Behind the Scenes
Industrial Recruiting for the Win
Every market segment has its share of weird workforce dynamics in the post-COVID era. You can read countless Forbes articles about “quiet quitting”, “workforce shortages”, and empty offices. In the manufacturing industry, this shows up as a particularly challenging “manufacturing skills gap” that is resulting in hundreds of thousands of unfilled jobs.
In 2021, Deloitte interviewed nearly 800 manufacturing executives on this subject:
77% said there will be “ongoing difficulties in attracting and retaining workers in 2021 and beyond.”
Out of the 1.4 million jobs erased by the pandemic, nearly 570,000 have not been re-filled yet.
Finding the right talent is now 36% harder than it was in 2018.
The realities of this labor shortage could seem troubling to some executive leaders. However, for companies that can stand above the crowd in terms of labor conditions, benefits, and career opportunities, it’s an opportunity to invest in the most talented and motivated employees available. We recently got to help highlight the positive aspects of this trend with our client Integrated Power Services based on their optimistic view of the future of manufacturing.
The Challenge:
Integrated Power Services is the industry’s leading independent service provider, and a FOUNDRY client for almost a decade. With a talented workforce that is skewing toward retirement age, they recognized that their company’s knowledge base will only continue to erode over time if they don’t hire the right talented, young team members today. They also believe that their culture is the kind of rewarding opportunity that is worth highlighting.
With this sense of positive urgency in mind, they approached us to create a recruiting video that emphasizes not just the quality of career at IPS, but the quality of life they create as well. The video needed to be exciting, high-energy, and impactful. Plus, it needed to showcase current IPS talent and visually highlight the wide range of industries they serve from their national network of shops and field services teams. Most importantly, it needed to work.
The Solution:
It would be easy to dismiss a manufacturing recruiting video as an unsexy, boring assignment. It would also be a mistake. The energy and excitement IPS brought to this creative brief powered the FOUNDRY team from day one. To hit the mark, we focused on collaboration and creativity at every step of the process to truly capture the heart and ethos of IPS’ recruiting vision in the final product.
Collaboration as a Principle
The scope and scale of this video demands a multi-faceted team. So, that’s what we brought to the table. Writers, actors, voiceover artists, directors, producers, editors. In conjunction with IPS’ Director of Talent Acquisition & Retention and their Director of Marketing, we had a full house of talent assigned to the project, and it took every single person to execute the results. From this deep well of experience, we were able to prioritize attention to detail in every step of production.
Creativity as a Framework
We started by thinking of this video in the same aesthetic as the “hype videos” commonly found in professional sports. Exciting lighting effects. Dramatic cuts. Intense soundtrack. Something that doesn’t necessarily say “Manufacturing jobs available. Apply now.” This was not going to be anything typical for the industry.
From this conceptual launch point, we chose to create three archetypal IPS employees and use their personas to tell the story of career growth, community service, and cultural values that make IPS such an exciting opportunity. Throughout the video we would highlight actual IPS employees as heroic icons, bringing realism to the story in the most exciting way possible. By allowing creativity to drive our workflow in the conceptual stages, we were able to reimagine what an industrial recruiting video could become.
“The Archetypes” as described in our creative pitch deck
Putting It All Together
Once we had those two foundations set, we were able to dive into process. Working with our dedicated scriptwriter, we identified POTENTIAL as the hinge of the story. The dual meaning of this word in this context created a powerful (pun intended) opening sequence that would hook the viewer. From there, the script unfolded as a series of bold, indicative statements about the reality of working at IPS. The pacing of these couplets was critical to the flow of the final video, ensuring that the director had sufficient runway for the number and variety of scenes involved in telling the story visually.
We chose strong language in the present tense to give the video gravitas and authority. Most importantly, we didn’t shy away from the optimism and confidence that the IPS leadership team holds in regard to the quality of their work and the rewards they give employees in return.
As the script was in final approval, we moved quickly into casting. Through our talent agency relationships, we vetted nearly a dozen actors per role before finding the right fit for this story. We needed young, confident, diverse talent that our target audience would immediately empathize with. They needed to be able to see themselves in this role.
Similarly, as we auditioned voiceover artists, we were looking for a voice that could bridge the generational gap of manufacturing. Someone who sounded tough and experienced but also young and modern.
While we were finalizing these details, our producer was also scouting locations, securing assets like boats and trucks, obtaining flight privileges for drone footage, and arranging all of the necessary support from hair and makeup to craft services, wardrobe, and additional crew.
When it came to actually filming the video, we had one significant advantage – our ten-year relationship with IPS meant we already had a fantastic library of footage. This allowed our team to really isolate the exact scenes we needed to create based on storyboards and put all of our energy and creativity into those.
We were able to limit the new shoots to Dallas, TX; Clifton, NJ; and both Rock Hill and Lake Keowee in South Carolina, saving our client time and money in the process.
Finally, the editing team had the heroic task of weaving together the final product. From the opening sequence of stadium blinders and smoke machines to shop floor action shots to drone footage of real field service repairs, the visual elements of the video support the assertion that IPS is an incredible leader in the power services industry. Meanwhile, the authentic value of life experiences like home ownership, a lake day with friends, and giving back to your community are woven through the story using our hired talent.
The Outcome:
Although this project was a more “creative-driven” marketing effort than IPS had undertaken before, the leadership team was solidly supportive throughout production. Trusting the FOUNDRY team to bring precise execution to an innovative and bold story, they allowed the collaborative process to do its job. The result was an exciting, high-quality recruiting video.
Within days of final approval, the video became the centerpiece of an all-out recruiting campaign on LinkedIn. Led by the IPS national recruitment team, the campaign leveraged short social clips from the video to drive leads back to the recruitment landing page where the long-form video is hosted. Even IPS’ CEO posted the video multiple times to his personal LinkedIn account. In the first month alone, this video achieved hundreds of engagements on LinkedIn and more than 1,000 organic views on YouTube without spending a dime on ad placements.
Perhaps one of the most telling outcomes of the entire video production process is that the phrase “Unleash Your Potential” has become more than just a hero line within the script – it’s become a new cultural touchstone and rallying cry across the entire IPS culture.
Contact us to start a conversation about how video can transform your recruiting team’s reach and results.
