The Ladders ad: Decent concept, terrible execution

Posted February 12th, 2011 in blog_news, For Employers, For Job Seekers

I first saw this a few weeks ago, and keep meaning to write about it:  The terrible new ad for The Ladders job board.  If you haven’t seen it, take a look:

Normally I’m a big fan of ‘irreverent’ ads like this, especially when they’re mostly designed for the internet.  With so many messages coming at all of us every minute of the day, sometimes you need something a little offbeat to cut through the clutter.

But this…no.

If I’m an ambitious 30-something who’s serious about my career, are badly-dressed, not-particularly-attractive people sliding around on boardroom tables really reflective of my aspirations?  More importantly, if I’m an employer with serious jobs to offer, are the candidates in this video the ones I’m going to find appealing?

Now, I have no problem with sexing up the whole job search process – after all, looking for a job is a lot like dating.  But The Ladders is supposed to be for the ‘elite’:  It positions itself as the place to go when you’re looking for a $100k+/year job.

(The #1 comment on this video is “That mature in the blue dress is hurtin for a squirtin.”)

5 great (accidental) recruiting videos

Posted July 17th, 2010 in blog_news

Ah, recruiting videos.

Done well, they’re almost guaranteed to generate more A-list candidates, even at the senior management level.

Done poorly, however, they can do some serious damage to your recruitment brand.  (You know how you’ve always wanted to work at Google?  Watching this video may make you change your mind.)

I’m starting to think that the best recruiting videos are the ‘accidental’ ones:  The videos that were made for other reasons (an internal training video, a video birthday message from employees to the president, vlogs, or even commercials) but which also make the viewer think:  “Wow, I bet it’s fun to work there.”

Click here to check out these fantastic vids