A new year often prompts reflections on the previous year: Did I accomplish the goals I set out to? Did I tackle that hard-to-solve problem at work? What bout my fitness goals? The New Year gives us a fresh start, even if we didn’t accomplish these things in the previous year, the new year offers new opportunities, gives us a chance to change and be better than we were in the year previous. There’s a reason everyone proclaims “New Year, new me,” as soon as the clock strikes midnight on January 1st.
A new year is also a great time for businesses to reflect on their strategies and performance in the year prior. Recruiting in 2020 was a challenge, to say the least. Not only did recruiters need to account for the remote nature of recruiting in a pandemic, but they also had to deal with a worker shortage that made talent extremely hard to come by, especially for more advanced fields. Those challenges will likely continue into 2022. So how can you deal with those roadblocks?
Video is the way forward! —Recruiting videos help to mitigate challenges and increase engagement. Through the creation of videos (esp. viral ones) more and more candidates have the opportunity to learn and get excited about your company and open roles.
But what exactly is a recruitment video?
In the traditional sense, a recruitment video is scripted and produced by a company in order to attract more candidates to an open role. This video acts almost as an advertisement for the company or the position.
The purpose is to try and help candidates get a feel for what their job would be like before they ever set foot in the door. It can be hard to get a feel for company culture, just by interviewing with a recruiter or even a hiring manager.
And from the company side, it helps weed out candidates who aren’t the right fit! Since prospective employees know more about what the role and culture are like before they decide to apply, you’re likely to get more of the right candidates and less likely to end up with someone completely wrong for the role.
While you don’t need a video to find the right candidate, it certainly helps! Since video is the preferred currency of the internet and social media (and is so easily shared), you’ll get a lot more eyes on your company and your open jobs if you decide to use video.
Surprisingly perhaps, creating a recruiting video that reaches your desired audience is easier said than done.
At WorkReels we believe the best recruiting videos have a couple of things in common.
- A focus on the people that make your company great: anyone can make a recruiting video by standing in front of a camera and repeating a job spec— but that isn’t what will compel potential candidates to take action. Showcasing your current employees talking about their roles, experience and perspectives is one of your most powerful tools in attracting new candidates.
- Authenticity: Authenticity is crucial when creating your recruiting videos. I mean, just think about it. Even if you heard about the greatest company in the world offering a job that you really wanted to do if the advertisement didn’t ring true how could you really trust it? While you want to share all the great things your company has to offer, you don’t want your video to come off as overly rehearsed or planned. Try and let it be as natural as possible.
- Storytelling: The best recruiting videos are the ones that tell stories— not just sound bites or testimonials. Stories help you to capture your viewers’ attention quickly (no small feat in the era of social media). If you tell a good story, viewers can feel invested in your company and its values before they’ve ever set foot in the door.
We’ve picked out what we think are some of the best recruiting videos we’ve seen based on these principles, and we’ll share what makes them great (in no particular order).
- Bamboo HR: The changing values of the workforce are something that you’ll need to be cognizant of as you enter 2022. Gen Z and Millennials now make up a majority of the workforce and they value work/life balance like no generation before them. “A survey found that 51% of Gen-Z consumers would ensure that a brand was aligned with their own values before making a purchase,” and the same is true for the companies they work for. They can afford to be choosier when selecting a position, so their values like diversity, work/life balance, and environmental impact may sway their decision one way or another. If you can highlight your commitment to social causes they care about that may be a way to gain their favor. Take this video from BambooHR for example, even though it was made quite a while ago, there is still a lot we can learn from it. The video spends a lot of time highlighting their values. Since they are a startup they knew it was important to highlight that their employees live full lives outside of work. So what’s the takeaway? One way you can get job-seekers attention is by showing them that you understand what their needs are and that your company is equipped to meet those needs.
- Appian: Appian’s video very quickly captures the audience’s attention by playing off a very well-known Vogue series, 73 Questions. However, instead of asking celebrities 73 Questions about their lives and careers, Appian’s video asks a series of employees very simple questions about their jobs and day-to-day work. Their video shows off the office and lets the viewer get a feel for what it actually might be like to work for the company. It also feels very authentic, it doesn’t appear to be overly scripted. They appear to have planned out the video but let the conversation flow naturally. This helps viewers to connect more easily to the people in the video, especially at the end when we see the employees interacting after they had finished what they had planned and just let loose.
- Dropbox: You’ll find this video on a lot of best lists and for good reason! It is quite attention-grabbing, featuring puppets with the voices of real employees. It is quite humorous to watch the puppets in the Dropbox offices. But that’s not why we love it. Underneath the puppets, employees are speaking their minds about their workplace. We believe recruiting videos are at their best when potential new employees can hear from current employees. No one knows what it is like to work at a company better than a current employee! Recruitment videos where you ask for your employees’ input will fare well.
- Founders Brewing Company: This video is simple, but therein lies its power. This video does not rely on clever editing, puppets, or well-known trends. This video is strong because of its narrative. We start by hearing about how the founders made okay beer and were close to locking their doors for good, making a product that they didn’t even really care about. We hear about how they changed their thinking, revamped their product, and made something that they were truly proud of. Hearing the founders of a company speak so passionately about it inspires confidence in job-seekers. They know that what the company puts out is hugely important to them. We all want to work somewhere that we can be proud of, right?
These are just a few examples of great recruiting videos. There are hundreds, if not thousands, more for you to get inspiration from. Our best advice is to incorporate each of these elements into your videos! Tell a story, feature your employees, show them you can meet their needs, and let loose/ be authentic (don’t plan every moment).
