Ellie Terry is the Director of Employee Experience and Global Communications at N26,  a banking experience for today’s mobile lifestyle. N26 launched in Europe in 2013 and in the U.S. in 2019.  She is an Aussie who lives and works in Berlin and we’re proud to have her as one of the roundtable facilitators at the Talent Brand Summit in London this October.

In addition to learning about her start in talent branding, we got her input about tools and tactics and some of her advice for those who are new in the HR marketing and branding field.

How did you find your way to a career in talent branding?

Oh, I love this question! My career started in marketing. I was managing global brands, products, and communications for some quite well-known international companies.  

After 13 years as a marketer, I naturally moved into functional leadership roles and was far more involved with people operations, talent acquisition, and strategic human resource teams which sparked a real passion for me. You could say I was quite a late bloomer in the HR field. 

I made a strategic career pivot where I moved into the “people side” of the business. I wanted to apply my core skills and experience to areas of the business where people are the most important commodity. 

Talent branding requires the same experience and expertise as consumer and brand marketing. In this role, I’m able to to bring all my experience in brand management, communications, product marketing, and creative to the Talent team. 

Also, because I came from the commercial operation as a leader of a business function, I understand what’s expected from a high-performing human resource team as well as what it means to be a leader in practice and not just theory.

What projects are you currently working on?

Basically we’re bringing to life the ultimate and best practices in employee experience from “hi” to “bye.” This includes everything from onboarding, workplace, internal communications, people operations, employment brand, and developing our HR tech to employees. It’s a huge feat for my team—an advantageous and wonderfully exciting time for us. I’m encouraging everyone to break the norm and design for growth.

Are there any tactics or strategies that work better in Germany than other parts of Europe? (Or, is there anything that won’t work in Germany that works elsewhere?)

We’re simply global in our approach; there’s nothing exclusively German about what we do.

What tools do you find indispensable for accomplishing your strategy and running your program?

We’re addicted to Slack, Asana, and a touch of WhatsApp for far more lighthearted and informal sharing of things that inspire us or make us laugh. 

We also have stand-ups and random huddles. When our workload increases, and we’re all running out of steam, I often call a stand-up where we can all share, vent, and help each other in more stressful sprints. This encourages a lot of useful collaboration and really reveals the camaraderie between the team. 

What advice would you give someone who wants to jump into the employer branding/recruitment marketing field?

I am often approached about this as this field is quite the hot topic now. My advice is that people acknowledge that it's not all creative, Instagram photos and team cupcakes. You will need to understand the commercial side of the business, appreciate what is driving the talent market, and also what resonates with candidates and employees. Strategic and analytical skills are critical! Oh, and you’ll need to be a people person. You’re constantly presenting, talking, and sourcing content. There aren’t a lot of days that my team sits behind their desks for more than a few hours. 

Where is the best place you’ve traveled to and why? 

The Galapagos Islands. It’s a magical spot and completely took my breath away. So did the blue-footed booby bird.  [ Not sure what one looks like? Here you go ]

Want to meet Ellie and learn from your other employer branding peers in London? Request your ticket to the next Talent Brand Summit today.