Designing a more compelling path for future talent
The Problem
The Kohler name carries a lot of weight—especially if you’re a homeowner, designer or anyone who has ever remodeled a bathroom.
For many college students, however, that familiarity stopped at the logo on a faucet.
What they didn’t see was a global organization filled with opportunities spanning engineering, manufacturing, hospitality, finance, sustainability and more.
Kohler didn’t have an opportunity problem. It had a storytelling problem.
As the company shifted its focus from simply filling roles to building a pipeline of future leaders, it needed an employer brand that could communicate the long-term opportunities available to ambitious early-career talent.
Capabilities
The best thing Kohler offered young talent wasn’t a job. It was the opportunity to actively shape a career over time.
The Solve
As we listened to employees, leaders and candidates, a clear pattern emerged.
Kohler offered something increasingly rare: a place where careers don’t follow a predetermined path.
We connected Kohler's greatest strength as a consumer brand with its greatest promise as an employer: Build your career by design.
The platform linked directly to Kohler’s heritage of design and innovation while giving candidates a more tangible picture of what growth looks like inside the organization.
Rather than trying to speak like every other employer competing for attention, Kohler leaned into what already made it distinctive.
Messaging centered on opportunities to Grow, Connect and Create. A visual system rooted in Kohler’s premium brand expression brought the idea to life across career fairs, recruitment materials, candidate communications and onboarding touchpoints.
Results & Ripple Effects
The impact was immediate. Search traffic for Kohler careers increased 53% year-over-year, while 49% of hires came directly from career fairs, a substantial increase over previous recruiting seasons. Recruiters reported more productive conversations and higher-quality leads, while internal teams embraced the new brand as a shared foundation for engaging talent.
Most importantly, Kohler now has an employer brand as intentional and distinctive as the company itself—one that invites the next generation to imagine what they can build.
“The refreshed employer value proposition sharpens our differentiation in a competitive market while offering candidates a more comprehensive view of the organization’s scale, sophistication, and opportunity.”
— Nicole Rybeck-Wolcott, Senior Manager, Early Career Programs, Kohler
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