Stop using stock photos in your recruitment marketing efforts!

Doesn’t this photo look awesome?

How about this one?

Ok, so these are a bit over the top (and what's up with the thumbs up?). However, we all know a stock photo when we see one right? Is it that surprising that these types of photos hurt conversions? Check out this case study.

Just like in marketing, in recruiting it’s important to have real photos. Look at the difference. It’s so subtle, but you can tell this isn’t a stock photo, can’t you?

Don’t worry, you’ve got the right tools
The beauty of course is that this photo is taken on an iPhone. We all have these super computers in our pockets that have 8+ megapixels! I remember a few years ago when my digital camera had 5 megapixels and I thought the photos were good enough to blow up and hang on my walls (still there btw).

Now, let’s find out some good photo ops!
So, you’ve got the equipment. Now comes the more daunting part of figuring out what to actually capture on camera.

Guess what, the bar is really low. As long as you aren’t taking shots of a cubicle farm, you should be good. Here are some ideas for good photo ops:

Snacks around the office (coffee, food, whatever)

Any sort of team outing (picnic, softball game)

Parties! (holiday, summer offsite – just get people having fun with a drink in their hand)

People (get candids of the people in the office – they will smile, or run away, when you say “cheese” unexpectedly)

Furniture/stuff around the office (the new couch everyone likes, the hiking trail outside your office, the bar where people eat cereal in the morning)

Use them!

Great, we’ve now got a folder full of pictures, now what?

Well, luckily there is this thing called social media which is a nice distribution platform for content like this. Twitter, FB, LI, Instagram, even Pinterest is a good place to share.

Beyond that, you’ve got recruitment marketing materials that are full of stock photos – on campus recruiting slides, brochures, microsites. Go replace them ASAP!

In conclusion
No one likes stock photos. It’s just like no one likes blatant advertising. It’s a minor investment of time to generate a stock pile of real photos, but definitely worth it and a lot of fun, I promise. On that note, if you want to create awesome employer branding content...check this out.