Robert Half is kicking off another contest for their Don’t Let This Happen to You campaign. The theme this time around: career coaching gone awry.

 

Behind every great athlete is a dedicated coach.  The same holds true for outstanding professionals.  The most successful employees have been shaped by the managers and mentors they’ve had over the years.  But not every worker has a José Mourinho, Bela Karolyi or Phil Jackson cheering them on from the sidelines. What if you have a micromanager, poor communicator or know-it-all boss instead of an all-star manager?

 

Create a humorous thirty to sixty (30-60) second video about career coaching gone wrong. Think about the least-effective on-the-job coaching experience you’ve ever had or can imagine. Here are some examples to get your creative juices flowing:

 • The Collaborator — This coach wants to get the entire company involved in a decision, preventing anyone from actually making a decision.

 • The Criticizer — This manager picks holes, dwells on mistakes and gets too into the details on projects.

 • The Dictator — This professional tells the team exactly what needs to be done and how to do it, leaving little room for employees to think for themselves.

 • The Drill Sergeant — When this coach says jump, he or she expects your response to be “How high?”

 • The MIA Manager — This supervisor is never around when you need him or her. Whether traveling, working from home or behind closed doors, you sometimes wonder if you have a boss at all.

 

Keep in mind that you don’t have to focus exclusively on individuals with supervisory responsibility. Some of the most inept leaders aren’t formal managers at all. Instead, they might be a project team lead, a mentor or simply a well-meaning but clueless peer.

 

Think of the parallels that exist between the workplace and athletics, whether that’s football/soccer, swimming, track and field, gymnastics, rowing, cycling, wrestling, equestrian, etc. The best workplace managers are true coaches, inspiring the team and motivating workers to achieve more than they ever thought possible. The worst can demoralize a group and cause even the most talented professionals to fail.

 

The resulting videos will be used to support Robert Half marketing efforts worldwide, so it’s important the finished product appeals to an international audience, including workers in the UK, France, Belgium, Germany, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore and other locations.

 

Above all, remember that we’re not looking for managers that engage in illegal or unethical behavior. Harassment, bullying and similar behaviors simply aren’t funny.

 

 

This tournament-style project will be worth a total of $22,250 and will consist of three phases. Winning Stories will receive a 5% residual payment of every winning video they are used to generate. Limit five (5) submissions per member, per phase.

 

PHASE 1: STORY – In 500 characters or less, tell us about career/on-the-job coaching gone wrong. Describe the manager who botches the performance review, a mentor who gives cringe-worthy advice for presenting to the bigwigs or a project lead who steers his teammate in the wrong direction professionally. We’re not looking for cruel or mean-spirited stories. We want people to relate to the blunders (i.e., we’ve all been there/done that), not laugh at the mistakes people made. Consider the parallels that exist between effective coaching in the workplace and athletics. Also remember that these videos will be used globally so it is important to appeal to a broad range of cultures (e.g. UK, France, Germany, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, etc). Winning stories will receive a 5% residual payment of every winning video they are used to generate, and you may submit up to five stories.

 

PHASE 2: PITCH – Using text (500 characters or less), images (storyboards), video, and external links (to other supporting assets, i.e., your reel, etc.), give us your Pitch for how YOU would go about producing a video based on one of the five winning Stories from Phase 1. The FIVE most compelling Pitches will be selected, based on the criteria contained in the OFFICIAL RULES, and the creators of those Pitches will receive a $500 production budget. Those Pitch winners (upon submitting their Winner's Affidavit, IP Assignment and video) will also be GUARANTEED to place in the subsequent video phase. So, if your Pitch is selected and you submit a video, you will earn a minimum of $1,000 with a 1-in-6 shot at the $10,000 first-place video prize. Your Pitch can include any and/or all of the assets mentioned above and you MUST include a link to some of your previous video work on Tongal or elsewhere to be considered for this phase. For an example of an effective pitch, check out Sean Clark’s The Ease of Painting Pitch. To avoid information cascades, all Pitches will remain private until after the video winners of the subsequent phase are announced. Alternatively, even if you don’t win the Pitch Phase or choose not to create a Pitch, you will still have the opportunity to create a “wild card” Video not based on any of the winning content from in the subsequent Phase.

