Job search platform CareerBuilder is addressing the “Great Resignation” in a new campaign that portrays why workers are prioritizing quality of life and meaningful work. The campaign comes as the 25-year-old brand platform aims to reposition itself as more relatable to job seekers who are quitting jobs at high rates.

New ads depict downtrodden workers suffering from underemployment or boredom or mistreatment. Decoded Advertising, part of S4 Capital-owned Media.Monks, handled the campaign, which includes five spots that will run on digital, radio and TV.

“We're thinking about CareerBuilder's place in this market and in this industry at the time of what we're calling the 'Great Rehire,’ in some cases it's being called the 'Great Resignation,'” said CareerBuilder CEO Sue Arthur. The brand, she said, is “really thinking about how is CareerBuilder positioned to serve the industry and job seekers at this time—and that really led to what is in the essence of the campaign, which is us sort of rallying around the job seeker.” 

The ads show workers lining up to take employee-of-the-month photos, watch a newly retired coworker celebrate 30 years of service with nothing but a pen as thank you, or, in a particularly nauseating scene, suffer through a conversation with a supervisor reheating leftover tilapia in the shared microwave while demanding overtime. Suddenly, all of the workers get job offers via CareerBuilder before the tagline flashes: “Let’s Job it Up.” 

None of the spots feature depictions of the new job. Instead, they lean into the moment, spotlighting the resignation over the new role. Laura Holmes McCarthy, group creative director at Decoded Advertising, said the cultural shift in hiring post-pandemic led to the approach,

“I feel like for a few months our job was basically like getting to fantasize about quitting shitty jobs, which is kind of an incredible job to have,” said McCarthy. “We started working on this with them in May. And part of the brief that we got was about how the economy was reopening, and it was going to be like the 'Great Rehiring,’” she said.

Despite CareerBuilder’s best effort to anticipate the job market, the “cultural landscape kind of shifted in real-time,” she added. “Ultimately, the story became less about the great rehiring, more about the 'Great Resignation.'”

Several factors are shaping the labor market upheaval, including more freelance opportunities, a rise of work-from-home in light of the pandemic, increased awareness of inequality and mistreatment in the workplace, and a stimulus package that made taking time off feasible for workers who never considered the possibility.

The Great Resignation shows little sign of slowing, pushing platforms like CareerBuilder to remain vigilant when it comes to following market trends and staying in touch with the needs and desires of job seekers. “We have this churn created by this resignation pattern, which isn't letting up,” said Arthur. 

The campaign is meant to connect with job seekers who have found themselves disillusioned post-pandemic.  “There was definitely this feeling of wanting to make sure that we didn't miss the moment that was happening culturally, but also giving ourselves the space to dig into the subject matter to like do the research, to gather the insights, to make sure that we got it right, to make sure that it all felt really like relatable and true and authentic and not like a marketer's idea of what's relatable and true and authentic,” said McCarthy.