The winning choice of SNAM: sharing its digital transformation story through the voice of the CEO to attract top talent

When Snam, a leading European gas utility, needed to attract experienced engineers in the natural gas industry, it realised that it had to differentiate itself from other competitors.

But how was the company – founded in Italy in 1941 – going to tell its story and attract the most skilled and experienced talent? What’s more, how was the company going to do this and position itself as a forward-thinking business?

Spearheading transformation

Snam acknowledged that a strategic approach was required, but more importantly, the company also recognised the vital role that strong leadership would play in establishing the business as an employer of choice.

Step forward Marco Alverá, CEO  of Snam; he accepted the challenge and took it upon himself to spearhead the company’s transformation – from an Italian firm that operates in the traditional gas field to a forward-thinking business that recognises the importance of innovation and technology, yet places human capital at the heart of such innovation.

Snam’s strategic evolution, in an increasingly complex and challenging context, requires the company to rely more heavily on developing innovation and on the effective use of technological assets, this means human capital is crucial in continuing to create value.

Leading by example

Nurturing talent was key and it was a message that had to flow from the top.

One of the success factors has been the involvement of the CEO, Marco Alverà, who accepted the challenge to become the change agent of company transformation. He decided to lead by example and took ownership of his LinkedIn profile and started to communicate his perspective on the role Snam would play in the gas industry in the future.

But that was not all. Alverà also spoke of how companies should operate in the new social and business global landscape. It was a refreshing stance and one that would push the company in to a new league. So, how did he do it?

Stories, strategy and social responsibility

Snam created a strong internal synergy between its human resources and communications departments. It was imperative that both teams communicated clearly with each other.

Snam leveraged corporate social responsibility and new business development. But more importantly, it told the stories of employees and their experiences. Life@ Snam was essential in positioning the business as an employer of choice in the gas industry. And Alverà’s social media influence was the cherry on top of the cake – it was demonstrative of strong leadership, vision and management and portrayed a business where senior management walked the walk and led by example.

Engineering results

LinkedIn played a crucial role and provided Snam with a natural channel to communicate the company’s new approach in front of a professional audience. It needed to do this in order to attract and hire the best talent and so it opted to create employer branding campaigns utilising LinkedIn Talent Solutions’ tools and resources. Snam created a dedicated Life page where candidates could find the company values, stories of employees and job offers in line with their profiles.

Snam started to increase followers from engineering functions aligned with recruiting objectives and the number of followers with engineering backgrounds grew 2.6 times, creating a pool of relevant talent that was interested in working at Snam.

In just one year, the team witnessed incredible growth in followers and content engagement. For example, followers on Snam’s Career Page increased from 10,000 to 36,000 and engineering followers jumped from 1,625 to 4,722.

Goals and growth

Communication was key and Snam’s communications department played a vital role in the business’ growth. Over 12 months, the communications team increased the frequency of content and comms from Snam’s Company Page and began to sponsor the most relevant news towards specific skills sets.

This strategy worked and was supported by Alverà, who started to post updates on LinkedIn and Pulse articles via the company’s LinkedIn Company Page. Thanks to a well-planned editorial strategy and to additional entry points, the CEO’s followers increased by 63 per cent in one month.

All these activities led to higher visibility and stronger engagement with targeted candidates. As a result, followers with engineering backgrounds and experience had a 40 per cent higher response rate to jobs compared to non-followers. During the observed period, 51 per cent of new hires within Snam had been influenced by LinkedIn.