Over the past few years the job market has become increasingly competitive, making it not only hard for job-seekers to stand out from the crowd and land their dream job but also making it challenging for employers to spot the best candidates and convince them to come on board. The war for top talent is back on and companies have had to use all available resources to reach out to their ideal candidates: advertising, social media, mobile strategies and new technology solutions have flourished and now play an integral role in talent attraction strategies.

The release earlier this month of one movie trailer in particular reminds us that one channel in particular plays an influential role in the employer branding strategies: video and film.

Movies such as ‘The Social Network’ portraying the invention of Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg’s early years, and the controversial announcement of a biopic on late Apple genius Steve Jobs starring Ashton Kutcher have shown inspirational people and their journey towards starting two of the most influential companies in the world. They enable people to follow the story of individuals who took a leap of faith to develop amazing technology. As a result movie-makers have also shown their audience not only these companies’ strengths as consumer brands but how this translates to their working culture.

The latest of those biopics goes for less subtlety and more daring originality. The Internship, starring internationally recognized comedy actors Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson, tells the story of two salesmen who land an internship at Google after finding that their old-school jobs had slowly been rendered obsolete by the spur of digital technology. Alongside a humorous storyline, the trailer acts as a showcase for Google’s attractive employee benefits and the state-of-the-art facilities at their Mountain View campus, whilst at the same time describing the type of high calibre candidates they are looking for. The choice of the star comedians and the type of movie itself is in line with the brand Google has been advertising for years and movie-goers will probably leave the cinema won over by what they have just been shown: the company’s brilliant workforce, innovative culture and modern values.

Google’s arrival on the Hollywood scene reminds us how employer brand marketing is evolving. Potential candidates are no longer satisfied with a general description of an organisation’s facilities and employee benefits; now they want to be let in the back-door so that they can experience for themselves how a company operates. Whilst Google have offered their future generation of recruits a window into their workplace in their usual flamboyant fashion, doing it on a Hollywood scale is by no means the only way this can be achieved. The use of film solutions in promoting the employer brand has become an important and effective part of an organisation’s strategy, not just in recruitment and attraction but also through to on-boarding, induction and continuous engagement. With this trailer Google have highlighted not only the importance of stepping outside of the box, but also the path that employer branding must continue to move along: a path that emphasizes the importance of granting access into a company’s back stage, rather than just showing off the glossy front cover.

As well as highlighting the variety of ways the employer brand can be showcased, the release of The Internship trailer reminds us that despite Google’s internationally recognized success as a brand, they still have to compete fiercely for the best talent. Companies must be willing to bear all to win over the top talent. And what they ‘bear’ must reveal an organisation that understands the needs and expectations of their target market. We can’t help but wonder whether this ‘ode to Google’ will push the battle for the best candidates to a whole new level. Whilst this remains to be seen, it will certainly be interesting to see how this impacts talent attraction results for an already successful company with a strong employer brand.