Standing out from the crowd at CGI

CGI approached us to help improve their employer proposition. As a mid-range IT consultancy with a name famous for reasons other than their own company, they faced the challenge of standing out in a highly competitive market.

We spoke to their senior leaders, key stakeholders, employees and graduates, to establish what was best about life at CGI, and what could be improved. We then asked which other companies, both in their own competitive space and outside, they most closely associated with. From this, we tried to establish a distinguishing position.

What came out of the discussions were the many unique things about CGI that had yet to be promoted to their recruitment markets:  the partner scheme available to everyone; the fact the company was still family owned; and the opportunities for personal development through paid-for qualification schemes.

Join our club
It was the list of clients and projects CGI employees could expect to work with, and on, however, that told the most compelling and differentiating story about life at CGI – from space, defence to government cyber security – their client list is truly extraordinary.  It was the opportunities that joiners would be provided with that we use as inspiration for their EVP position.

We introduced the identifier ‘Be Part of Something…’ and made use of a suite of client relevant photography to bring to life the opportunities for their colleagues. We also introduced a series of additional words chosen to be of most relevance to the different job markets we were trying to appeal to – school leavers, graduates and senior hires.

Getting noticed

Our EVP and creative platform, has now been adopted by the business as a whole, including additional markets in the US. The platform has been well received in the market, with graduates shortlisting our approach in the Best Attraction Strategy with Total Jobs.