Firms putting best foot forward in cyberspace

The videos went live at the end of March, and already the company has seen a 300 percent spike in applications.

“I’m sure people have perceptions of what life insurance agents are like,” Capurso says. Hearing from people who actually do the job, he adds, “in their own words, gets across the passion of this career, and dispels the myths about the career because you see a wide variety of different kinds of folks.”

Insurance agent Mary Grate-Pyos takes on one myth head-on in her video, saying: “Why do you want to be a boring life insurance agent? Well, it’s not boring at all.”

She talks about a day in her life: “I could be speaking at a company, a corporation, a church, a women’s group. It’s multifaceted, it’s fast-paced. I genuinely love what I do.”

One employer, architecture and design firm McFarlane Green + Biggar, takes a novel approach and shows the bottom half of their employees, perhaps on the theory that you can get a good idea about an individual’s personality from the shoes they wear.

“When it came to reflecting the company's cool, dot-comesque culture and casual style they came up with an out-of-the-box way to showcase their creativity and entice people to work for the firm,” says company spokeswoman Katie Reiach.

It’s nice to get this insiders’ view of a job, feet and all. However, while these quirky images and videos can be a useful tool in your job search, don’t base your career decisions solely on these brief employee snapshots.

“No job seekers should depend 100 percent on these video testimonials,” says Joyce Goia-Herman, president and CEO of business futurist firm The Herman Group and co-author of “How to Choose your Next Employer.”

She recommends doing your own research into a company and its culture, even asking people you meet in the parking lot about an organization.

You can always request informational interviews at firms you’re interested in working for. And make sure to ask for time with workers at those firms — time without managers around if possible. Remember, you’re in the driver’s seat, especially if the industry is growing and desperate to fill positions.

In addition, always get as many e-mail addresses as you can so you can follow up with the many questions you invariably forget during the high-pressure interview process.

And check out social networking sites like FaceBook and LinkedIn as well. Many employees at companies around the country have pages on these types of sites, as individuals or part of company groups. You can get a good feel for what these firms are like by researching employee profiles and the comments they post on their pages.

There are also tons of company blogs written by employees that will give you a taste of firms’ inner workings.

Brazen Careerist, a career site aimed at Generation Y, gathers a host of employee blogs in one place. “It is clear that young people want to know about company culture before they apply for a job, and online media like blogging and video are effective tools for companies to show their culture,” according to the company’s CEO Penelope Trunk.

But don’t expect the whole workplace truth from blogs, social networking sites or videos. They do help you get a sampling of what goes on behind a company’s walls, but you’ll never really know what the day-to-day work life is like until you accept a job and head to the office or factory.

That’s when you’ll know it all, when workers who are paid by the companies that commission these videos finally let their guard down and you hear the real dirt at the water cooler.

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