Visual content is powerful—especially when it comes to attracting job seekers. Sharing photos of your work environment online is an excellent way to engage more candidates and leave a lasting impression on them.
Although taking your own company pictures sounds intimidating, it’s not as challenging as you might think. If you follow the key steps and best practices outlined below, you and anyone else on your team can capture high-quality photos of your workplace.
The first and most important step is to identify what type of pictures you need. This will help your photoshoots run more smoothly and will ensure that the photos you take really do strengthen your employment brand.
To determine what pictures you need, ask yourself the following questions:
Source: Gunnison Valley Health career site
As you answer these questions, create a list of what you will need to capture or portray in your photos. Some general examples of great company photography include:
Source: CHOMP career site
To ensure your photos positively represent your employment brand and resonate with the right candidates, it’s important that you choose the right employees. So before you start taking photos, decide which employees to feature in them.
To select the best models, ask yourself these questions:
Once you’ve decided who you want to feature in your photos, let them know! Explain why you selected them to represent your company and invite them to participate. Once they agree to be in the photos, ask them to sign a release form. If you don’t have a standard release form that you use internally, you can download our free template.
Source: Highline Public Schools career site
You will also need to ask your selected team members when they will be available for a photoshoot. If they don’t have any availability for a photoshoot, ask if you can take pictures of them doing interesting work tasks or interacting with others during a normal work day. And of course, if you want to take any group shots of your employees, find out if there's a time when they will all be available.
The day before your photoshoots, send your employees a reminder so that they can come prepared to look their best. Ensuring that their physical appearance is on point wil also boost their confidence and comfort level during the photoshoot.
Your employment photos will showcase your work environment as much as they do your employees. So prior to your photoshoots, ensure your workspace is as appealing as possible. You don’t need to deep clean or make it spotless, but decluttering desks and organizing work supplies will make your photos much more attractive.
Once you are ready to start taking pictures, keep these tips in mind to ensure your photos are as high-quality as possible:
Source: Hotel Valley Ho career site
Source: City of Delaware Ohio career site
You don’t need a DSLR camera or expensive equipment to take great employment photos for your career site. Here’s how you can capture high-quality images with your smartphone:
Source: Shamrock Foods career site
After you’ve taken your photos, be sure to store your images somewhere online so that you can save and share them. There are several ways you can store your photos, but Flickr and DropBox are two trustworthy and popular options. Both of these tools allow you to easily upload, organize and share photos to an online account that’s accessible from any device.
Once your employment brand photos are safely stored on your computer, upload and share them on your social media accounts. Replace any stock or outdated images on your career site with your new ones to showcase imagery that's more relevant and impactful. Also consider using your employment brand photos in other recruiting collateral, such as flyers or jobs fair banners.
And there you have it! Now, along with telling online job seekers why they should work for you, you can show them. This will ultimately boost your apply rates and help you attract even some of the best candidates out there today.
