The best talent is attracted to companies where they believe there is a cultural fit and that they will enjoy their roles and develop personally and professionally. Knowing when that is the case is hard for a potential employer to convey. How do you reach our and create empathy with your target audience? How do you get an emotional link that takes passive interest into activated application?
Storytelling is a hugely powerful asset in the talent attraction toolkit but one that isn't in many company's tool boxes. If it is then it is used rarely. One of the best routes to tell stories is by video and whereas this was once an expensive and complicated process it is now quite easy to create mid range production quality video assets. Employees bringing every aspect of their working life into the public domain through sharing stories about work, fun and CSR activities allows external audiences a real insight into the employer brand of the organisation and gets them to engage. This content can be shared on careers website, social channels and You Tube channels and they can really move the dial on shifting perceptions of great talent.
The difference a video can make is perhaps best illustrated when you recall the movies that made you cry Lassie, My Girl, Manchester by the Sea even the Bodyguard when she thinks he has died.
So get storytelling, shoot some movies that bring your employer brand to life!
It is quiet and dark. The theater is hushed. James Bond skirts along the edge of a building as his enemy takes aim. Here in the audience, heart rates increase and palms sweat. I know this to be true because instead of enjoying the movie myself, I am measuring the brain activity of a dozen viewers. Many business people have already discovered the power of storytelling in a practical sense – they have observed how compelling a well-constructed narrative can be. But recent scientific work is putting a much finer point on just how stories change our attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors. As social creatures, we depend on others for our survival and happiness.
https://hbr.org/2014/10/why-your-brain-loves-good-storytelling
