TV Series to Offer Jobs Is Working
An Orange County company is producing a television series with no plot, no action and a constantly changing cast of characters.
Nevertheless, Richard Katz, president of the production company, is pleased with the show.
Katz heads VideoSearch, a Santa Ana-based recruiting services company, and his program, “Meet Your Next Employer,” features interviews with executives who describe job openings at their companies.
The show began broadcasting in October on Channel 18 (KCSI) in Los Angeles, Channel 46 (KHIS) in Ontario and Channel 56 (KDOC) in Anaheim.
Thus far, two shows have been broadcast and Katz expects the program to begin weekly broadcasts next month. He thinks the concept eventually will spread to other areas of country.
The programs have been seen by viewers from Santa Barbara to San Diego and all of the jobs described in the half-hour broadcasts were filled. One newly hired person already has been promoted, Katz said.
Orange County companies that have used the new program include: Inacomp Computer Centers, which hired five people who responded to the broadcast; Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc., which hired two respondents for its Newport Beach office, and Xerox Corp., which hired four people for its Irvine operations.
“This method of recruiting seems to work best for organizations that have multiple openings,” Katz said.
Question-Answer Format
Cindy Subby, previously a television show host in Minneapolis, is now, in effect, a talk-show host, discoursing with her “guests” about the opportunities, benefits and candidate qualifications at their particular companies. Each segment takes four to eight minutes and companies pay from $2,000 to $3,000 per segment.
“We emulate the ‘Face the Nation’ format,” Katz said, referring to the network program that brings government figures together in a discussion with a reporter.
Taping for “Meet Your Next Employer” is done at the McDonnell Douglas audio-visual facility in Irvine.
Katz’s company began five years ago as a provider of video resumes but “we woke up one day and realized we could reverse the process.”
Don French, Irvine-based regional personnel manager for Xerox, said he was “amazed” at the number of applicants the broadcast drew and how closely their qualifications matched those sought by the company.
Dick Applegate, assistant vice president at Merrill Lynch, said the program attracted about 100 telephone inquiries.
