How a Kidney Care Company Drove 42% More Job Applications from LinkedIn

While social media is typically the domain of marketing, and recruitment usually belongs to HR, DaVita's teams realized their approach would be stronger and more effective if they collaborated.

First, the teams identified that the best way to attract nurses and patient care professionals is by showing them how great it is to work at DaVita. They highlighted this through four content pillars: innovation, a supportive culture, great benefits, and plenty of career opportunities. 

They also knew that talking about themselves on branded social accounts wasn’t going to get them the results they needed, explains David Tauchen, Director of Communications, Owned Content, Social Media for DaVita.

“Research has shown us that voices of individuals are trusted far more than brand voices,” he says.

By empowering their teammates to share personal work experiences, DaVita can tell the real story: that their people are passionate about patient care. Leveraging their employees’ networks also helps their stories reach a wider audience. Every post gets shared by hundreds of teammates to their own networks. 

But, with nearly 200 talent acquisition partners and ambassadors involved, keeping a unified narrative was going to be a challenge. And that’s not to mention all the compliance and brand safety risks.

For this strategy to succeed, the teams identified that they needed an easy and scalable way for their ambassadors to share pre-approved, brand-safe content.

Enter Hootsuite Amplify, an employee advocacy platform that makes it easy for employees to safely share company social media posts, boost brand awareness, and expand reach. Kristin Landreth, DaVita’s Employment Brand Content Manager, explains how simplicity was key to adoption.

“Once we write the stories and send to the Amplify platform, our talent acquisition teammates can simply choose the stories they are inclined to share and post on their social media channels,” she says. “They don’t need to worry if it’s on-brand or if it’s approved—it’s all safe content to use.”

Of course, making it easy to use for teammates is just one aspect. It was just as important to make sure that the content was compelling enough to share.

For Jenny Nailling, Communications Manager at DaVita, it was all about sharing inspiring content focused on specific teammates and how the organization helped them build their careers.

Landreth adds, “We want to share the authentic story of DaVita and demonstrate what life could look like as a DaVita teammate.”

Now, DaVita has 200 ambassadors across teams sharing their success stories on social media. And through Hootsuite Amplify, those stories reach a wider audience of potential recruits—seamlessly and safely.

Between inspiring stories and the ease of sharing them, it’s no surprise that DaVita found success with their Hootsuite Amplify program.

• Over 24,000 shares

• Over $1.5M in equivalent ad value

• 136% increase in traffic coming from LinkedIn on their career site

• 27% YoY increase in job applications from social media

• 80% sustained adoption rate of the program

According to Wright, the quality of traffic coming to DaVita’s career website is also much higher. But what’s been most impressive is how outcomes of the program can be directly tied to the Recruitment team’s strategic goals.

It’s been so successful that DaVita is looking into ramping up the program so they can get more ambassadors on board, says Landreth.

“We want to hire teammates that truly care—who want to build relationships and trust with our patients. Living with chronic kidney disease can be very challenging and frightening for patients,” she says. “We want to be sure that we attract nurses who share the desire to make a difference—whose passion is our purpose.” 

With the help of Hootsuite Amplify, DaVita—and their patients—can rest easy.