Category: Uncategorized
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Dos and Don’ts of Creating Recruitment Videos for your Company
Recruitment videos are a fantastic way to get potential employees to get an inside look at your company. It’s an ideal way to showcase the most appealing aspects of your company, such as culture, the physical space you work in, and the amazing employees that currently work there. Recruiting videos have become far more common in recent years. Here are a few Do’s and Don’ts for creating a recruitment video for your company.
DO these things when creating a recruiting video for your company:
DO Convey Core Values: Core values are the standards your company abides by. Be sure you let potential applicants know the values your company holds dearest, so they know what type of environment to expect from your workplace. You don’t need to list them out, but they should be apparent, or adhere to them. If you have a core value that describes a vibrant work environment, make sure your video has a lot of energy.
DO choose the best talent to feature and portray: Do you have an employee that exemplifies your core values, does an excellent job, makes the office a brighter place, or has a recent success story? Let them shine in the video. Applicants want to hear from those who are experiencing your company first hand. Tell stories that allows potential applicants to see your company from their perspective. Tell stories about people in the positions that they will likely have – not about a senior level executive. (Recruiterbox)
DO broaden the spectrum to get additional content for the future: Rather than posting about one specific job and dedicating all that time just for one specialized position, it helps to capture content for a variety of uses. That way, in two years when you need to hire again, you can reuse footage that might not have appeared in the old version to help you get applicants for your company. Reusing this footage can save your company significant time and money from not having to go out and shoot more material.
DO put people on camera who should be on camera (don’t inflict pain from bad people!): The fact of the matter is, some people love being on camera, and some people would prefer not to be. Don’t force anyone to get on camera – chances are they would be timid and give off a bad impression because of their discomfort. Include those who are enthusiastic and have great things to say about your company.
DO give a call to action: By the end of the video, if viewers like what they see, make it easy for them with a call to action. Tell them exactly where they can apply, or show them where they can find out more information. Either way, the content from your video will be fresh in their mind, so capitalize on it before they forget.
DON’T DO these things when creating a recruiting video for your company:
DON’T start with the top down (think about who’s applying and take it from that perspective): Essentially, don’t have your recruiting video be a short documentary on the CEO, with the higher-ups as the supporting cast. Make sure you have employees of all levels, showing the well-roundedness of the company. Try to think about what types of people will be watching your video, and tailor your video to the persona of who you see being the best-fit hire for your company.
DON’T lie – be honest.: If you falsely portray your company or the culture your employees are working in, you won’t attract the right people. This leads to turnover. If applicants have expectations based on your recruiting video, make sure they get what they expect. They won’t want any surprises when they show up the first day in the office.
DON’T think about what you want to say – focus on what the viewer wants to hear: An accurate depiction of the jobs available is a great place to start, but it never hurts to tell a viewer what they want to hear to intrigue them. Think about the most frequently asked questions candidates have during the interview process. Find out what folks want to know by speaking with your HR team. Put yourself in the shoes of the viewer and ask yourself what would you like to hear if you were looking for jobs and watching recruiting videos.
DON’T forget the approval process: Before you go ahead and post your recruiting video to social media or video hosting sites like YouTube, make sure you get approval from all those involved. The last thing you want is to post something only having to take it down (perhaps permanently) because someone didn’t approve of the video. For example, make sure everyone on the team is onboard with the goals of the video. Also, make sure that all material in the video builds your brand, and is sensitive to all those who may be checking out your video.
DON’T get wrapped up in time: Don’t go crazy trying to trim or expand the length of your videos to hit a specific time. Focus on the goal of the video, keep the messaging tight and on point, and say what you need to say. Don’t get long winded, or your viewers will get bored. This doesn’t mean that you should freak out and slash pieces of valuable information. Trim the fat only.
If you’re creating a recruitment video for your company, keep these do’s and don’ts on your radar so your video can attract the talent your company is looking for!
Pricing a Video is like Buying a House
After 13 years in the video production industry, we know a few things about developing, creating, and managing video projects. However, we’ve come to find that some clients want more explanation when it comes to these processes. There’s no doubt if you’re new to the video industry, the jargon can be difficult to understand.
Here at 522, we want you to be knowledgeable about our industry so you can understand all the details of your project. With that in mind, we want to equip our current and potential clients with the basics of how we handle sales, creative and management throughout the course of a project.
How are you going to do that? Good question!
We’re going to do it the only way we know how: video. That’s right, we’re starting a vlog. No, we aren’t going to tell you about our day, where we went, or what we ate. What we are going to do is share some video production secrets, teach you about our process, and have fun while doing it.
So we thought we’d start at the beginning. Every project begins with pricing. However, pricing can be a difficult concept to understand. Why do certain aspects cost more than others? Where did the final video price come from? Don’t worry, we got Chris Croston, one of our Account Executives, to break it down for you, in under 90 seconds.
Check it out!
