4 recruitment videos to make graduates cringe

How can university students know which company they want to work for without giving it a go? By watching a hard-sell recruitment video, complete with beepy electronic music and uncomfortable-looking employees asserting their passion for what they do.

1. Allen & Overy: The deal. The law firm's graduate careers site says that the company is frequently asked "what working on a multijurisdictional deal is really like". See people, that's what happens when you advise job candidates to have a pertinent question ready to ask at the end of the interview.

2. Google: An inside look at Google and Google Factory Tour. The music isn't as bad as Allen & Overy's but there are far too many gratuitous displays of lava-lamp quirkiness. At least one of the interviewees admits that working at the tech giant makes everyone fat; the free food policy means that new recruits typically gain 15 pounds.

3. Ernst & Young: Oh Happy Day. This music video, a re-jigged version of a gospel favourite, has been around for quite few years now. The company's UK career website has a number of more up-to-date graduate videos listed, but unfortunately I can't make any of them work, so I can't comment on how the global professional services firm's musical styles have changed.

4. Rackspace: What is it like to work at Rackspace? Table tennis, flags, a "Hard Rack" cafe and a man in drag: the managed hosting company's video gives the impression that "Rackers" are all ker-azy fun people who'd be perfectly home working at another well-known tech firm.