Motionworks is an employer branding and recruitment consulting company focused on helping both direct hire and recruitment companies attract and retain talent. The company offers employer branding services from corporate PR videos, video job ads, podcast creation and of course traditional recruitment and rec2rec recruitment solutions. We had the privilege of interviewing it's Managing Director, Mr. Brad Corbet and he shared insights on employer branding in the staffing and recruitment sector.
"For us, it is about educating the market on what is possible and hopefully getting them to reach out to us for a conversation."
―Please tell us about yourself and your business activities
My name is Brad Corbet and I am the Founder and Managing Director of Motionworks K.K. I am originally from America (in a place called St. Louis, Missouri) and have been in Japan for over 20 years (actually closer to 30 years!!). I first came to Japan with the US Navy and was stationed in Yokosuka and Atsugi for 7 years. My first job out of the military was as an English teacher where I then moved into employee training and management and I think that is where my HR career started.
I then jumped into the recruitment and consulting industry and have been in this industry for about the past 15+ years. In that time, I’ve worked at many boutique recruitment agencies as well as internal recruitment and placement agencies and then I realized I can’t really work for a traditional company so started up my first HR consulting business in 2010 and then started Motionworks in 2019.
"For us, it is about educating the market on what is possible and hopefully getting them to reach out to us for a conversation."
―What was the motivation for starting Motionworks?
So I was working at a boutique agency called Zensho Agency K.K which was a commission only shop for independent recruiters run by Robin Doenicke (Founder & CEO, Zensho Agency K.K), one of the top legal recruiters in Japan, and at the time, it was a very small cohesive group of recruiters that focused on their own verticals and he and Chad Kreller (currently the Founder of Yosemite Talent Partners), another awesome veteran recruiter asked me to join and start up their HR and rec2rec division.
So initially, that is how I got into the rec2rec market but while I was at Zensho, Robin, who is very creative and has an advertising background as well, wanted to do some spotlight videos to promote Zensho and just a week before that I had met up with an ex-colleague who was a videographer and just came back to Japan and was looking for work so the timing was perfect so we started working together on this branding project and it really went well and it involved myself interviewing the team members and highlighting their experience in the market. Now I knew these guys as friends and colleagues but I was just really fascinated to hearing what, much more experienced recruiters than me, were doing and what made them tick so after a while, the urge to stick with video, recruiting and branding just turned into a passion so I started my own business around employer branding and recruiting and been doing it ever since.
―How has the journey of Talent Attraction & Employer Branding in Japan been for Motionworks?
Painful and challenging but fun. The most frustrating thing about trying to do something different (in any industry) but particulary for the recruiting industry in Japan, is that both direct hire and recruitment agencies are very slow to adopt new things. They tend to rely on the things they know and are very reluctant to consider new options, which I can understand to a point. However, that is starting to change and the pandemic really helped get companies out of their comfort zone and start thinking differently but in regard to adopting an employer branding strategy, that is still a struggle for many companies and most are still trying to catch up from the pandemic and re-align what they want to do and unfortunately, branding is not top on their list but it should be. so that is our mission to educate the market with what is possible and that it does work and we can help them get started.
―In your experience, how is Rec2Rec different from the regular recruitment and what is the market like in Japan?
I would say they are very similar in many ways but the main difference is that agency recruitment is one of those industries where you can determine how much money you want to make and it really all depends on the systems the agency has in place to allow the recruiters to do that. So that is the challenge with rec2rec in Japan is that there really is not much incentive to go from shop A to shop B except for the people, commission structures and office politics. Some recruiters I speak with are making good money but they are not getting mentored the way they want or they can’t move up because of the hierarchy, whereas others are disciplined and making consistent placements but not seeing the financial rewards because of a draw, discretionary bonus, or other obstacles. So it is quite simple to understand their needs but often quite hard to find a place that can support the kind of recruiter they are.
Branding
―What is the difference between marketing and branding?
I think some people may think they are the same and there are a few variations of the exact definition but I think in simple terms (for companies) “branding” is your mission, your culture and your “why” of what you are trying to accomplish for clients or job seekers and “marketing” is the medium (or platform) like Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, TikTok etc. to promote or deliver the branding message.
