Talent Marketing Messaging Strategy & Playbook
5 months
Health insurance
UnitedHealth Group came to SketchDeck at a complicated moment. A series of high-profile public moments had put the organization under an unwanted spotlight, and brand favorability had taken a hit. For a company already navigating a competitive talent market, the timing made attracting prospective employees even more challenging.
Compounding the challenge, most candidates assumed UnitedHealth Group and Optum—its health services business—only hired clinical talent. The breadth of opportunity across technology, corporate services, and customer-facing roles wasn’t getting through to external candidates.
Generic, purpose-driven messaging wasn’t going to cut it. UnitedHealth Group needed a new talent marketing messaging strategy grounded in what made the organization genuinely different—and built to compete for the best candidates.
We started by listening. Discovery interviews with employees across key talent groups, combined with a comprehensive competitive messaging audit, gave us a clear picture of where UnitedHealth Group stood and where the real opportunity was.
What we found was encouraging: Employees felt that their well-being and career paths were supported, and they were proud to be part of something bigger. UnitedHealth Group was also committed to making real investments in technology and in the people behind it. The foundation was solid—they just needed a messaging framework that could bring that story to life for prospective candidates.
From those insights, we built a full talent marketing messaging framework designed to close the gap between internal reality and external perception:
The goal throughout was the same: messaging that rang true to the people already inside—and moved the talent the organization most wanted to bring in.
SketchDeck delivered a complete, ready-to-activate talent marketing messaging framework and practical playbook—designed to resonate with candidates and employees, and aligned to UnitedHealth Group and Optum’s broader goals around attraction, engagement, and retention.
It gives their recruiting teams a consistent, compelling story to take to market with messaging that accurately reflects how the organization invests in its people—and the meaningful work waiting for them there.
