Onrec Feature - What They See

By Paula Santonocito

Itís not just what you say to candidates; itís also what they see--at your website, in your recruiting material, and in other advertising. Visual images impact the perception of your organization as an employer, and can either help or hinder your efforts to attract the right talent.

Online examples
Consider Internet search leader Googleís careers site, Google Jobs, as a best practices example. A jobseeker visiting the site immediately gets a feel for what the company has to offer. Text, of course, tells part of the story, but arguably the photos have more impact.

People with dogs, people wearing T-shirts, people playing foosball, and a person playing a piano are only a few examples of the photos Google includes at the site. These visuals help create a picture of the company.

The photos depict Google as a casual, fun, creative employer, geared toward younger workers. In other words, if youíre a middle-aged manager who likes wearing a suit and tie to work and values a traditional office environment, Google probably isnít for you.

Perhaps even more telling is the ìinside look at Googleî video available at the site. As might be expected, it features workers and management who speak about life at Google.

But even without the commentary, the video talks. Shedding light on Googleís corporate culture, it opens with lava lamps. This initial image is followed by a T-shirt clad employee passing through a corridor of a less-than-traditional-looking headquarters building. The video shows employees sitting on colored balls and people bicycling. The camera also pans Googleís casual work environment, a sumptuous buffet, and an exercise room that rivals any professional health club.

In addition, the video features footage of the companyís childcare center where kids engage in activities, and it shows workers interacting with their children. If these images werenít enough to create an impression, the video ends with a shot of Cofounder and President of Technology Sergey Brin showing off his Z-CoiLs, unique, spring-heel shoes from Z-CoiL Footwear of Albuquerque, N.M. The message, perhaps, is that at Google thereís head-to-toe interest in action and innovation.

Google recently earned the coveted top spot on Fortune magazineís Best Companies to Work For in America list, which calls further attention to the companyís legendary culture. Nevertheless, Google relies on its job site to provide information and reinforce its reputation as an employer of choice, and it does so with visual images as well as words.

And itís not only corporate careers sites that rely on visual images for messaging. The job site of social networking site MySpace, MySpace Job$, which is powered by Simply Hired, shows the midsection of a person, presumably a young male, with empty jeansí pockets turned inside out. Chances are MySpace members, many of whom are at the early stages of employment, can relate.

Images and audience
According to David Kippen, Vice President of Global Brand Strategy for TMP Worldwide, the worldís largest independent recruitment advertising agency, selecting visual images for recruitment advertising involves looking through a series of different lens, with a specific focus on different cultures and different sectors.

ìPart of what guides our visual thinking is a cultural context. In India, for example, where family is so important, weíve learned that we need to show groups of people in clusters,î he says.

Kippen contrasts the approach with a location like Texas; because it has more of a lone star culture, for this audience, images of individuals might be used.

The same kind of analysis applies to business sectors. People who work in the petroleum industry, for example, are excited by the fact that they get to build really huge things. In that sort of industry, a project close-up wouldnít be effective, Kippen says. Instead, images of scale and of the output get candidatesí attention.

When positions involve working with ordinary equipment, like the telephone, image choices may not seem as important. But even customer service and tele sales visuals should be chosen with care.

Kippen points out that these images should not just be smiling people or a prim, pretty young woman answering a phone. ìThey should show real people in real clothes visibly enjoying their work,î he says.

Within a particular geographic location and business sector, Kippen recommends drilling down even further, to such details as style of photograph and color palette.

ìYouíre trying to reflect the aspirations of the talent pool back at it,î he says.

The message, when it succeeds, takes candidatesí aspirations, plays off them, and turns those goals and desires back on them. ìIf you come here, youíll get what youíre seeking,î the message says. Thatís the payoff of effective visuals, Kippen explains.

Going forward
Interest in and use of visual images has evolved since the early days of the Internet, as the Internet has evolved from paper on screen to an interactive experience. According to Kippen, itís only going to accelerate.

ìTake the idea of interactivity and multiple it exponentially,î he says.

Pointing out that candidates want to know as much as they can about the actual work experience, Kippen sees online recruitment moving to a very realistic interactive experience based more or less on the television market.

Yet there is one significant difference. Although video technology facilitates interaction, Kippen points out that an employer canít require photographs or personal data from candidates. If during a preliminary screening process, a company can see a candidate, thereís a question as to whether the company opens itself to potential litigation.

In order to avoid this slippery slope, Kippen envisions a Second Life experience, where candidates can enter an employerís world. This will require a backload of content on the employer side that will provide as much of a 360 as possible, he says. It will allow the right talent to select in, and less and less of the wrong talent to opt in.

Whether a company enters the next phase of online recruitment advertising will depend largely on whether it understands the importance of visual images. ìSome of the usual suspects get it and get it very well,î Kippen says.

Nevertheless, he cites how certain industries still arenít making the connection. ìThe worst is the health care arena,î Kippen says. ìThey tend to be less sophisticated and less savvy about integrating all of the imagery from a candidate perspective.î

He gives the example of physicians. They want to understand the support theyíre going to receive and the ways they will interact with senior management. Also, decision-making usually happens in a family context, so location is an important component of the job. But a health care employer instead tends to showcase its latest equipment.

So, how should an employer select its visual images? According to Kippen, the question to ask is whatís the hand guiding the ship. ìFor us, the hand is the brand,î he says, indicating the hand should guide image selection all the way through, and images should speak with the same voice.

Kippen explains that as a candidate gets closer to an organization, the kinds of things s/he wants to know vary. Therefore, communication should be targeted appropriately. A billboard can generate one large message. A four-color print ad can reinforce and support key points. But by the time a candidate gets to an employerís website, ideally the person should be having an in-depth conversation with that organization.

This conversation, like the messaging that comes before it, should heavily on visual images.

ìItís hard to overemphasize the importance of visuals overall,î says Kippen. ìIf handled well, they allow people to read in, in a way text doesnít allow.î

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Paula Santonocito is a journalist specializing in workforce management issues. She is the author of more than 500 articles on a wide range of topics, including online recruitment, which she has covered since the early days of Web-based employment advertising and candidate sourcing. In addition to serving as features editor of Online Recruitment Magazineís North American edition, she also serves as AIRS News editor, overseeing news content for the global recruitment training and technology solutions company at www.airsdirectory.com. Articles by Paula Santonocito are featured in many global and domestic publications and information outlets, including HRWire, a publication to which she regularly contributes. She can be reached at psantonocito@yahoo.com.