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15

Sep

Disability support provider spotlights client experience for latest recruitment campaign

Disability support provider spotlights client experience for latest recruitment campaign
Disability support provider spotlights client experience for latest recruitment campaign

Clarence Valley and Coffs Coast disability support provider, Caringa Australia, has been delivering services to the region since 1953 after the community raised money to start the Caringa School for children with disability. Today they supply a range of disability services and have transitioned to the federally funded NDIS model, employing over 200 people and in turn establishing themselves as a leader in their field, helping people live 'A Complete Life'. Disability services is becoming one of the nation's fastest growing industries, with the Federal Government estimating that one in five new jobs will come from the sector. As such, Caringa requires people with passion, skills and qualifications in the disability sector to help them fulfill their service roles. To assist their recruitment drive, the organisation commissioned Zakazukha to produce a short video that demonstrated what a career with Caringa could involve for use in their advertising campaigns and throughout their social media channels.

Why video?

Advertising a new role is traditionally executed through online job boards such as SEEK and Indeed, or through employment agencies. However, these platforms can often be limited to attracting people with specific talents and not take into account more soft skills such as those Caringa places a high value on. The organisation decided to throw its net to a wider audience and show what it was actually like to work with people with disabilities. Video is an excellent way to promote jobs and highlight your company as an employer, its engaging, and as we are visual creatures, storytelling through the medium helps us to better comprehend and retain information. Videos also encourages sharing, and well-crafted video content will be more likely shared through social networks, reaching a much wider audience.

A client perspective

Just showing people what a business looks like can be very one dimensional, however putting the viewer in the picture can be much more compelling. Zakazukha approached the brief with the idea of showing a day in the life of a Caringa client through the activities and engagement they experience with a support worker. Outcomes practice leader, Dan Trickett, who has a long career with Caringa was teamed up with client Ben and his girlfriend Sigourney (who he met through Caringa) to help show what support services they used. Ben takes an interest in the organisation, often visiting to catch up and for a coffee, and is also a passionate musician who participates in Carina's music program. These elements and others were captured over a day's shoot to show what a support worker might be required to do.

A fly on the wall

Zakazukha's approach was to be a 'fly on the wall' and let both Dan and Ben tell their own stories in settings that would be natural to them to provide the most authentic story possible. Often putting people in front of a camera and expecting them to perform can result in stilted and forced footage, so Zakazukha split the audio and video process to allow a more natural flow for editing. This involved numerous scripted questions asked of both participants, often several times to get a range of answers, with filming not necessarily required as it was the audio that was most important. Zakazukha also followed Dan and Ben around to film a 'day-in-the-life' to capture the two (and Sigourney) interacting naturally without the pressure of speaking to a camera. The result was plenty of audio relating to what both liked about their relationship and the role of the support worker, and hours of footage of all three in various locations.

The result

Zakazukha scoured the audio track for the best and most pertinent answers to questions to help tell the recruitment story for Caringa. We then searched the day's video to find either matching scenes or appropriate settings to complement the script. The result was a production that naturally told the audience what working at Caringa would be like from both a client perspective and with input from a support worker. The video is now being used as a recruitment tool and is posted on the organisation's website and social media channels.