Do Something Different With Your Recruiting Collateral... Please...

But for the love of Lebron, please stop using the stock photos where everyone looks the same, happy and not like anyone you've ever seen at your company.

Am I saying your employees aren't attractive?  No.  I'm saying your employees:

--don't wear plastic smiles...

--don't look like they just finished a GQ photo shoot, or

--don't look like things are always going great at your company.

Does anyone not know that those photos are total BS? Why is it that 99 out of 100 pieces of recruiting collateral are stale? A while back I wondered aloud if recruiting collateral featuring a nose pick was ever appropriate.  Call me sophomoric, but I'm simply trying to interrupt the pattern of played, vanilla, risk-free recruiting collateral. 

I think the safe play is now the dumb play.  I think that if you use those stock photos, the best talent knows you're full of crap.  I think the way to get engagement on the recruiting trail with the best is to break away from the lame pack.

Attached below - here is our latest play at DAXKO. We used real team members at DAXKO for the pics and went with a counter - "how not to get hired".  As a result, we made fun of the hipster alternative to the handshake (the pound), people who steal our free sodas and those that have the audacity to sneeze at the most inopportune times.  The piece is designed to be used at career fairs and is front and back (think the size of a door hanger), with the front playing out the theme and the back laying out the opportunities and how people can follow the DAXKO vibe online via the various social media sandboxes we play in.

Feel free to carve it up in the comments. We learn from comments.  Hit us hard enough and we'll go back to the stock photos <sniffle>...

Comments

[Kevin W. Grossman]

Agreed. Love the creativity and the fact you're using real work folk. Key to know about the company and job/s you're applying for. But how many applicants sneeze on the hiring manager? For the love of Lebron?

[Annette DeHaven]

Loved this post. There's so much to be said for using images of your team over a played out stock photo that may also be in play by (who knows how many) other companies out there. One of my favorite projects was this one for Maidenform - internal posters used in the halls of HR. The employees were the inspiration for the brand's message. Why match it up to stock photos? http://blog.alstin.com/when-less-needs-to-be-more-deck-the-hr-halls

[Mikebboston]

Authenticity. Novel! Curious - Did someone at DAXKO come up with concept or did you use a design firm? Whoever it was deserves some free soda...

[Agent Friday]

I think it looks great. It's unique, it stands out, it's memorable and it will get noticed.

Great job!

[survivor]

Nice, fun, authentic, but perhaps a little too quirky ?

[Digit-Al]

Good thing I'm not currently looking for a job at DAXKO, because I didn't research the company prior to asking this question...
Is your targeted recruit under 30? It seems like this could deter anyone over about 40 from giving you their digits.

[Puma Outlet]

thank goodness for rule breaking! I love your page.Thank you for another great article.so you are allowed to change them whenever you want.