DE Talk Unplugged: Pushing Creative Limits with Recruit Rooster

by | Mar 4, 2021 | Networking and Education, Recruitment Marketing

Despite its name, human resources often earns a bad rap for being impersonal. The good news is, Recruit Rooster by DirectEmployers is dedicating their entire flock to helping employers step outside their comfort zone through creativity, to show potential applicants what they really have to offer! In our latest episode of the DE Talk Podcast, Drew Palmer and Jordan Hartman of the Recruit Rooster creative team sat down for a discussion on the creative process, tips on how employers can take advantage of the resources already at their disposal, and how they’ve had to be *extra* creative themselves during the pandemic. Take a look at the snippet below for a sneak peek and then listen to this latest episode in its entirety for more great insight!

Jordan Hartman:

So, we know our company culture and what we deal with on a daily basis within Recruit Rooster and DirectEmployers, but it’s really interesting and exciting to be a fly on the wall in some of these other companies and see how they hire, and what their company cultures are and their employment branding. Then everything that we do is exclusively tailored to that company.

Even though we might have an idea of what we think it should look like or the final product, ultimately, we are putting the power and the control in the human resources department that we’re working with.

Drew Palmer:

Yes, exactly. So, when you’re defining your creative process or your recruitment process, you’re trying to spruce up your career site with video or photo or design, and you’re working with an agency because a lot of the time, companies don’t have enough resources for HR to complete some of their goals. I find that very surprising because a lot of the companies that we have been fortunate to work with have great marketing departments and products, and are very, very tech savvy. But when it comes to building out their career site or recruitment, they just lack funds.

So, it’s either they get put on a list, the HR department does, for let’s say a video project, and then they have to wait until marketing has time. Usually by the time that is produced, it’s too late. So, turn-around time is a big thing, but it’s just very cool to help these HR departments express themselves quickly and efficiently. 

Jordan Hartman:

So, Drew, we’ve done a lot of different projects with a lot of different companies. Do you have a favorite one, or a project or a video that you think you knocked out of the park? 

Drew Palmer:

Yeah, if I had to choose a favorite, I’d probably go with Frontdoor. That was a wild project where Justin Clem was a great customer in the fact that he kind of let us spread our wings and get creative, and push the limits. The three projects that we kind of narrowed it down to were essentially a puppet show where we had puppets represent employers and the current employees, and ask questions related to recruitment…that would have been quite a challenge.

The next one was bringing in their kids to answer questions on behalf of the employees—another just wild idea out there. The one that we landed on was the first-person video where it was kind of representing the first day as you walked in for your interview, and then your first day also working there. So, it was a very cool first-person experience that we got to dive into. Jordan was on-site with me helping the shoot.

Jordan Hartman:

Yeah, that was my first on-site visit and it definitely set high expectations for any future trips to build off of. So, we had Drew in a mountain bike helmet with a camera attached to the top, we had the Memphis Grizzly’s mascot, we had a confetti tunnel. It was a crazy, crazy week, but all around I think the final product really fit their brand and fit the company culture that they were trying to convey. On our side of things, it was great. It was really exciting and let us push the creative limits. 

Drew Palmer:

Yeah. It wouldn’t be a creative project if there wasn’t a wrench thrown into the mix. We filmed 12 scenes on the helmet camera. We had someone take us around and narrate for us what was going on, showing each part of the building. We got home, we edited up the first draft and found out that the person who led the video, who narrated it and was in every scene, actually had left the company and we weren’t allowed to use him in the video, which goes back to the passionate thing of showing people who actually work at the company in the video.

So, we had to really re-evaluate all the footage and crop around him, and get really creative with that. So, that was definitely a challenge, but we were able to get creative with it. Different transitions and cropping, and edit him out. We had to kind of alter the plan a little bit, but it ended up working out.

Jordan Hartman:

That’s part of the creative process.

Drew Palmer:

Yeah. 

Jordan Hartman:

Yeah, even though you had a little bit of the plan changed halfway through, we were still able to execute it. I think the mood and overall plan and outline of the video was still the same. You wouldn’t know now, so I think that’s interesting to look back and watch. Definitely would recommend you check out the behind the scenes of that whole trip because it was crazy to look at. When you see the final product versus how we were actually recording it, and the looks that Drew is getting when he’s walking around with a mountain bike helmet in this corporate office in Memphis, Tennessee. I think that defines what we do on a daily basis.

Drew Palmer:

Yeah, definitely. If you’re listening to this and kind of a little freaked out, like, “A first-person mountain bike helmet recruitment video, how do you even start that process?”, don’t be afraid. It’s okay. We can help and assist that. Actually, any agency helps and assists with that. So, we’ll kind of give you some tips and tools on how to get that process going from the drawing board to reality. 

Jordan Hartman:

Yeah. Looking at the creative process, we typically start with step one of defining the problem. Then we brainstorm, we make the rough drafts, the storyboard, all that involving our HR person and their marketing team. Then, we would go on-site and film and shoot photography, and capture all of this great content. Then we revise it and deliver the solution.

Can we maybe look at one of our more recent projects we did with American Heart Association and defining what their problem was, or the need that they had, and how we went about solving that issue?

…to be continued

Listen to the full episode to see how Jordan and Drew tackled the American Heart Association project and completely rebranded their career site with the addition of two great recruitment videos that truly show the “heart” of the company—and stay tuned for a new episode coming soon!

Kacie Koons
Latest posts by Kacie Koons (see all)
Share This