Your Employer Branding needs that other video

Somewhere between the voiceover that says “at Company X, people are at the heart of everything we do” and the closing shot of colleagues walking in slow motion toward a coffee machine, we all agreed to pretend this was normal.

The polished corporate video. Gender-balanced. Ethnically inclusive. Friendly smiles. Everyone talking about impact and growth and “being myself at work.”

And maybe that’s not the problem. Maybe the problem is what happens next.

Did you see our video?

It starts in the job interview.

HR: “Did you watch our video before applying?”
Candidate: “Yes, of course.”
HR: “And what did you think?”
Candidate: “It looked great! Very clear. Seemed like a great place to work.”

What else are they supposed to say? They applied. They want the job. You’re sitting across the table. They’re not going to tell you that the video felt like it came out of the HR department’s wishful thinking generator. That it could have been made by any company in your industry. That it left no trace.

They’ll tell you what you want to hear. Just like you told them what you wanted them to believe. It’s a self-reinforcing cycle.

Employer branding isn’t a performance

Don’t get me wrong. A well-crafted video can help. But only when it actually shows something real. Not a over-scripted drama. Not a casting call in business casual. Not a clumsy CEO acting as if he is a gen-Z’er. Great employer branding doesn’t work like advertising. It’s not about making your company look good. It’s about making people feel something true.

You need real stories. From real people. Told in a way that respects the viewer’s intelligence and their time. You need tension. Surprise. Maybe even a little roughness around the edges.

That one engineer who loves the product but hates the process? The intern who didn’t expect to end up here and stayed? The team lead who came back after leaving? Start there. Not with the drone shot. Not with the mission statement.

Generic employer branding videos don’t attract the right talent

If your employer branding makes everyone feel safe, seen and satisfied before they even walk in the door it’s probably not branding. It’s a brochure in motion.

And you don’t need another brochure.