 

PHASE 3: VIDEO – Winning Pitch creators from the previous phase will utilize their $500 advance to create a 30-60 second video about career coaching blunders based upon their winning materials from the previous phase. All other creators are invited to enter a “wild card” submission that’s not based on any winning material from the previous phase. Remember, the FIVE Pitch winners are GUARANTEED prizes, as is ONE of the non-pitch video creators. Additionally, winning Stories will receive a 5% residual payment of every winning video they are used to generate.

 

--Target Audience: Professional-level employees and managers.

 

--Key Marketing Messages: Doesn’t your career deserve a good coach? For excellent career and management advice, call in the experts from Robert Half.

 

--Music: Tongal has partnered with Audiosocket, a boutique music licensing and technology company representing more than 2,400 emerging bands, composers and record labels. This is not "stock" music. It is an inventory of more than 40,000 original, culturally relevant songs and music that have been compiled into a premium roster.  Audiosocket's music will be available to Tongal members at no charge solely for their incorporation into Tongal members' submissions to the Career Coaching Gone Awry Project.  Tongal members are encouraged to browse the Audiosocket roster, available by clicking on the "Audiosocket" button on the right hand side of this page. If you are interested in using a track from the Audiosocket roster, as described above, just add the track(s) you want to use to your cart using the "+cart" button, then click the "checkout" button.  Enter the Tongal project name and click the "purchase and download" button to acquire the track for free ($0.00). Lastly, click the "download track" button, which will initiate the music file download. 

 

--Exposure: Robert Half is looking for content for our career bloopers video series, Don’t Let This Happen to You, which includes winning videos from Robert Half’s previous projects with Tongal. The best videos from the Career Coaching Gone Awry Video Project may be used for the video series, as well as other worldwide marketing and public relations campaign.

 

--Releases: Please note that winning video creators will be required to provide Talent, Location and Music Releases for any performers, locations or musical assets appearing in the video upon request. Just a tip, the best way to go about securing releases is on the day of shooting to avoid chasing people down afterward. We have created a .zip containing all of these releases available on the Project Files tab.

 

--Delivery: Also note that winning video creators will be required to provide an uncompressed QuickTime .mov file in either Animation or ProRes 422 codecs at either 1920x1080 or 1280x720 upon request.

 

1. Videos MUST not exceed 60 seconds in length. Preferred format is HD 720p 16x9. Acceptable file formats are .mov, .avi, .mp4, .wmv. Acceptable codecs are H.264 (MP4), MPEG-4, H.263, MPGV, WMV, DivX.

 

2. Unless provided otherwise, all work must be your own original creation and free of any copyrighted material. You shall provide detailed information of your work regarding the source, the creator and background information as requested by Tongal.

 

3. Videos MUST use one of the three (3) Robert Half bumpers provided on the Assets tab on this page.

 

4. In the event you utilize any third-party materials, such as music provided by a third-party music provider, you must obtain full written license and consent from the owner of such third-party materials and provide such license and consent forms to Tongal.

 

5. Submissions cannot contain any profanity, offensive language, nudity or otherwise objectionable material, the determination of which is solely at the discretion of Robert Half.

 

6. Submissions must not portray Robert Half in a negative way, the determination of which will solely reside with Robert Half.

 

7. Videos must portray a professional office environment.

 

8. Videos must be in the English language or subtitled, however they should be developed to appeal to an international audience. The winning videos will be promoted in the UK, France, Germany, Belgium, Brazil, Australia, Hong Kong and other locations worldwide.

 

9. Limit 5 submission(s) per member, per phase.

 

10. You and any participants must be at least eighteen (18) years or older to enter.

 

11. You must be a legal resident of the United States or Canada (excluding Quebec).

 

12. Minimum 50 Pitches, or the contest may repost for seven (7) days at the sponsor's discretion.

 

13. In addition to the standard Tongal W-9, Winner Affidavit, and IP Assignment, winning video creators MUST also provide Talent, Location, and Music Releases for all assets appearing in the video as well as the project files, editing sequence and an uncompressed QuickTime .mov file in either Animation or ProRes 422 codecs at either 1920x1080 or 1280x720 to claim their prize.

 

14. Robert Half reserves the right to one reasonable round of revisions on all winning videos without providing additional compensation.

 

15. See OFFICIAL RULES for additional contest information, terms and conditions. If there is any conflict or inconsistency between these requirements and the Official Rules, the terms and conditions of these requirements shall prevail.