In a knowledge-driven economy the most valuable asset that a company has is their employees. Attracting top talent is therefore more important than ever before. The most talented employees have plenty of options where they are going to work. To appeal to the type of talent that can make a real impact it’s critical that companies sell themselves. The recruitment videos below demonstrate that video is one of the best ways to do that selling.
Zendesk
Pacing is key to this video. It is slower paced than other videos covered here, but what it does is keep a constant quality and level of interest throughout the whole video, there is no suddenly flashiness. Through doing this they manage to pack in a lot of information, they don’t need to reel off lots of complex text, they just say simple sentences of what’s on screen, and by doing so they create their own quirky style which when you buy into it, it gets better as it gets quirkier along the way. By the end you get a nice sense that actually what a great company both in what it does and the ethos of the people. Filming style backs up the above points by being simple but throughout, nice posed shots mixed in with photographs, held together by a genuine feeling voiceover.
Barclays Corporate Recruiting
This advert appeals simply because it had a great concept communicated visually in a comedic way. The video features people being snapped up by their company whether graduates or existing c-suite executives. It was also carried out in perfect fashion, it clearly had a high budget but it wasn’t brazen and brash. It did exactly what it needed to to get across the slightly silly but also serious tone of the company, which after all is banking and finance. This serious yet silly theme was backed up by a great VO artist who hit the tone perfectly.
Adecco Group
The Adecco Group is the largest staffing firm in the world and a Fortune Global 500 company. This video is a great example of a recruitment video because it shows employees all over the world in many different professions, we see people struggling and succeeding to tell a story. The video features a variety of camera techniques such as tracking shots, drone shots, close ups, mid shots and more. These contribute to making this video engaging and creative.
Adidas Group
Sport is the core of Adidas’ business, so it is a logical choice to also use it as a metaphor for working for the company. They mention how it’s hard work, but if it’s what you love then it’s not really work, this implies passion in its employees and a good sense of togetherness which will attract new employees. It is also filmed in an interesting and energetic way which makes you think that people who work there are all in some way superstars. A nice touch is also having the interviews with people who come across as very genuine and passionate but are lit in a stylish way.
Twitter “At Twitter, The Future Is You!”
If the title “At Twitter, The Future Is You!” wasn’t enough of a clue, this is a parody recruitment video. Unlike a lot of other corporate parody videos, it’s actually very funny. The video is filled with stilted dialogue low budget animations, awful acting and rock-bottom production values. The combination is hilarious. The video is the creation of Jeremy Briggs, a video producer at Twitter, and video artist Ian Padgham. Even the then CEO Dick Costello manages to make a cameo.
LHH Brand Video
Lee Hecht Harrison is a global firm specialising in career transition & outplacement, leadership development, employee engagement & change management. This video is a prime example of a recruitment video, it shows potential employees working and experiencing new things all over the world. This is good because it shows that people already within the LHH group are living a fun and fulfilling life.
Google Intern’s First Week
Obtaining a place in Google’s internship program is competitive, to say the least. Approximately 40,000 people apply for about 1,500 positions. Despite there being no shortage of applicants Google is still looking to attract even more interest. To that end they produced this high-end mini-documentary about what life is like as a Google intern. The video is beautifully shot and makes great use of natural light. The video follows the progress of four interns in the program. Through their experience, the viewer gains an insight to the environment and type of work that interns do. As one would expect from the Google campus looks pretty plush with plenty of challenging work to be done.
Vimeo
The filming style of this video is in stark contrast to many of the other recruitment videos you see. It is filmed in an intentionally unpolished way using awkward humour akin to “The Office” TV series which is a humour revered and celebrated by the target audience for this video of 20-40-year-olds. One of the things this video shines at is conveying the team spirit by lampooning itself constantly, it makes it genuine and so that people could actually see themselves working here rather than an endless stream of perfect people in perfect offices which we all know deep down are fake.
Starbucks Partner
The title already starts of the theme of this video, that you’re not just an employee, you’re a partner, this is also backed up by the first 30+ seconds where the partner is mentioned a serious amount of times, very much intentionally. Being a barista is not glamorous and most people know what it entails already, so this video use that information to sell on its strengths which is to mention things people cannot see, like the benefits package, the outside work social events.To back up this low-key approach of talking heads with genuine staff they didn’t film it in a too polished way, as often if it’s too polished it could come across as disingenuous.
Army ‘This is Belonging’
It opens with a slightly scrawny looking new recruit, symbolising their target audience, it then slowly pans out with other characters coming into the shot to show that actually the fears new recruits have all but disappeared by the end where actually everyone is friendly, your all in it together and has camaraderie. Shooting style wise it has the production value of a film, this is on purpose as it needs to be glamorised in order to attract young people. It shows it is not all sun and fun but instead of showing the reality of being shot or blown up it shows the hardship in the more palatable form of rain.
KPMG
The opening gambit of this video is a comedic 80 seconds, this lures you in by making you think, what is going on, why would someone be portraying themselves like this, then it tells you these are not employees of KPMG. When it starts showing you actually employees everyone comes across very positive and genuine, in stark contrast to the fake comedic characters at the start. The interviews are shot in different looking buildings and locations making it feel like a very international company and making it more visually interesting than it otherwise might be.
Harley Davidson
This advert uses a political and global issue of manufacturing moving from western countries to other countries with cheaper labour, thus tapping into a subject that already has a very emotive aspect to it. It also manipulates the idea of the American dream being freedom, and therefore motorbikes are American by that link. They are trying to attract people by persuading them to buy into this version of the American dream, and by showing how much the factory staff take pride in their work as they are also the people who love using the product. Filming style of this was very naturalistic, not stylised at all and more documentary style to show the genuine nature of the factory.