Why and How to Produce Effective Recruiting Videos

When unemployment is low and recruiting is more competitive, marketing departments have to help their firms stand out from the crowd. Now more than ever, your website may form a candidate’s first impression of your firm. Adding video to your site can be an instant leg up. Done well, video is one of the best ways to immediately connect with a potential new hire. But if done poorly, it can be a turn-off before you even say “hello.” Read on to learn from Jaclyn Braga, Director of Marketing & Business Development at Morse, who shared insights and feedback with me after we worked together on a successful career video campaign.

How We Started

Jacki reached out to me when the Executive Director at her firm saw another website we had designed with a video she really liked. That video was more of a “firm overview,” whereas Jacki’s goal, based on what she heard from the attorneys, was more focused on Associate hiring. She said, “I’m hopeful that the video will be 3 minutes or less. I don’t think attention spans are even that long! Ideally, I’d also like a series of short, 30-60 second videos from several Associates (or recently elevated Members) talking about what attracted them to Morse and why they’ve stayed.”

We both agreed that a longer video on the Careers page could be helpful to those already interested in Morse, but shorter clips, shared on social channels in a campaign format, would likely be much more successful overall. Jacki added, “I just don’t think the canned ‘we support your career; we provide a path for growth’ pitch works too well these days. I think our target audience wants to see our Associate Joe balancing his work and his life with his newborn twins!”

From there, we formulated a plan.

Step One: Selecting Attorneys to Feature

Since we wanted to keep the filming to one day, we determined that we could interview four attorneys comfortably, in addition to shooting B-roll. Jacki started by asking attorneys if they would be interested in participating. She noted that “some people were really up for it, others were absolutely not. I understand that being in front of a camera is not for everyone.” Jacki spoke with many of the attorneys, and although selecting just four was challenging, looking back, she said that “all the info I gathered was really beneficial. I learned a lot about the attorneys here.” In the end, Jacki and the Managing Partner selected two women and two men who had unique, meaningful stories that would work well representing the firm.

Step Two: Choosing the Videography Team

I’ve worked with several different videographers, and the results have been dramatically different. Videography, like photography, is an art. If the person behind the camera does not have artistic vision, the end product will invariably be flat and boring. Not only must the videography team have an eye for lighting, technical expertise for sound, and production acumen, they must be able to engage the attorneys, make them feel comfortable, and get them to speak naturally. Most importantly, the team has to be able to edit the hours of footage into concise stories, each with a captivating story arc that keeps viewers watching. Our crew consisted of three team members, one behind the camera, one conducting the interviews, and another handling the sound and technology, and additionally, I art directed throughout.

Step Three: Prep, Prep, and Prep Some More

Jacki then spent time speaking one-on-one with each of the four attorneys. She compiled specific questions that we’d ask during the filming to get them talking. Although we knew, in advance, the stories we wanted them to tell, we absolutely did not want them to sound scripted or rehearsed. We’d often ask a question a few times, in a slightly different way, so they had several takes to respond. Using an interview style of filming and letting the attorneys just roll with it elicited some unexpected, really interesting “happy surprises.”

Step Four: Filming & Editing

On the day of the shoot, we interviewed each attorney for about 45 minutes. From the footage, we created one longer video that is featured on the website’s Careers page, as well as 20 short videos that have been used on other pages of the site as well as on social media.

The Results

Jacki has not yet shared all of the videos, but to date, the results have been excellent. She says:

“The videos have been getting great feedback. Internally, it’s been really nice seeing our department chairs encourage their teams to share/repost them. This campaign only works if we all do our best to extend its reach on social, so whole firm participation has been really important and people have stepped up.

“I circulate the links when I post a video and it’s wonderful when those emails start an internal email chain. People learn about each other, how they found the firm, and contribute their own stories. It has been excellent for building camaraderie and starting internal conversations.

“Externally, we’ve seen some nice social analytics too. We began the rollout in October (3 videos and 1 quote posted that month). The second video (Joe’s ‘Family Emergency’ video) saw the most LinkedIn Impressions and Likes for the month and had 2,374 views on LinkedIn. Dan’s ‘Approach Morse’ video (the 3rd one released) had the most shares/reposts of the month.

“Overall, the firm’s LinkedIn page saw its most Impressions YTD, its most Comments YTD, and its most Shares/Reposts YTD in October! I have to assume that had something to do with the change in content.

“We’re still a little too new to Instagram to really have a good baseline, but we did see the number of Accounts Reached hit a high in October.”

Watch the Videos

Check out a few of the videos, below:

Life at Morse

Family Emergency

Mentorship at Morse

Morse Versus the Big Firms

Visit Morse’s YouTube page to see more videos from the campaign.