Saturday April 5th, 2008
Red Bull, Jason Bourne, and Ellen Degeneres: Don't be afraid of pop-culture references in job ads

Last September, we posted a tongue-in-cheek, internal promo video on YouTube. It was produced for a corporate event we had in September 2007, so we didn't do a whole lot of external promotion - we really only posted it on YouTube because it seemed a shame not to share something that we liked so much and had so much fun doing.

(You can see the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43dap5lqH3Y )

But in the past 7 days, something happened: traffic to the video increased by 18%. In the past 7 months, the video had had about 1000 views; in the past 7 days, we'd suddenly had about 200.

At first we wondered what the heck had happened.

And then we realized: 7 days ago, we'd posted a couple of job advertisements which were decidedly irreverent - instead of another boring list of skills and experience requirements, we'd asked for someone with the energy of a litre of Red Bull, the persistency of Jason Bourne, the popularity of Ellen Degeneres, and the brain of Jon Stewart. The job postings included a link to the video.

(You can see one of the job postings here: http://www.head2head.jobs)

For all the talk about how much 'good' job postings can increase the quality and quantity of applicants, many recruiters still shy away from this kind of job ad - they take longer to write, and seem somehow more 'risky'. There's no question that pop-culture references have to be used wisely - a job ad that references, say, Chris Crocker (the 'Leave Britney alone' guy) might be just a little too obscure for the average job-seeker - in order to avoid credibility problems. But a job ad that references someone like Jon Stewart is going to attract people who like Jon Stewart; and since his audience typically skews above-average in intelligence and education, it's a safe bet that you're going to end up with above-average candidates.

Of course, the proof is in the hiring: Over the next few weeks, we'll look at the hires that were made as a result of these job ads.

Tags

ads   culture   pop   references   YouTube  

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http://www.head2head.ca/blog.php?pl=b92018933dd031ce581d97706b0550c8

About the Authors

Paul Dodd
Co-founder and President
Head2Head Canada

Paul has one simple goal: To help companies hire great people - and get the most out of every recruiting dollar they spend. That's why he's recognized as one of the best recruitment-industry thinkers in Canada.

Sarah Welstead
Director, User Experience
Head2Head

Passionate about recruitment branding and delivering great candidate experiences, Sarah is a frequent author and media commentator on older workers and generational trends in the talent market.

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