Did that title get your attention? Good. This is all about grabbing attention. This is about a video you HAVE to watch...all the way through to the end. I'll give you the link in just a bit. First, some back story:

The other day I received a call from an associate engaged in recruitment video marketing. He had just read my recent post "Do You Have The Best Job In The World?" and we got to talking about the power of video to reveal culture, work experience, and how it can help job seekers self select whether they are appropriate for employment in an organization or a particular career. Our discussion reminded me of a video I stumbled across some time ago which I'd like to share with you. You may have seen it before (it's about two years old), but it's certainly worth another view.

If I've said it once I've said it a hundred times. IMHO our aim should be to make people salivate with desire to work someplace.  Create desire...point at opportunity. Make your pipeline a throng of people wanting behind the red velvet rope. Now I've said it one hundred and one times.

Of course if you can make your message social media friendly and viral too...well, all the better.

If you're bored of recruitment videos that remind you of a PSA spot on 'local cable,' or something out of a show on The Learning Channel or Discovery, I have an example of the recruitment video cure. Let's make something clear: the difference between what this video HAS and DOES NOT HAVE is not an issue of who wrote and produced the video; rather, it's a result of what the company was willing to reveal about itself. The company had to "get out of its own way" and allow a shift in communication from corporate mission to authentic revelation. The two are not mutually exclusive. One is just less formal than the other.

This video has no:

1)      Talking Heads
2)      Description of Work
3)      Voice Overs
4)      Company Stats

In other words, none of the ubiquitous hallmarks that make you feel like you are being sold or lectured to. 

Check it out now:  http://ow.ly/i1Yy

What it does have:

1)      A great soundtrack
2)      Work Environment - and a fun one at that, complete with a ping-pong table - you get to travel the office through the song
3)      Co-workers who aren't afraid to be silly or have fun
4)      Good production value...no shaky camera or bad lighting
5)      Sly pop-culture (like the SILF t-shirt)
6)      FUN
7)      Just when you feel like you're watching a music video, the sound shuts off and you get the employees singing and the aftermath of the shoot. They are real and you get to see them that way
8)     A link to an annotated Flikr photo of the people in the video, with each person identified

The company is Connected Ventures. They run Busted Tees and College Humor (hence the very Gen Y staff). The video was shot in one take. ONE. The first take, even.

The bad thing...their careers page is ONE PAGE linked to brief, underdeveloped job descriptions. Also, there is no sign of this video...or testimonials...or photos (through Flikr which would be awesome with this audience)...or example projects...etc.  Oh and the link on their video goes to a 404 File Not Found message -- the result of an orphaned  social media campaign. This is something for us to keep in mind for any social media/bookmarking campaign. Just because an initiative is over doesn't mean links (or potential link juice) go away. A branded 404 "Page Not Found" would be useful here to say the least, even if it isn't specifically recruitment focused.

Why does this video work? I'll steal a line from Jeffrey Gitomer: People hate to be sold to but they love to buy. And this video gives the passive (and active)  candidate something to BUY. They can buy the workplace (some wide-open, sunlit places complete with a ping pong table), they can buy the casual (t-shirt friendly) dress code,  the can buy an employer who is willing to have fun on video and and employees who aren't afraid to get on camera and act silly. Without telling you anything specifically, the video tells you a lot about Connected Ventures.

Not every place is a Connected Ventures...many are the exact opposite. But if you can open up to DISCOVER and REVEAL even just ONE powerful Employment Value Proposition which is vibrant, realistic and RESONATES with your ideal candidate, you can use it, share it and benefit from it.

There is a lot of talk about corporate transparency and corporate ethics and responsibility. Transparency can also be used to attract and communicate, but you might have to loosen your tie a little bit and let your workforce, your environment, your inner voice speak up and say the things that can not be expressed in a brochure and corporate mission statement. Give that a try and you might be amazed at how job seekers (both active and passive alike) respond, they might even say: