Video content is ruling every industry and platform. Videos dominate websites, emails, and social media feeds.

Video content plays a vital role in recruiting as well.

According to experts, businesses and recruiters are using every possible angle and conceivable tool to find the best talent. The search to find the right person for the job has never been so fierce before.

As part of the talent acquisition strategy, videos can help you tell your business story, give life to your message, and attract and engage the right talent.

Why Use Recruitment Videos?

Businesses, big and small, are already using videos as recruitment content. The reasons are simple.

  • Video content is engaging.
  • Video content has an incredible reach.
  • Video content encourages sharing.
  • Video is the best content type for a mobile-savvy world.

CareerBuilder in its whitepaper stated job postings with a video increased the application rate by 34%.

Recruitment videos work. But, nowadays, every company uses video for recruiting talent. Hence, to attract an awesome talent, you need an awesome recruitment video.

Here are 5 secrets to creating the perfect recruitment video.

#1 Use the Right People

Potential candidates will readily connect with the recruitment video if it contains people who have been in the viewer’s position.

Information about the company, its vision, and mission, when presented by a direct peer or a cross-section of people in different roles will yield a better response.

The response would be much better than videos that only feature the CEO of a company.

Make it all about the employees. A short intro from the CEO would suffice.

The pertinent information about the job should be communicated by the employees of the organization.

That’s because the job seekers would want to see people they might end up working with in the future.

Recruitment videos featuring employees are effective and inexpensive. Videos can be filmed in-house and edited by an agency to give them a polished look.

Example: Apple

The technology company that’s widely known for its innovation and creativity doesn’t shy away from infusing the same qualities in their recruitment videos.

Their very well produced recruitment videos attract the right talent because of the following:

  • They let the employees take the lead and explain why they are best at what they do.
  •  To highlight the company’s global presence and diversity, the videos show the employees speaking different languages.
  • The company lets the employees explain who they are as an organization.

#2 Answers the Queries the Candidates Tend to Have

In general, interviews are too short to fully access the candidate, learn about his/her history, and answer the candidate’s questions about the company.

The interview should be all about assessing the candidate for the job, period. The typical questions – the frequently asked questions about the company – can be answered through the requirement video.

At least for the next few years, the potential candidate plans to spend more than half of the waking hours in the office.

It’s only natural to be curious about the company, its employees, culture, work environment, etc.

Through recruitment videos, you’re not telling, but showing them why your company is the best place to work.

Even recruitment video is part of video marketing. Here, instead of promoting a product or service, you’re marketing your company to potential employees.

Example: Zendesk

The software company Zendesk, has helped over 200,000 organizations achieve their business goals to date.

They have set themselves an ambitious target to reach $1 billion in revenue soon. They realize, to achieve the goal, a positive corporate culture and a team with shared core values is important.

Potential candidates will instantly connect with Zendesk’s recruitment video, because:

  • The narrator of the video addresses directly to the viewer; this makes the communication friendly and personal.
  • Even before the interview the candidate is given a tour of the office, introduced to the employees, and a glimpse of the work culture.
  • The narrator also shares many interesting and mundane information about the company.   

#3 Keep the Recruitment Video Casual, Concise, and Compelling

It’s not enough for the video to capture the attention of the candidates. Job seekers must watch the whole video.

After analyzing more than 450 company and job videos, SkillScout reported 1 minute and 36 seconds as the average time job seekers spent watching recruitment videos.

So, keep the length of the recruitment video short; ideally less than two minutes.

Potential candidates will skip the video if it isn’t interesting and appealing. You need not use influencer to market your recruitment video.

Make the recruitment video casual and fun by avoiding business language, corporate buzzwords, and boring jargon.

The content must appeal to the candidates and the employees that are part of the video.

The friendly personality, energy, and joy of the employees will shine through only if the video is fun and interesting to make.

Example: Shopify

The Canadian e-commerce company Shopify has helped millions build and successfully run online stores.

The short recruitment video titled ‘Shopify: Draw The Owl’ contains very little actual information but reveals so much about the company.

The quirky recruitment video became such a hit because of the following:

  •  It’s so unique, fun, and engaging to watch that you don’t mind spending two minutes of your life on a video that reveals little actual information.
  • The video demonstrates the company culture in a fun and compelling way.
  • Subtly, the video reveals the qualities and attitude that’s expected from the employees.

#4 Include an Effective Call to Action

The recruitment video has showcased your company as an ideal place to work. What’s next?

Don’t lose the hold the video has managed to create. Capitalize on the connection and guide the viewers to the career page. 

The video must also specify what to do next. Using a clear CTA, tell the candidate what to do next and how to do it.

Also mention whether you’ll be recruiting remotely or not.

Include a short company introduction video on the careers page. You don’t have to be an animation company to use a company introduction animation video.

Along with it, display the list of vacant positions, instructions on how to apply, and (if you deem fit) photos, roles, and a short bio of people that appear in the recruitment video.

Example: Humana

The American insurance company Humana kept their recruitment video short and to the point.

The video focuses on some great points. They are as follows:

  • Mentions the role and duties the potential employees will be doing.
  • Effectively conveys the advantages and perks the employees would enjoy in the company.
  • Shares the necessary information and instructions on how the viewers can apply for the advertised position at the company.

#5 Showcase Your Company Culture

Candidates are more likely to favor a company when there is better information about what it’s like to work there.

Recruitment videos that showcase the company culture present your company as a great place to work for the ideal candidate.

A well-made recruitment video with great content will lead to viewer engagement, the development of an emotional connection with the company, which will eventually motivate the viewer to become a candidate.

If the video manages to make an instant connection, the job seekers will picture themselves as an employee, the people in the video as colleagues, and the office as their workplace.

You can use the company culture videos to also highlight the qualities (confidence, dedication, and communication skills, teamwork skills, customer assistance skills, etc) you want to see in people joining your company.

Example: HubSpot

The inbound marketing and sales platform HubSpot understands the vital role of company culture in the success of an organization.

For them, company culture is the operating system that runs the organization. After much deliberation, they came up with the Company Code they feel everyone will love.

Their traditional and old-school recruitment video works because:

  • It shows their office is a fun and interesting place to work.
  •  It shows that the employees are passionate about the work they do.
  •  It focuses on the many perks that employees of HubSpot get.

Final Thoughts

Employees make or break business success. Hence, you can’t haphazardly create a recruitment video and wait for the top talent to flood in.

You can expect great results from the recruitment video. Provided you implement these five elements in your content.

To conclude, make the recruitment video the voice of your company. It’ll reach far and wide, engage the right audience, and bring you the best talent.

Author bio:
Cristian Stanciu is a freelance video editor, owner, and post-production coordinator of Veedyou Media – a company offering video editing services to videographers, marketing agencies, video production studios, or brands all over the globe. I can catch up with him on his blog or on LinkedIn.