Storytelling Archives - Indigo Blue Productions

A graduate recruitment video can be an invaluable ally when reaching out to find the next generation of talent for your company, or it can fall completely flat. The outcome largely hinges on how the videos are used.

Most major graduate recruiters make use of recruitment videos these days. They have become an accepted part of online and campus-based recruitment. The danger of this lies in companies treating recruitment videos as an obligatory box ticking exercise, and failing to approach them as a strategic tool. With hundreds of companies competing for the same pool of skilled graduates, the best results will go to the recruiters who know what talent they are looking for and how to use video to get their attention.

When planning a new graduate recruitment video for the coming season, start by asking yourself the following strategic questions:

What Is The ‘Profile’ Of The Graduates I Am Searching For?

People are all individuals, but it is possible to group people into broad categories based on their aspirations, socio-economic background, degree choice and spending habits. Your graduate profile isn’t so much the skills you are looking for and what you can offer candidates, but what the worldview of your target candidate is likely to be. Are they motivated by money, by career progression, or by adventure? Are they looking for security or to break the mould?

Consider your corporate culture as an employer, which will be different for an investment bank than it will be for a tech start-up. The best candidates are where there is a clear alignment in vision and outlook with your company. These are likely to be the people who will work hardest and be motivated to stay with your business for the longest time.

What Can I Offer My Candidates That Our Competitors Can’t?

A typical graduate will see dozens of recruitment videos, all populated by people wearing similar suits, working in similar offices, for similar companies. Step outside the box for a moment and look at the key characteristics that make your company different. This may come down to your internal company culture, the clients you work for, or your approach to your services. Get stakeholders from different company departments involved to pin down what makes your business unique. The job of a graduate recruitment video is to portray your programme and your business in an appealing and convincing way.

What Are The Essential Skills And Strengths I Require In My Candidates?

For your candidates to be successful and add real value to your company, they need to have certain skills and strengths. These may include independence, leadership, loyalty, presentation skills or mathematical ability. Every company is different, but the selection process begins with the video itself. Use the features of the video to clearly express what you are looking for from your candidates, so that graduates can select whether or not they fit the bill. This helps ensure that only the most suitable candidates start the application process.

Does My Video Portray An Accurate Depiction Of Our Company?

It is tempting to paint a dashing and glamorous depiction of your company in your recruitment video; sweeping vistas of New York, sparkling modern offices, swanky corporate dinners. How much of this is realistic for an entry-level employee, or someone on your graduate programme? Setting the wrong expectations in your video is going to lead to disappointed and de-motivated graduates, who are unlikely to do well in your programme. Worse still, they may be tempted to jump ship to one of your competitors.

The Ultimate Guide To Graduate Recruitment Videos

Your graduate recruitment video has the potential to raise the profile of your company and help you win over the best talent for your graduate programme. However, to be successful you need to adopt a strategic, marketing-based approach to your content, coupled with creative thinking and great production standards. At Indigo Blue Productions we can help you produce eye-catching, engaging videos that set you apart from your competitors and bring in the best talent for your company. For more information, please download our free Ultimate Guide to Graduate Recruitment Videos, which is crammed full of useful hints and tips. Click here to claim your copy today.

Remember when you were younger and your parents advised you to never tell tales? Well, there has never been a better time to ignore that advice!

Before you all go running off, hear me out for a moment. We live in a ‘Communications Age’ where we are consistently encouraged to share our story on social media, via blogs and videos. But what does ‘sharing our story’ actually mean and, are we any good at it?

Telling tales your audience will remember

We’ve been transmitting information from one person to another and one generation to the next, using story, for thousands of years from the days of the cavemen and cavewomen, painting pictures on their walls, through folklore, myth and legend, to modern media. Stories surround us, guide us, teach and inform us.

Walt Disney famously said, “Of all of our inventions for mass communication, pictures still speak the most universally understood language.”

By finding ways of sharing our story, our employees will be more engaged and our clients will want to do business with us.

Telling tales – Why should I care?
One of our team recently went on a training course with one of the world’s leading motivational speakers, Les Brown, who has 3 questions he suggests we ask ourselves when preparing a speech or presentation

“Who are you?”
“What do you have?”
“Why should I care?”

They are great questions because so often at a meeting or conference we notice how it’s almost always the senior manager who speaks although, not always with confidence. Their audience know who they are and because of their position it’s typical for them to present the latest update about the company or department, including the results and what to expect over the next 12 months.

I wonder though, how many people sit in the audience and ask themselves, “why should I care?” or “How does this relate specifically to me?”

A sorry tale

We ran a conference recently for a new client and the presentations were heavy with data. So much so, we couldn’t read the writing on the 12ft screen! The speakers spent most of the day talking at the delegates with just one very short Q&A session. So, for the visual and kinesthetic preferences sat amongst the audience it was pretty hard going. As a consequence, very little of their message would have resonated because it didn’t match the communication or learning styles of all the participants.

As a result, we were disappointed to see for the first time at one of our events, some of the delegates falling asleep!

When we had the debrief with our client afterwards they admitted the conference was typical of how they usually ran. Their audience had started to accept the company conferences were a day out of the office with the same old messages! Their speakers were so busy concentrating on remembering all of their content, their focus was on themselves instead of their audience. The strategic company messages were literally lost in translation. It was time to make some changes…

Plato said “Wise men talk because they have something to say, fools because they have to say something.”

A happy tale

The good news is, one of our business coaches is already working with our client in preparation for their Autumn event. They are developing the speakers to deliver their message with impact, and designing the content and agenda to make the day more interactive and memorable for everyone.

Building a bridge to our audience is vital if we want them to connect with us and our message. To make our message memorable we should create a variety of ways to do that. In fact, Les Brown believes when we listen to other people’s stories we can use them as examples to relate a point and connect with others. He says, “The power of a story is fueled by the energy of who you are, behind the words that you speak. This energy creates life changing moments for the listeners.”

“So, what emotion would you like to generate in your audience as a result of sitting through one of your sessions?” For example, if it’s to be inspired, excited or motivated, then consider what stories you can share that generate that emotion. Use music and video to embed the story further.

This is when you truly start to ignite their spirit and unlock their mind to possibilities. If you just want them to be more knowledgeable, you may as well save yourself a whole lot of money and let them read about it on the intranet back in the office.

Here are a few ‘tell tale tips’ to make an impact with your audience at your next meeting.

Use people in the company who are proficient in facilitating, to either host or deliver the sessions. Alternatively, recruit the services of an external host.
Generate discussion groups at the tables at the end of each session to share with each other what they’ve learnt from that session.
Use social media for Q & A to help the participants who are not as willing to put their hands up or speak in front of everyone.
Provide ‘graffiti boards’ for individuals to share their ideas – 6ft high white boards placed in the refreshments area.
Create a tailored hash-tag for the event where individuals can tweet their thoughts and comments. You will get a sense of the energy and interest levels
Use video and music to share your stories and deliver your messages.
Include a variety of visual, auditory and kinesthetic words so you connect with ‘all’ of your audience regardless of their communication preference.
If possible, use the advice giving at the TED Talks in only speaking in 18-minute segments.

We hope you find these tips helpful. Let us know if you require the services of a professional production company to help you with your next event. If you have speakers who would like to deliver an impactful session and require development from one of our business coaches, please do get in touch.

Graham Wadsworth,
Creative Director

Category: Storytelling

Why telling tales is good for your business!