The key to engaging with an employee brand is to spend time with clients working out their unique cultural fit, according to retail recruiters.

Russell Crowe, managing director at retail recruiter Retail Kudos, told Recruiter that marketing and imagery that you present to a candidate and the insight you give them affects the journey they will take in both the recruitment process and their furture career.

“You look at the client’s culture and community from a helicopter perspective and seek like-minded individuals. We recruit for a market leading opticians which has a professional and polished culture. That’s what you match against. Other clients, such as a trend-led fashion retailer, have a larger than life culture and would require more outgoing personalities from their staff.

“It comes down to personality. Every culture is unique. It is whether the candidate’s personal values fit in with the client’s culture.”

Louise Wright, director at Oyster Retail Recruitment, adds: “When we take a brief from our clients, we can go into all the specifics of the candidate, even things like traits within their personality. Normally, if we are looking for a store manager’s position, we find a top performing store manager and we spend time with them.

“Our clients don’t want someone they can mould into that way of thinking, they want someone who is already in that way of thinking.”