A Recruitment Film with a difference

Recruitment Film Title
The story behind our Recruitment Film for Siemens Financial Services

A Recruitment Film with a difference

Earlier on this year we were approached by Siemens Financial Services (Region North) to produce a recruitment film which detailed the cultural changes that had taken place within their business. These changes were introduced in 2010 as a response to a challenge from Siemens’ Global CEO and resulted in the division increasing their profits from €47M to a staggering €61M in a little over four years.

But this wasn’t simply a case of producing a trumpet-blowing recruitment film – this film had two distinct goals to achieve. Firstly, each year the Siemens group of companies run an internal awards program to celebrate the successes amongst their many divisions – and Siemens Financial Services felt that a video submission would be a brilliant way to show their successes off to the judging panel. The film therefore had to reveal what changes had taken place in the business, the challenges this cultural change presented to the management and the impact that it has had on its profitability and, more importantly, the positive effects it had on productivity and self-worth of the staff working within the division.

With a looming deadline for entries the awards submission became the immediate requirement, but the longer term goal was to produce a recruitment film that would show potential employees what would be expected of them if they became part of the Siemens Financial Services team. Having developed a culture of trust and high levels of engagement, they wanted everyone to fully understand and commit to this before applying for a post with them.

Briefing for a Recruitment Film

An assignment such as this takes a lot of consultation with the client in order to ensure the film meets it aims and objectives. Siemens Financial Services had already been drawing up a list of things that needed to be covered in a written awards submission before considering commissioning a film. By the time they had approached Video Artisan they were very clear on what aspects and milestones within the culture change project were important, but didn’t have a clear idea on how this could be conveyed within a short film.

Our suggestion of producing a presenter-led investigative documentary was quickly adopted, and their response to our proposal of using radio and TV presenter Mary Green to front the film was equally enthusiastic. The idea, which we believe we have realised, was to produce an in-depth news report from a neutral perspective with the story being told through a series of interviews with management and staff from Siemens Financial Services.

Filmed over two days at their Stoke Poges HQ, our approach was to single out those employees who were most effected by the cultural change and those who had been influential on specific initiatives. The main storyline was drawn from a long and detailed interview with CEO James Gearey but, equally important (and in line with the cultural change itself), we gathered interviews with employees from every level within the business to demonstrate their buy-in on the initiative. Quite often in these situations you can experience resistance from staff members to being interviewed, but such is the success of the cultural change and sense of ownership amongst everyone in Siemens Financial Services, that we were really spoilt for choice for willing and capable candidates.

recruitment film volunteers
Never short on volunteers to interview for the Siemens recruitment film

Going forward with the Recruitment Film

Whilst this was a very rewarding commission to work on, it is tinged with a little disappointment. Unfortunately, despite their entry being received very positively at global board level, their awards submission was up against incredible competition entries from other Siemens divisions and therefore wasn’t selected for the finals. On the positive side, and as testament to our treatment of their main objective, the film now plays a pivotal role in their recruitment programme.

Are you thinking of commissioning a Recruitment Film?

A recruitment video is an incredibly powerful tool in attracting and retaining the right personnel to your organisation. The production process itself can help you to develop and share your core values and business ethos – therefore pre-qualifying candidates by revealing your expectations of them. Furthermore, it can also be used to share your ideals and ways of working with existing and potential clients.

If you would like to explore the possibilities for your organisation, please contact us today for a no-obligation consultation on 020 3602 3356.

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