Hey guys… it’s Chris with 522. One of the most common questions I get from clients is: How much does a video typically cost? Pricing out a video project is kinda similar to buying a house. The price-range for a house can vary greatly. It depends on how big it is, how much land there is, where the house is, like – are we talking waterfront property, or under power lines next to the town dump? Same kinda principle applies to video – it really depends on what you need and how it gets done. That’s why we typically develop estimates on a project-to-project basis.
A variety of factors go into pricing out a video. The type and amount of content are usually the biggest determining factors. Other key factors are if you require concept development, the size of the crew, number of days filming, where we’re filming, number of deliverables… that kinda thing. Most corporate video projects typically fall somewhere between $5,000 and $50,000. But we’ve had plenty of outliers on both ends… definitely on the high end. Definitely…
Hope that helps! We do have a price-range budget breakdown doc we can share with you, so hit us up if you’d like to learn more! Or, if you’d like us to develop a video that answers any other questions you might have – hit us up here!
522 Video Questions No. 5 – You guys didn’t bring a dolly?
It’s funny, the last blog post I wrote had a mention of “Breaking Bad” and this one is going to discuss an episode of “Better Call Saul”. If you’re unfamiliar, the latter is a spin off TV show on AMC that follows around a lawyer in New Mexico set in the early 2000’s.
Recently I was watching an episode (episode 3 of season 2 starting at the 17 minute mark) that made me laugh and cry for the video production industry. Let’s set the scene:
James “Jimmy” McGill, Attorney at Law for the law firm of Davis Main, is working a huge class action case with senior citizens. They are being taken advantage of by their assisted living facility, Sandpiper, and Jimmy is in charge of bringing on the new senior citizen clients. In this episode, he’s asked to tone down his tactics a little bit – he’s a lawyer that takes the law into his own hands at times – so he decides to make a tv commercial.
The 3-4 scenes about the commercial reminded me the importance of many things within pre-production that are really important to ensuring the success of a project. Let’s dissect these topics in chronological order based on when they were delivered in the show.
Know your audience
The whole things starts off with Jimmy pitching the idea of a TV commercial to Clifford Main, Partner at Davis and Main. Jimmy clearly knows who he’s targeting and why. Here’s what he tells Main:
“At Sandpiper the trains run on time. Mussolini would be proud. Everyone I’ve visited so far, same exact schedule. 10am water aerobics, 2pm line dancing, so and so forth. They always leave 3pm to 4pm free. Why? ‘Murder She Wrote’.”
Jimmy continues, “Let me tell ya, when that thing comes on it draws the blue hairs out like moths to a bug zapper. 3:14pm. End of the first act. Cliffhanger. First commercial up… Davis and Main.”
Because Jimmy knew his audience, he was able to target them very intelligently and get the right eyes on his video. He didn’t need to do a huge media buy to have his commercial have impact, simply because he knew how to get his audience to view his content and because the concept and idea behind the video was spot on, he reaped the results.
Audit previous material
During his conversation with Main, Jimmy finds out that they had done a commercial in the past. Like any video producer should do before making a new video, he decides to watch what they had previously produced. Maybe for inspiration, but probably just to get a feel for how the organization had previously marketed themselves.
It’s important to do this to find out what worked, what didn’t and to also match any branding requirements, logo bumps, etc.
Spoiler: the previous video was terrible.
Concepting
Developing a good concept within pre-production makes all the difference in a video. It’s not just about getting all the best gear and showing up. You have to tell a story. Here’s how Jimmy explains it to his crew in their production meeting:
“Ok, we open on granny and she is rocking. Back… and forth… and back… and forth. And then, very slowly and smoothly the camera moves towards her.”
From here they get into dolley conversation which we’ll get to in the next section, but anyway Jimmy goes on, “She’s rocking and she’s shivering. She’s clutching at a tattered shawl. They turned the heat off on her, these evil bastards! She’s cold and hungry and friendless. This is heart rending stuff!”
Jimmy does a great job here. He knows his audience, has a script and his talent ready, and understands the story he wants to tell. It grabs at the heartstrings of his audience and that is a surefire way to make a video a hit.
Communicate before your shoot day
With any concept, it is key that you have all the equipment you’re going to need for the shoot. This is the one thing Jimmy forgot to do. After Jimmy’s line where he says, “the camera moves toward her” here’s the back-and-forth he has with his crew:
Jimmy: “And then, very slowly and smoothly the camera moves towards her.”
Crew member 1: “Dolley?”
Jimmy: “A dolly. Good.”
Crew member 1: “You see a dolley here?”
Jimmy: “You guys didn’t bring a dolly?”
Crew member 1: “Nope, no dolly.”
The moral of the story here is just to make sure you communicate with your video team. If they don’t know you want a shot using a dolly or any other special piece of equipment, it’s critical to make sure that you have those discussion up-front within pre-production.
For how all of this ends, go watch “Better Call Saul” on AMC and if you’re making your first video production, you can download our guide here. Something that may have helped Jimmy with his video!
