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Recruiting the YouTube generation

BY PATRICIA KITCHEN | patricia.kitchen@newsday.com

A still from "Dude, Where's My Proposal"

The Deloitte & Touche video "Dude, Where's My Proposal," starring employee Divyesh Jevtani, who says it was a great way to get across the idea that not everyone sits at a desk crunching numbers all day (Courtesy of Deloitte & Touche, Newsday / September 28, 2007)

Dozens of resume-carrying students dressed in interview suits cruised Hofstra University's job fair for finance and accounting majors last Tuesday evening. But when they reached the Ernst & Young table, instead of being called on to sell themselves, they were called on to create videos -- ones in which they share their thoughts on their career expectations and the accounting/professional-services field.

"We want to hear your voice. ... We want to know what you think," said Joe Maturando, Ernst & Young's head campus recruiter for New England and the metropolitan area, sporting a blue T-shirt with the saying, "Your future, your vision, your video."

It was part of the kickoff of the company's "Reel Influence" video competition being rolled out on more than 75 college campuses, with individuals or teams of students invited to conceive, shoot and submit videos by Dec. 1, the best of which will be posted to the company's Facebook page and used in next year's campus recruiting campaign.

Initial reaction was positive. Ian Flaherty, 21, a senior majoring in accounting, says he's considering entering if he can get help from a friend with a video camera. He says he's inspired by the top prize -- getting to accompany James Turley, the company's chief executive, on a business trip. "Talk about networking," says Flaherty. "That's about as good as it gets."

The video competition is just one of a number of new approaches some employers are finding to connect with those in what's called the YouTube generation, those in their 20s who enter the workplace with certain skills, preferences and expectations, including they will be valued, asked for their input and opinion and be encouraged to make an early impact in their jobs.

Yes, they also are voracious video viewers and creators. Those in the 18- to 29-year-old age category were called "the most contagious carriers in the spread of online video" in research released in July from the Pew Internet & American Life Project. That survey of 2200 adults found 76 percent of those in that age group receiving video links, compared to 77 percent of those who are 30-49 years old and 71 percent of those 50-64. But when it comes to really engaging -- sending video links to others, viewing with others, rating videos, posting comments about videos -- this younger group emerges as the leader of the generational pack.

Earlier this month, online recruiting site Monster got in the game by announcing a new feature employers can sign on for -- help with creating and including videos with their online recruitment ads, following CareerBuilder, owned in part by Newsday's parent company, Tribune Co., which launched such a service last fall.

Other employers making use of recruitment videos:

-Google with its "Inside Look at Working at Google" video on YouTube, which has gotten more than 85,000 views;

-The Home Depot, which includes on its Web site "realistic job preview" videos of roles such as sales associate and human resources manager;

-Enterprise Rent-A-Car, which features 13 videos on its site with comments from executives to entry-level employees.

Part of Ernst & Young's strategy is "targeting media that is relevant to this generation," says Dan Black, director of campus recruiting. That and playing to young people's inclination to want to learn from their peers.

Already, Ernst & Young has a well-established company page on Facebook. And last summer, interns from three locations were asked to create vlogs -- blogs containing video -- to share their experiences.

Such employee- -- and now student- -- generated video is far from mainstream, but Steven Rothberg, founder and president of Minneapolis-based CollegeRecrutier.com, says he expects it to be "the wave of the future," at least with employers that do significant entry-level hiring. Already, he says, in the last six months he's seen a major jump in the number of employers posting recruiting videos to sites such as YouTube and Google Video.

But it will take a leap for some companies to forgo the polished, corporate-produced videos, complete with whitewashing and flattering spin, in favor of a more amateur, but frank, look that can come from handing video cameras over to younger staff.

In the Ernst & Young intern vlogs, students opted to shoot images of their cubicles, the offices they might get if they're ever made partner, their favorite lunchtime eateries.

"We all know employers have warts," says Rothberg, especially in a world where they're easier to ferret out through online searches and social networking buddies. So employers that present slick images and "pretend they are perfect will lose credibility," he says. A preferable approach, he says, is to allow younger employees some leeway in portraying the company in a "realistic, yet positive light."

He points to a series of videos posted on YouTube created by teams of employees at Deloitte & Touche USA, with the company's encouragement. In June, Deloitte announced a film festival competition, inviting employees to conceive and shoot videos with a general theme of "What's Your Deloitte?"

More than 370 were submitted by teams of employees, with sub-themes ranging from diversity to a day-in-the-life. Based on employee voting, they were winnowed down to the 14 now viewable on YouTube.

Among the scenarios -- an employee brushing his teeth and otherwise getting ready for work in the morning; an employee getting and responding to e-mail during her off hours; and a young man primping in the men's room mirror and practicing the pitch he'll make in an upcoming meeting.

Yes, this is a departure, says Cathy Benko, chief talent officer and sponsor of the project. Instead of the company "pushing" the message out, "we flipped it and asked, 'What's your message?'"

Part recruiting, part employee-engagement initiative, she says the festival has already met one goal. While retention and employee satisfaction can be measured down the road, she and others are experiencing the internal "buzz" that's been generated, she says. The internal site got 200,000 unique visitors during the voting period this summer, teams e-mailed their colleagues soliciting votes, some internal stars have emerged as colleagues recognize them as players in the most popular videos.

"For us, at the end of the day it's all about greater connection," says Benko, who played a cameo role in one of the videos. It's "reality TV meets corporate America," says Jill Brower, 24, global editorial specialist in the Manhattan office, who worked with a team to create the "Dude, Where's My Proposal" video that is one of the 14 on YouTube. In her case, just two months into her new job when the contest was announced, it was a way to meet and get to know colleagues practically overnight.

Her teammate, Divyesh Jevtani, now recognized as the guy practicing his pitch in the men's room mirror, says it was a great way to get across the idea that not everyone sits at a desk crunching numbers all day.

No, he has not heard from Hollywood yet, but Jevtani, 24, a global e-communications specialist in Manhattan, says he has enjoyed the recognition, getting to host his team at his apartment, as well as sending the message to his friends that he gets to "work at a cool organization."