―Who should be responsible for employer branding inside companies?
The short answer is everyone. But I would say not one team or department by itself (like only the marketing department or only the Talent Acquisition team) alone. I think when you are trying to attract talent to the company you have to have a general agreement for both the marketing and Talent Acquisition/HR teams to work together as well as get the C-level involved. Companies that have CEOs and the Leadership Team being involved, not only with the authorization and budget, but to be part of the branding message itself, is essential. The hardest thing for companies to understand is that employer branding is not a one-person or one-team project, it has to be embraced throughout the organization to make it effective.
―Can you give some good examples of employer branding content? Who should be responsible for employer branding inside companies?
I think in the recruitment sector, I see companies like Robert Half. Wahl+Case and Cornerstone Recruitment Japan that are using a lot of video which is nice to see and I’m seeing companies like JAC group, Randstad K.K, Career Scout Japan K.K and others that are putting a lot of effort into their employer branding strategies as well. They all have a very consistent message and are featuring a lot of people in the organization to highlight their expertise and knowledge. So these are some companies I see kind of leading the way for employer branding in the recruitment sector.
As for direct hire companies, I recently saw a very creative branding video from PwC that shows how they work on projects as a consulting team. It was quite long (about 7 minutes) but I thought that was quite unique and they really tried to show the process (to cater to clients and the teamwork aspect which catered to potential joiners.
So overall, I am seeing a lot of smaller, and mid-size boutique agencies also starting to adopt employee branding initiatives and experimenting with content which is great to see.
―How can a company measure the success of their branding strategy?
Well, it is not from views which is what most people think. How many impressions or how many views a post or video gets does not matter directly. Views are a good indicator that the content is interesting to watch but if you are not measuring the inbound points and engagement rates of the content, then it is hard to find out if it is working.
It’s very difficult for most companies to measure their ROI or impact and there are a lot of good tools to track this but the easiest way to find out if it is working is just ask candidates when they apply? Hey, did you see any of our content? If they say, NO, then you need to make more content, if they said, YES, then you are off to a good start.
Market Information
―What is the current situation?
I think, as I mentioned before, the pandemic was a catalyst for companies to think differently and change, and the companies that were able to do that and still remain competitive is a key. And I think where we are now is stage 2 and I see a lot of companies from every industry making an effort to do some form of branding but I think it is still a very immature market in Japan when it comes to creating a strategic employer branding initiatives.
―What are the future expectations?
I think employer branding and using video to highlight the people, their knowledge and mission of companies and attract a target group of talent is going to take off very soon and companies that are working towards an employer branding strategy are going to be the winners. I think in the near future, companies are going to be more strategic with their branding and hiring as well as their relationships with agencies and the contingency model will be used less by companies and they will move over to a more full-service type of model which will include employer branding.
―What advice would you give to a company that has not yet embraced employer branding?
For starters, if they don’t feel they need it, it is going to be an uphill battle and for that reason, we don’t really do cold calls or paid promotions to get companies to consider employer branding. All of our business over the last 4.5 years has been on direct traffic or referrals from the content we have already produced. We try to practice what we preach. For us, it is about educating the market on what is possible and hopefully getting them to reach out to us for a conversation.
So we often get approached by companies and they ask us things like, “How much does it cost to make one video?” or “Can you make us something like this? (and they send a link). I think these are great questions and show that they have a desire to do employer branding but may not know how to execute it. So that is where we can help.
The video recording for this interview is also available below.
Motionworks K.K.
5-25-2-1 Oto Chuo-ku, Saitama, Saitama 338-0012, Japan
https://motionworks.co.jp
Founded in 2019 in Japan, Motionworks is a media and consulting company focused on developing engaging content for employer branding, talent attraction and online learning.
Originally hailing from St. Louis, USA, he brings a wealth of experience from his tenure in corporate HR and recruitment consultancy. In 2019, he founded Motionworks with the aim of facilitating recruitment operations for businesses across Japan and Asia.
As the Managing Director of Motionworks, he spearheads consulting services encompassing employer branding, talent acquisition, and Rec to Rec practices. He’s a fervent advocate of employer branding, leveraging various media such as social platforms, videos, podcasts, and other diverse channels.
