In 1953, Enrico Mattei founded an energy company – Eni – that would power through the decades; he created a forward-thinking business that would build on its principles of efficiency and sustainability with great success.
Indeed, when efficiency and sustainability are at the core of your organisation – and at a time when the world is being asked to use its resources wisely – it makes perfect sense to ensure that all aspects of your business are aligned, motivating your workforce so that your company can continue to attract “true energy” that will drive the business forward.
This “true energy” is Eni’s people. They are the valuable resource that the energy giant believes are its future, and they are the reason why Eni recently won Best Employer Brand (more than 10,000 employees) at LinkedIn Talent Awards Italy.
The accolade shone a spotlight on the business, the value it puts on its “resources” and recognised that diversity across all aspects of its operations and organisation is something to be cherished. After all, energy is a precious commodity.

The best ambassadors

Eni, the brainchild of Mattei, knows only too well the importance of building a business where everyone can see a bright future. In fact, you could say that Mattei nurtured the business and used his own passion and energy to instill pride and enthusiasm within a company that now supports more than 30,000 employees.
Grazia Fimiani, human resources and organisation executive vice president at Eni, explained that people are the company’s best ambassadors.

Fimiani said: “Eni is a global, integrated energy company with over 30,000 employees in 67 countries. We work to build a future in which everyone has access to energy resources as efficiently and sustainably as possible.
“Our new business strategies of energy transition, decarbonisation, moving towards a more circular economy and digital transformation mean we are creating new professional roles and attracting people with new skills.”

Innovation and initiatives

Eni recently launched a high-profile campaign to help people understand that the business offers a dynamic and multi-cultural working environment, professional development paths at an international level, excellent training and the opportunity to manage strategic and technological projects that will transform energy use in the future.
It wishes to remain at the forefront of modern business and wants to drive sustainable growth. Hence, innovation is key.

According to Kim Sciunnach, career guidance and employer branding manager at Eni, the company, which has its headquarters in Rome and in Milan, was one of the first large Italian businesses to use digital technology in its recruitment selection process.

“Eni has been working closely with LinkedIn since 2012, supporting us to attract and recruit according to our ever-changing needs,” Sciunnach explained. “LinkedIn gives us access to the best talent using innovative talent acquisition techniques.”
In 2018, Eni undertook an employer branding initiative. The communication campaign wished to raise Eni’s profile with a youthful generation.

“The campaign used various media channels, including LinkedIn,” Sciunnach continued.
“The campaign was impactful and engaging and the goal was to strengthen Eni's ability to generate change and innovation in our country and to convey to younger generations a positive vision of the company, together with the professional opportunities we can offer.”
The campaign was a great success, characterized by an on-going conversation and sharing interesting content with the target audience.
The campaign was launched across both online and offline channels, including national and local press, and dynamic ambient advertising in Turin and Milan where Eni’s Masters courses are located. The campaign also included targeted editorial and rich media content on a variety of digital platforms and websites, including Eni’s social channels:
Linkedin, Facebook, Instagram and @Eniday, Eni’s online publishing platform which helps to tell the stories of the people who are working everyday to transform the natural resources of our earth into energy.

Thanks to the campaign, we generated a huge number of applications for the Eni Masters and for Eni’s open job opportunities. We also saw a spike in traffic to eni.com's Careers homepage during the campaign. Our analysis (organic visibility analysis on Google vs. our direct competitor) showed that Eni was one of the strongest players in training and attracting young talent. In fact, Eni strongly believes that the campaign contributed to Eni’s number one ranking (Best Employer Brand with more than 10,000 Employees) at the LinkedIn Talent Awards Italy.

Perfect partnership

Eni believes in long-term partnerships and that its work is based on the quality of its people. In particular, their passion, innovation, strengths and skills. LinkedIn enables Eni to capture those skill sets, which allows the business to recruit some of the best talent in the energy industry.

“LinkedIn is central to our recruiting strategy,” said Kate Sheriff, senior communications advisor at Eni. “It’s the only global platform where you can find talent from virtually any discipline and in almost any city.”

She continued: “For example, we ran a successful campaign in Mexico recently. Eni is new to the Mexican market and there was a need for local talent to work on a fast-track development project. We needed to hire people quickly. Therefore, we embarked on a follower acquisition and Sponsored Update campaign in order to increase brand awareness. We also wanted to increase the number of applications for open vacancies.”
The campaign was incredibly successful. Eni increased its followers on LinkedIn by 145 per cent and more than 80 per cent of new hires were impacted by the campaign within a 12-month period.

Sheriff concluded: “Our account management team at LinkedIn has supported us on every step of the journey, encouraging us to try more innovative solutions and target passive and active candidates in ways we’ve never done before. We want more of the best energy professionals to know who we are and to think ‘I want to work there’. LinkedIn helps us to do that.”