year. In many cases, company size doesn’t correlate to a
strong employment brand: Of the top 10 companies in the Fortune 500, only three ranked highly
enough to be featured in this report.
Smart companies have already discovered that their employment brand is one of their most
valuable assets. The companies that invest in and cultivate their brands will have a strategic
advantage, both today and in the future.
EMPLOYMENT BRANDING REPORT
2015’s Top 100 Fortune 500 Brands
There are many ways to measure a company’s worth: market capitalization, revenue, profit
and so on. But how do you measure a company’s employment brand — the image it projects
to attract and hire the talent it needs to drive growth and stimulate innovation? That’s one of
the most critical questions that companies face today, and the one we’ll answer in this year’s
employment branding report.
1
FORTUNE is a registered trademark of Time Inc. WilsonHCG makes no claim to this mark. FORTUNE and Time Inc. are not affiliated with, and did not endorse this report or any of its contents.
Data used in this report was collected from June 2015 through August 2015.

Employment branding is no longer an option.
It’s a necessary tool to attract and engage
quality candidates. Just as your company must
market its products and services to prospective
customers, it must also differentiate itself
and promote its benefits to prospective
candidates.
Think of your employment brand as your personality. A well-executed
employment brand highlights your values, mission and culture.
It shows prospective candidates what it’s like to work for your
company. As a result, candidates become fans of your company,
and existing employees can serve as brand ambassadors.
Employment branding goes beyond attractive marketing materials
and a presence on social media. Your organization must have a
story to tell, and use all of the tools at its disposal to share that
narrative. This story is your employee value proposition (EVP).
The EVP should be apparent in all aspects of the recruiting process,
from the first search on a careers page through to onboarding.
Employment branding continues to evolve. Companies are looking
for a measurable return on investment from employment branding
activities, and accordingly there’s a greater push to quantify
performance. As a result, organizations are linking employment
current state of
EMPLOYMENT
BRANDING
54
75%
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branding to common talent acquisition
metrics, such as the time it takes to fill
roles and the cost to hire new employees.
At the same time, there’s an increasing focus
on the candidate experience. It’s not enough
to simply process prospective candidates
through search and screening activities.
Recruiters must work as marketers,
highlighting the EVP while understanding
the candidate’s unique needs and wants.
The candidate experience is critical because
people talk: A positive experience lifts the
employer brand, and a negative experience
lowers it. People who feel mistreated have
many avenues, including social media and
review sites, to share their disappointment.
One dissatisfied candidate can influence
friends, family, peers, coworkers and even
strangers on your company. Truly unhappy
candidates might even stop using your
products and services, and encourage others
to do the same.
The candidate experience is just one
dimension of employment branding that
we will investigate in this report. We will
also look at career pages, job boards,
company accolades, recruitment marketing
and corporate social responsibility. All of
these elements go into creating a successful
employment brand. For each category, we
have developed a points-based scorecard
that measures the maturity of a company’s
employment brand.
The importance of employment branding
has grown incredibly important in a relatively
short amount of time. We hope that by
reading this report, you’ll gain an understanding
of how critical employment branding is,
and what goes into developing a strong
brand that will help your company compete
for top talent.
of recruiters say that
the employer brand
has a significant impact
on hiring success.
– 2015 LinkedIn
Global Trends Report

industry
INSIGHTSWhile every company is different, it’s easy
to see trends emerge when we look at
industries as a whole. Just as some
industries require a stronger consumer brand
than others, some industries demonstrate
greater maturity in employment branding
than others. In this section, we highlight some
major industries and assess their performance.
You will find some surprises. Some industries
known for their strong consumer brands
did not fare well on our listings, especially
in the entertainment and media sector.
It’s most useful to look at these trends as
guidelines, not absolutes. In every industry,
there are leaders in employment branding,
TRANSPORTATION:
Transportation companies were
some of the strongest performers
this year. Airlines were more likely
than railroads to tout their accolades,
but railroads generally did a better
job with recruitment marketing. All
companies have room for improvement
in corporate social responsibility.
TECHNOLOGY:
Technology companies generally did
well with career sites, job postings
and candidate experience. However,
it was a surprise to see some
companies falling behind by failing
to have — or promote — a strong
list of accolades and an attractive
corporate social responsibility
program.
HEALTHCARE:
Pharmaceutical companies were
some of the highest performers on
our list, with very impressive candidate
experience and corporate responsibility
scores. They also made effective
use of career pages and job boards.
Other companies in the healthcare
industry were also strong performers.
BANKING & FINANCE:
Banking and finance companies
generally did well with job boards,
but fell behind in other categories,
like candidate experience and
corporate responsibility. These
companies should consider extending
their general marketing brand to
their employment brand.
MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT:
You’d expect media companies to
perform well on our rankings, however,
while these companies did a good
job with recruitment marketing,
they provided a lower-than-average
candidate experience and failed
to promote their corporate social
responsibility initiatives.
RETAIL:
Retailers generally made good use
of job boards and career pages, with
many showing multimedia content.
However, scores for candidate
experience didn’t impress. And
specialty retailers — particularly
specialty apparel retailers — lagged
behind the average for recruitment
marketing and accolades.
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while other companies — sometimes giants
with much prestige — fall behind. We’re not
too surprised to learn that some companies
are succeeding without strong employment
branding, but we believe these organizations
will find it increasingly difficult to compete
for talent. As candidates become more
savvy, they will naturally gravitate to
employers with the strongest brands.
Companies in all industries should consider
all of the dimensions and benefits of strong
employment branding.
Later in this report, we will discuss which
industries performed best for each of our
scoring criteria.

1 73 95 9
2 74 96 9
Johnson & Johnson
79 total points
Google
65 total points
General Mills
71 total points
P&G
64 total points
Intel
67 total points
Nordstrom
64 total points
AT&T
72 total points
Salesforce.com
65 total points
Coca-Cola
68 total points
Goldman Sachs
64 total points
Southwest Airlines
66 total points
Coca-Cola Enterprises
64 total points
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employment branding:
TOP RANKING COMPANIES

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2015 Fortune 500 Top 100 Employment Brands

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2015 Fortune 500 Top 100 Employment Brands