How we supported UniSC to create a unique and impactful employer brand and EVP
The University of the Sunshine Coast (UniSC) is a young, vibrant and ambitious university based in Queensland’s beautiful Sunshine Coast. The university is driven by an unwavering belief that community and culture is just as important as a world-class education, delivered by world-class educators.?
As a young university, UniSC isn’t confined by the red tape found inside sandstone institutions and the organisation actively rejects stale traditions or phrases like “That’s the way we’ve always done it”.
The Challenge
As a rapidly growing organisation, amid industry talent shortages, and with the ever-present threat that staff could go elsewhere, the university realised it needed to focus on its employer brand.?
According to Kristie Husk, Talent Acquisition Manager at UniSC, attracting and retaining talent was a significant challenge.?
“One of the biggest issues is attracting candidates that are not only appropriate and relevant for roles, but also aligned to our brand, vision, ambitions and values.”
“As a regional university, there are some complexities that bigger universities don't necessarily experience in regard to attracting people to move to the region.”?
Further compounding the problem are industry-wide talent shortages in the post-pandemic market.?
“Previously for more niche academic roles we were able to look at the international market. We had a much more global-based talent pool than what we have domestically. That has shifted significantly.”
“In the local market, the majority of higher education providers have the same sorts of benefits as us such as higher superannuation, reduced working hours, work-life balance, career progression and stability. What we needed to unveil was what makes us quintessentially different and why people choose to work at UniSC over other universities.”
In a competitive talent market, it was essential that UniSC stand out. UniSC partnered with exsona to develop a unique and attractive employee value proposition (EVP) and employer brand to help articulate and reinforce what makes working at the university so great.
Having just completed an exciting brand refresh, the opportunity to review and design an effective EVP at UniSC was timely.
(See below: Career Video produced as part of this project - filmed by RAW LENS )
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How We Helped
Our founder Ryan McGrory and partner Clint Strahan took the lead on this project. They’re both based on the Sunshine Coast - in fact Ryan is literally located next door to the campus - so they were really familiar with the challenger brand. They also brought 25 years of combined experience working in the employee engagement and people space to this project.?
Kristie immediately felt like exsona was the right fit for UniSC.
“Ryan, as a former head of employee experience and Clint as a former head of talent acquisition, really understood what we were trying to do. The other consultancy that we were talking to were a group of marketers. They really understood marketing, but they didn't get the struggles of being a people and culture department. Ryan and Clint spoke our language and understood our unique talent acquisition challenges.”
We would go on to design a four-stage process to deliver the UniSC EVP, which didn't just provide the EVP strategy and statements ... but a whole heap of deliverables to support it, including:
“I absolutely wouldn't hesitate going back to Exsona again. I have actually recommended them already to other people within my network. I think they're phenomenal. I think they've got such a strong path ahead of them!” - Kristie Husk, UniSC.