Candidate sourcing | Lessons from Top Gun about creating great job adverts

It’s 36 years since the release of the original Top Gun movie. A piece of cinematic magic produced some epic blockbuster moments and some classic lines that have stood the test of time.

That’s all great…but what can Top Gun teach us about writing great advert copy?

It’s all about displacement. This is why we love books, TV and especially movies, as they take us away from our day to day stresses and suspend us in a different world. Typically, this sees us imagining we are the main character (the Hero e.g. Maverick) and constantly asking ourselves the question “what would I do if I was in their position?”

Taking this further, many movies (including Top Gun, Star Wars, Shawshank Redemption etc) all have a second character who is the guide to the hero. Think Ob1 Kenobi (Star Wars), Red (Morgan Freeman’s character in Shawshank Redemption) and Viper (Tom Skerritt’s character in Top Gun).