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Resources > Events & Webinars > Employer Branding
Employee Storytelling with IKEA UK&IE
Resources > Events & Webinars > Employer Branding
As part of our ‘Coffee Break’ series, we welcomed IKEA to the stage for our first webinar of 2022. Joining us was Darren Taylor, Country Recruitment & Sourcing Manager and Abhirupa Biswas, Talent Sourcing & EVP Leader at IKEA UK&IE, who brought a breadth of experience and knowledge to the audience.
We chatted about Employee Storytelling and what makes IKEA stand out as one of the most attractive employers in such a competitive landscape.
The vision to “create a better everyday life for the many people” sits at the heart of what IKEA does. The ethos includes everyone from customers to co-workers. The Scandinavian heritage of “togetherness” is brought to life in every business area, from values to culture to customer experience.
A key talking point was what makes IKEA second to none in their talent sourcing and employee-value proposition. IKEA is a global business with over 170,000+ employees, but their EVP boils down to defining the individual co-worker experience. A mind-blowing statistic was that over 93% of the leadership vacancies are filled internally, highlighting the impact of their development programs, which can fast-track employees to leadership positions.
A unique part of their recruitment process is encouraging candidates to interview with a photo of their living room and ask them to talk about what they like about the room and what inspires them. From these conversations, you can quickly identify people who have a real passion for home furnishing and design and how they can make a difference in the work they do. These are traits IKEA looks for in their employees to help grow the business.
For more insights like this and a live Q&A, watch our on-demand recording for free now!
Emily Forbes
CEO and Founder
With a background in documentary and production, Emily founded Seenit with a mission to create a more open, human and inclusive world through the power of collaborative storytelling. With the belief that everyone has a story worth telling, and an opinion worth contributing, she has built a platform to enable any organisation to co-create User-Generated Video with their own employees, amplifying the voices of those most knowledgeable and passionate about a subject or situation. Seenit today is working across the UK, Europe and US powering stories for customers such as Amazon, Citi Bank, and Sky.
Darren Taylor
Country Recruitment & Sourcing Manager IKEA UK&IE
An experienced senior leader and people professional, developing his knowledge over a 24-year career in operation and country matrix roles within IKEA UK, Ireland, and Norway.
After graduating from Birmingham University with a BA hons degree he working in the commercial and selling functions within IKEA retail from 1997-2010. He then moved into the HR field in 2010, while at the same time securing a ‘chartered fellow’ CIPD member.
He has a strong customer centric approach believing in delivering values-based results through people.
Abhirupa Biswas
Talent Sourcing & EVP Leader IKEA UK&IE
A data-driven & insightful professional who loves seeking out new challenges to bring people together.
Abhirupa started her career working in the energy sector, but found her true calling in the dynamic consumer goods industry. From working with global brands like Unilever and AB InBev, she has grown her skills in niche talent attraction, employer branding, employee value proposition, talent analytics, and business partnering.
She is passionate about understanding the business and crafting talent strategies which help attract the best people.
