Recruitment Videos are a Tool to Help Foster Positive Employer/Employee Relationships
Videos designed to convey the corporate culture and values of a company provide an excellent way to increase the likelihood of a good fit between an employer and prospective employees.
(Vocus/PRWEB ) May 1, 2009 --According to a Harris Poll of 7,718 workers reported in 2005 – several years before the current economic downturn that has further strained the employer/employee relationship – 41% said they were unsatisfied with their jobs. Only 44% said they were glad that they had chosen to work for their current employers over others.
Voices & Visions Productions
Such negative attitudes affect a company's bottom line in a host of ways. Poor job retention rates, for instance, impact spending on administrative functions, replacement costs, resources for orientation and training, benefits, and output. Conversely, a positive attitude about a job translates into productivity and success.
Effective pre-hiring mechanisms designed to attract personnel with the personalities and skill sets best suited for a particular place of work increase the probability of employee satisfaction. While interviews taking place in the office may provide the optimal opportunity for an applicant to experience the workplace, a potentially large pool of aspirants often needs to be reduced before the interviewing process begins. A video portraying the staff, environment, and general feel of the workplace can bring it to life for job-seekers in need of initial information before deciding whether to pursue the application process.
One video production company that specializes in this arena is Voices & Visions Productions (V&V), based in the NY/NJ and Los Angeles regions. V&V has worked with mid-sized to large companies as well as nonprofits creating videos for use in recruitment.
Video has "been used as an effective tool in helping potential recruits get a better feeling for the firm and its attorneys," said Lee Garfinkle, chief marketing officer of Lowenstein Sandler PC, a law firm with offices across the eastern and western US seaboards. Like other law firms, Lowenstein Sandler recruits summer associates and first year associates from law schools as well as lateral attorneys.
Garfinkle noted that Lowenstein's code of values emphasizes intelligence, hard work, creativity, respect, teamwork, community and trade association involvement, diversity, and educational advancement – all within the context of a friendly and supportive environment. Crucial to the success of the video was capturing all those qualities, then translating them to a high-energy, short video to display on Lowenstein's website.
"Voices & Visions Productions did a wonderful job, working extremely well with our attorneys to prompt them to say the right things and feel comfortable on camera," said Garfinkle. "As our recruiting partner said, 'they've gotten us to a point today, that I didn't think we would get to for a couple of years. This video is spot-on perfect.'"
Voices & Visions Productions has also applied its skills to the nonprofit New Hope Community, a residential setting for individuals with developmental and other disabilities which provides supports to over 200 people. With competitive starting salaries and benefits for direct support professionals, New Hope found itself hiring many people with good intentions who subsequent to beginning work recognized that they were not well-suited to the job. Rates of retention were low, and amounts of money spent on training, orientation, and other job requirements were high. Consequently, New Hope decided to produce a video designed to highlight the everyday realities of working as a direct support professional to be shown to prospective employees at the time they fill out job applications.
With a theme of "one day in the life of a direct support professional at New Hope Community," the video tracked several different individuals participating in a host of daily routines and activities. It presented an honest snapshot, enabling applicants to decide whether this job would work for them prior to being hired.
Laura Morace, marketing director of New Hope, said the video has definitely helped separate out folks for whom New Hope is a good job fit from those who ought to look at other opportunities.
"The video has clarified the roles of those who work with us," Morace said. "The impact has been significant. On a scale from 1 to 10, I can say 9.5. Voices & Visions was flexible, approachable, engaging, articulate, patient, creative, insightful, and constructive" through the process of creating the video.
Key to the success of the videos is an extensive understanding on the part of the video company of the organization's mission and work. The principals of Voices & Visions are Ellen Friedland, who began her career as an attorney clerking in the federal district court in Manhattan where a wide variety of complex matters were an everyday occurrence, and Curt Fissel, an award-winning TV documentary cinematographer and editor for almost 30 years. Their collective strengths ensure that every interview and background shot combine a depth of understanding of the subject made comprehensible to the viewer through organized scripts, coherent soundbites, artistic visual angles and effects, and creative graphic design. Voices & Visions also produces videos for investor relations, marketing goals, web clips, education, and other uses.
Companies and nonprofits that use video as part of their recruitment collateral materials can convey a sense of the place of work that will entice candidates best-suited to the job, thereby increasing employee satisfaction, retention and loyalty as well as conserving resources.
# # #
Post Comment:
Trackback URL: http://www.prweb.com/pingpr.php/RW1wdC1TaW5nLUNvdXAtSGFsZi1TcXVhLUNvdXAtWmVybw==
Bookmark -
Del.icio.us |
Furl It |
Technorati |
Ask |
MyWeb |
Propeller |
Live Bookmarks |
Newsvine |
TailRank |
Reddit |
Slashdot |
Digg |
Stumbleupon |
Google Bookmarks |
Sphere |
Blink It |
Spurl
|
