Intro
What is it like to spend one day at a top company finding ways to capture its culture through videos and photos? I have to say it’s pretty exciting.
This week we spent a full day at our client’s offices in Bucharest.
At CV30, we make videos and photos that grasp the company culture and post them on cv30.co website, following the company page template our team developed. For this to happen in a way that respects the company’s standard while being catchy enough to raise the interest of potential candidates, we developed a multistep process that I will describe in the following sections.
Our team consists of a Sales Rep and an Employer Branding Expert; these roles are covered by Lavi and me, depending on the situation. We add a talented Content Producer to the mix – Codri and bring George, CV30’s Project Manager. He usually takes care of some technical aspects of video and photo shooting. All three of my colleagues – Lavi, Codri, and George have an eye for instagramable corners and posing, and they all challenge each other to find the hidden gems on every set.
Selling CV30’s Employer Branding services
The sales team gets in touch with business representatives inside the company, most often HR or Employer Branding Associates, interested in promoting the company’s employer brand.
Employers are usually attracted by our way of doing things because it conveys a more transparent and authentic approach that focuses on the people who make up the company, not just the nature of work.
In the early stages, we try to understand the primary characteristics of the company culture, what type of candidates they address and what is the Employer Value Proposition or EVP. Simply put, the EVP consists of all those things that differentiate the company from the other employers. It should answer the candidate’s question of What’s in it for me?
The Employer Branding Expert enters the scene
After the employer decides we are the right team to help them with the employer branding endeavours, we move forward with actions whose purpose is to add all the info related to the client company’s culture in a frame we developed internally.
Together with the client, we fill in all the general info about the company, settle on a target audience, and further develop a customised set of questions we use as a base for creating the videos. We establish the key members of the client’s team who are most suitable for answering those questions and use the video interview format to keep things casual and natural. We don’t recommend that they learn their speeches by heart, and we don’t use prompters.
Our goal is to capture the company’s essence so that when we start promoting the company page, it will attract like-minded candidates who believe they can fit nicely as part of that team.
It should be noted there are many details to be taken into account when we embark on delivering a complete employer profile from background setup to managing camera shyness and helping people relax while they’re telling their story. There are many good videographers and photographers, but working with people’s emotions while guiding the conversation to reveal differentiators in company culture is a skill that very few possess.
Aaaand Action!
The experience with our client was pretty much seamless.
We arrived during the morning and set up all the necessary equipment: cameras and lights.
We shot most of the videos in a relaxation area where we moved around the furniture and decorations to make it look nice and aligned with the creative concept we decided on.
The purpose of these materials is to promote a traineeship program that has been going on for several years. It takes young graduates through different departments and enhances their professional development with the help of a mentor from the management team and a functional ambassador.
We had three video interviews: one with the General Manager, another one with an ex-trainee who is now a full-time employee within the company and a Senior Manager who guided many trainees in different editions of the traineeship. This mix of roles helps candidates better understand the trainee experience, get an idea about the leadership style and find out whom they can rely on during their time spent in the company.
Everybody was well prepared. We could all tell that they genuinely enjoy what they are doing at work on a day to day basis. It was one of the lucky situations where all the client’s team members were highly articulated and formulated their ideas without much effort. They answered all questions on point and provided helpful information for any graduate who might want to start a career inside the company.
Finally, we took some photo portraits with other team members and captured all the inviting spaces the office had to offer. We will use the photos on the website and add testimonials about what it is like to work there.
What happens next?
Our editing team will put everything in place in 3 to 5 business days. We will cut the videos until they get to around 2 minutes each and arrange all the materials on the company’s page.
The client will be able to update this page whenever they want and post weekly or monthly updates on our website, the same way they do it on other Social Media Platforms.
After everything is done and approved, we will start an online campaign to promote their employer brand to graduates around the country to raise awareness around the traineeship program.
Final thoughts
Having this type of experience, where we wander around big corporations’ hallways and meeting rooms, made us develop a unique sense for interpreting office vibes early on and tell if that’s genuinely an environment suited for young professionals.
It’s also entertaining because we get to interact with all types of professionals, exchange ideas and get the chance to see what it’s like to be in their shoes for a brief period.
On a personal note, I have to say it’s nice to be back in our clients’ offices and interact with them face to face. Yes, we still had to keep the recommended distance and wear our masks, but being around people other than my team was something I looked forward to. I’m not including my team in this equation because we already spend time together every workday. We skipped the work from home trend and were back in the office in May 2020. We enjoy each other’s presence and prefer to work in the same space. Talking about the miracle of cultural fit…
A not-so-short laugh break with my lovely colleagues
At CV30, we believe the right work environment is just as important as finding the right job. We put company culture to the forefront of career search, helping professionals find a team of amazing people and colleagues that will allow them – and their careers – to flourish.
| If work isn’t fun, you’re not playing on the right team. Frank Sonnenberg