Being generic these days is a death to branding. There simply is too much noise. So how can you get out of generic Academy branding mode and make yours more relevant? The answer is to know your audience and speak directly to their interests.
A strong Academy brand aligns your business, culture, and reputation. It gives job seekers a glimpse into what it is like to work for your company. Here are Hadfield Educations 5 important things that you should include in your Academy brand.

1. Growth

For growth there are 3 main areas that you should focus on:
Career progression. Are future employees going to be forever pigeonholed as the ‘junior teacher’ – or is there a clear opportunity and path to progress up the ladder?
Professional development. Are there programmes and processes in place to build on the skills they already have?
Personal development. What kind of new experiences are likely to be on offer? Examples might include opportunities to academy trips, allow for a better work/life balance by introducing dynamic working hours (not just stuck in the Academy).

2. Let employees help create an authentic branding message

A day in the life of…
This is a campaign that you really should take note of. It simply shows a day in the life of your employees. A fun one to include would be an employees morning from getting ready for work, leaving their house, arriving at the Academy ( to give the audience a look at the office environment), benefits – free lunch, coffee breaks, games room etc. and diversity of teammates.
It only has to be a one minute video but it gives the audience a feel about what it is like to work for your Academy and shows the passion the person in the video has for their job.

3. A picture tells a thousand words

Portraying your Academy is important, so stock images are a big no, no. Get a photographer in for the day and have them capture high-quality images of real people at work. This can really bring to life the work environment, dress code and the people that your audience may be working with. Why not take a camera along to some of your team events/days out to show the fun side of what it’s like to work for you.
Or have team members upload their own images to your social media platforms with your own customized hashtags.

4. Location, Location, Location

It’s the small details that matter and your companies location is one of those. We have all done it before. You find a job that you are really interested in and you google to find the location and if you can get there by car, bus or train and how long the commute will take you. This is one you should include as it could be the difference if a job seeker applies for your role or not. If your company provides its own company bus or if you offer discount travel mention that also. Make your company accessible to your audience.

5. Craft powerful job descriptions

When it comes to job descriptions people want the basics – having a standard list of requirements, qualifications, years of experience and roles/responsibilities is effective. Indicate how the job functions within the organization and who the job reports to, while also including an overview of benefits, salary, schedule and any other perks. Try and avoid using buzzwords in your job titles also people tend to avoid these.