ExxonMobil aims to attract top talent with “Working at ExxonMobil” app

ExxonMobil is an innovative technology company creating new ways to generate energy while protecting theenvironment and fostering a corporate culture that rewards innovation. The company sees its forward-looking approaches to energy as an important recruiting tool, and wanted to employ similar strategies in its recruiting process. Here, Jeff Paul, Recruiting Consultant, Human Resources and Drew Gardner, Digital Media Advisor, Public and Government Affairs at ExxonMobil, talk about the Working at ExxonMobil app which offers a modern experience for engaging prospective employees and how it was created in just three months with Adobe Digital Publishing Suite (DPS).

Adobe: Tell us about your app.
Paul: ExxonMobil does a lot of recruiting on college campuses. To better connect with prospective employees in ways that are comfortable and familiar to them, we developed an innovative digital recruiting app available to both recruiters and candidates on mobile devices.

The Working at ExxonMobil app helps facilitate conversations between recruiters and prospective employees who can explore ExxonMobil and our career opportunities before and after their interviews. We know that top candidates want to work for innovative companies, and by having a user friendly, comprehensive recruiting app, we’re demonstrating that we value innovation.

Adobe: Why did you choose DPS?
Gardner: Our HR group approached Public & Government Affairs because they were looking to create something new to share with recruits that would stand out. We were challenged with speaking to our audience with a consistent voice in a format that could be updated easily. At the time, HR had several different brochures covering a range of topics such as benefits and company culture.

We asked ourselves what we could do in a short period of time that could be launched for the upcoming recruiting season, which lines up with college graduation and continues for three months. Adobe DPS allowed us the flexibility of creating a digital brochure relatively quickly on multiple platforms. We were already creating our print pieces in Adobe InDesign. When we realized we could create a DPS app for mobile devices by leveraging existing layouts in InDesign, DPS emerged as a very attractive option.

Adobe: Can you talk about developing the app?
Gardner: We started on the app in June of 2014. The iOS version was released in mid-August. Working with Bates Creative, the DPS app took just three months to complete, significantly reducing our time to market. A native app would have taken us much longer to develop. We estimated the cost to build the DPS app at 50% less than a native app, and that proved to be true.

Adobe: What kind of information does the app provide?
Paul: Prospective employees can access information on the company, our Houston Campus, potential career paths, and benefits before they talk to recruiters. This allows interviewers to maximize their time with candidates, focusing on the most important concerns of job candidates. Now that our core company information is available on mobile devices, users are more likely to engage with it multiple times, unlike print brochures which take up space and can be an inconvenience in this digital age.

Adobe: What are the most popular sections of the app?
Paul: The career opportunities section is the most popular feature in the app. The app transformed the largest binder on the table into an interactive job description resource that is fun to use. The solution is lively and interesting and doesn’t require endless scrolling. Job applicants who are engineers, for example, can select from a list of engineering degrees in the app and learn about the many ExxonMobil functions that hire for that specialty. It gives people a real sense of what it would be like to work at ExxonMobil.

The second most popular area is the corporate structure section of our app, which serves as a quick reference for how we’re organized. Our industry-leading technology section is also widely used. We are a technology company, but one of our challenges is showing the general public that we aren’t only focused on gas and oil production. This section invites viewers to gain a new perspective on the energy we need to live and learn about how the pursuit of new technology plays a critical role in developing energy resources in a safe, secure, and environmentally responsible way.

Adobe: Is the app just used for recruiting?
Gardner: We see a lot of potential for the app beyond recruiting, including its ability to communicate both corporate and employment information to external parties. The app can take on a different, more complementary tone after some of our other HR digital properties are updated in the near future. Our incorporation of more digital communications tools has taught us that different technologies and platforms can play unique roles, each with their own use cases and benefits.

Adobe: What has been the impact of the app at ExxonMobil?
Paul: Working at ExxonMobil is a hit. Campus recruiting teams tell us the app has consolidated many brochures, simplifying communications, and reducing printing costs. The app is also a great tool for HR, and it’s becoming a catalyst for advancing other communication platforms we’re using for recruitment. We are focusing more funds toward upgrading our website, for instance, because we want to be sure we are providing a consistent, engaging experience — especially for millennial audiences.

Adobe: You’ve now expanded to platforms other than iOS. Why was that important?
Gardner: Yes, we are on iOS and Android, both on mobile phones and tablets. College students use a wide variety of devices and it was important to make the app available to them. We offered the iPad version for our recruiters on day one, but we were able to expand out to other devices quickly.

Adobe: Are you using analytics in DPS to help shape the app?
Paul: Absolutely. For instance, we saw that some people were not completing the download due to the size of the app. There were too many embedded videos in some of the folios, so we removed those and are instead linking to most videos to speed download times and increase completion rates. We’re also looking at the most frequently visited sections of the app and using that intelligence to inform our content decisions to maximize future engagement.

Adobe: What other use cases are you exploring with DPS?
Gardner: We are evaluating DPS as a solution for some of our other publications. We see it as a way to quickly generate and update interactive versions of both internal and external communications. It is clear that we need to do more digital publishing and DPS has helped us move in that direction.