Ramp Up Your Recruiting: Create Employer-Branded Zoom Backgrounds

More than ever before we're utilizing Zoom as a means of communication in the workplace. For someone like me, who, as a Recruiter, is constantly thinking about how to elevate my employer brand presence, I thought to myself: "Zoom is free advertising!"

If you're a hiring manager or recruiter and find yourself on Zoom for interviews with your candidates, creating a Zoom background is not only fun, it's a conversation starter and a way to demonstrate your product.

Being in Property Management, I've found that alongside of including my career tagline and logo in a Zoom background, I can also use photos from our own assets. Having apartment communities all around the nation, I've gotten creative with choosing some of my favorite photos of property exteriors and interiors.

Here are some tips for the best product-specific backgrounds:

• Use Bright Photos: Anyone who's had professional photos of their product knows that they never quite turn out the same if they're dim, or on the darker side. Pick and choose your product photos carefully and focus on those that have a bright, crisp look about them. Darker photos will also make YOU hard to see in the foreground, even if you're sitting in front of a window.

• Choose Contrasts: The photos that you choose should have a few key 'overall' colors - like white or brown, for example - with some simple, contrasting color accents. Accents such as nature, monuments, paintings, furniture, and textures, are all the contrast-pop you need. Especially if those accents ARE your product - even better to make them noticeable!

• Avoid Chaos: Steer clear of using photos where there is a lot of movement, like people walking, cars driving, or multiple buildings, which can seem very 'busy'. You don't want to distract your candidate from the interview that's taking place with unnecessary, over-stimulating imagery. Less is more!

• Include Branding: Although you certainly want to drive your new Zoom look home with company name placement, your product is already the main focus of your Zoom background so let it speak for itself. Including some simple branding like a logo or your company hashtag in alternating spaces or corners of your photos is the sweet spot!

Creating Zoom backgrounds are fairly simple and there are many ways to get started. First, you'll want to collaborate with your marketing team to ensure that you are on the same page in terms of what is expected for your employer brand. There are quite a few websites out there with options to create Zoom backgrounds, but Adobe is a free and user-friendly version that is very popular. Follow this link to find out more: https://spark.adobe.com/make/background-maker/zoom/

If you don't want to include your employer brand or don't have product images, yet you still want to come up with something aside from the wall of your home-office, visit this website for some striking, professional photos that can be downloaded easily: https://biteable.com/zoom-backgrounds/

Zoom is the way of the future for interviewing candidates across the nation or during the times where you can't meet in-person. So, enjoy the process and have fun!

Happy Interviewing!