According to internal data released within a CareerBuilder article, “job postings with video icons are viewed 12% more than postings without video. On average, CareerBuilder customers receive a 34% greater application rate when they add video to their job postings.”
Recruiting videos can be exciting and compelling, if done right. And by “right” I don’t necessarily mean fancy equipment and video production, although a small upfront investment for a decent camera or to hire a videographer wouldn’t hurt.
I’ve seen plenty of recruiting videos, and there’s one thing that makes one stand out from the rest: a strong employment brand.
Showcasing Your Employment Brand
Gallup defines an employment brand as “the way your organization’s prospective applicants, candidates and employees perceive you as an employer.” A recruiting video is a great tool to establish and strengthen your employment brand.
Most recruiting videos introduce company executives, talk about the exciting market in which the company plays, or include other overly-scripted scenarios that fail to give potential candidates an accurate (or relevant) perception of your employment brand.
In contrast, companies that effectively use video to promote their employment brand do so by showcasing their employees and work environment in the most realistic way possible. These videos highlight unique aspects of their organization–even some of the more subtle things that differentiate the company, like unconventional office decor, clips from lively company meetings or other day-to-day activities that give the company a personality and make it “real.”
The best way to establish an employment brand is to depict an authentic employee experience. If job seekers can visualize what it would be like working at your company, you’re likely to attract a pool of enthusiastic applicants who truly know what they’d be getting into.
Conveying an Authentic Employee Experience
The best recruiting videos authentically portray what a prospective employee’s life would be like at the company. Companies shouldn’t hesitate to show their true colors in a recruiting video. Here are three videos that do it well.
In its recruiting video, Zendesk provides a 360-degree view of the company to give the audience a realistic yet entertaining look at the organization. The video highlights some of the everyday aspects of working there, such as the door greeter. Small details like these add some rich color to the personality and culture of Zendesk.
Another way to ensure an authentic presentation of your company is to let employees tell the story, unscripted. Rackspace does a particularly good job of this in the following video:
As supplementary material, the Racker Talent blog is full of employee testimonials and videos documenting various activities at the company to give potential recruits a more accurate perception of the culture and what it’s like to work at Rackspace.
In addition, these types of videos give a personal view into the life of an employee by sharing words from potential co-workers rather than just company executives. Some even go so far as to show all the departments within an organization, giving candidates an even more realistic view into the company and how they could be part of it.
HubSpot’s recruiting video is another good example of a company using its employees and work environment to shape the employment brand. In addition to sharing some of the perks of working there, like free food, Xbox and unlimited vacations, the founder and employees talk about the company’s “no door policy,” giving potential candidates a more accurate view of HubSpot’s culture and communication style. This video also shines more light on the people who work at HubSpot as they’re filmed talking about the tools they use and the projects they’re working on.
What do you think of these examples? Hopefully they will help you think about your own employment brand and how you can use video to convey the employee experience. But aside from a strong employment brand, what else do you think makes a successful recruiting video?
