Using video, Shipley puts ‘fantastic’ culture on display

The scene cuts to a brief glance of a company logo through a windowpane, and then you hear her voice.

“I chose Shipley Energy because of its reputation,” Brittney Sanders tells the audience.

“The company culture here is fantastic,” Shipley’s marketing coordinator continues, as the camera follows her down a corridor past workstations at the company’s bright, stylish York headquarters.

“I love the vibe. It’s fantastic. As soon as I walked in when I interviewed, I felt like I was home.”

Imparting that vibe — committed, responsive and progressive, in Shipley’s words — is the point of the minute-and-a-half video, which anchors the company’s recruitment website, jobs.shipleyenergy.com.

“Recruiting high quality talent to move the company forward has included a complete overhaul of our online presence,” said Shipley marketing manager Erin Hammons.

Hammons led the team that developed the site, starting in 2015. The process took about eight or nine months, she said, and the site is updated as needed.

While Harrisburg-based GK Visual produced the video for Shipley, all other elements of the content and design were handled in-house.

Tracing its roots to 1929, Shipley is a longtime provider of heating oil that also has become a significant competitor in the electricity and natural gas markets. The company’s portfolio also encompasses hospitality and food service properties.

The company, formally known as Shipley Group, weighed in with 2016 revenues of $369.6 million — down from its 2015 revenue of $422.46 million, but still enough to place the company solidly in the region’s top 10. Shipley has 325 full-time and 125 part-time employees, according to statistics provided to the Business Journal.

Shipley’s trajectory over recent years has seen several milestones: increased use of alternative fuels in its own vehicles and through new service stations, introduction of a heating oil e-commerce site, acquisition of suburban Philadelphia petro hauler Gleba Inc. and a major management transition.

Last year, William Shipley III stepped down as CEO of the family business after 24 years in the role. He was replaced by Dave Gruno, who had worked in several areas of the company since joining Shipley in 2004. William Shipley remains involved as owner and chairman.

Shipley and Gruno also appear in the video, talking about what they believe makes the company a unique and engaging place to work.

For Gruno, assessing how a candidate will acclimate to that environment is key.

“It is important to spend a significant amount of time throughout the interview process focusing on the non-technical elements of a candidate’s abilities to assess their cultural fit,” he said. “This helps ensure they have the necessary passion to thrive in your organizational culture, which in turn will enhance the overall performance of the team.”

The website’s language emphasizes that vision.

Immediately beneath the video, visitors are invited to “choose your team,” with boxes pointing toward more information about the company’s different employment categories.

Is it working?

Hammons says interest in the company’s openings has increased — its 10-week-long summer intership program, for example, received an additional 500 applications this year. It’s an important path into the company, as 35 percent of interns have gone on to become full-time employees.

While Shipley continues to use multiple platforms to spread the word about openings, such as recruitment site Indeed and Facebook, users are still directed back to the main Shipley recruitment page to complete their applications.

“This aids in our ability to attract new team members that want to be part of the Shipley Energy culture from the moment they apply,” Hammons said.