More companies and organisations are turning to video to help with their recruitment efforts, to attract top talent, and build stronger teams.
Using video for recruitment purposes has several benefits. These include increased engagement and interest from potential candidates and the ability to quickly showcase your team and work environment. This is also true if you are a charity or non-profit trying to attract more volunteers to help your organisation. Showing your workplace’s upbeat and vibrant culture on video is a powerful tool for letting people know what it’s like, enhancing the candidate experience.
Creating a video for recruitment can be straightforward. You can use a scripted video with a voiceover and B roll (B Roll footage is just filmed shots around the premises), led by a professional presenter – though this is typically more American- or an interview led by a range of colleagues at different levels speaking honestly and positively about their experience.
Either way, filmed video production is the best option because it gives a real-life experience of the work, people, and environment and will feel more authentic than animation, giving a more immersive feeling. For example filming on a campus for your educational video production. However, you can combine graphics and animated bits into the video edit to emphasise points and for visual variety and added branding. Good branding always has a positive impression on viewers.
A video production like this can often, but doesn’t have to, accompany a photoshoot (organised on the same day), so you have a huge bank of content that is consistent in look feel. You only have to organise everyone together once for the big day (making sure any uniform is correct, PPE is accurate, the workplace looks tidy and its best, etc.). We’ve often filmed around photographers!
This bank of photo and video content can benefit your social media platforms and website, giving you up to a few months of content on socials. For a client, we recently created a bank of video content, we filmed for four days, each day with a videographer and photographer, giving them around 200 photos each day and 8 videos in total. The videos were a mixture of short-form ones for social media and longer videos for the recruitment part of their website and youtube. The client also used transcripts of the spoken content from the video to create carousel posts.
A professionally produced video series that explores different areas of the business or organisation in depth gives a holistic understanding of the organisation’s culture and mission. A video with a professional feel and branding will enhance the perception of your organisation, and it allows potential candidates to get a good feeling for the people and place before applying, so those who apply are keener and more suitable from the start, as they have more understanding of the task at hand and the expectations of them.
Types of Videos Used in Recruitment
Interview-style Testimonial Videos
Filming for a day at your premises, speaking to staff on camera and capturing genuine emotions and feelings about the work, the support they receive, information about progression, and the importance they feel to the part of the company or the organisation can be infectious. It’s always good to include a wide range of staff, rather than only managers, for example, to feel more authentic and less corporate. For this kind of video, you want positive and genuine emotion, not a set script to follow, so it’s best to use a quesstionare and a director who will be skilled in active listening and getting the best out of the interviewee so they’;’re not nervous.
This kind of video can be filmed a few different ways. It can filmed on-site to help give context to the work environment such as a school or university and show off the premises, or it can be filmed in a professional studio atmosphere to provide a different look, like a more formal interview. The benefit of filming on-site is that it gives much more visual information about what it’s like, so viewers can more easily envisage themselves there.
Day-in-the-life Video(s)
These can be UGC (User Generated Content—i.e., the person films themselves, not professionally), or you can film them more professionally using a video production company. UGC can work as it gives it a more personal vibe. This video is more of a behind-the-scenes look into the workplace and be more fun. If you have many different departments and roles, you can create one for each, showing off the rich environment, range of activities, and diverse staff in a series. In the past, we’ve also edited UGC content filmed by the client here in the video studio to give it appropriate branding and professional editing to lift the original content – so mixing the two together to balance cost, speed and professionalism.
Q & A Video
This can be a short, quick-fire question round with staff or volunteers and can often be done UGC to give a more casual everyday feel. And again you can make a series of these about all aspects of work and life there. You can also go the opposite way and film this in a professional video studio; you’d do this, perhaps with a company director, to give a personal yet professional-feeling approach—like an insight into their life and their views on the company and where it’s going. If you’re feeling extra, you can also develop a theme around this, for example a monthly / weekly sofa chat or asking a particular person questions.
Culture Video
Creating a video that discusses specifically the culture and real work environment is vital. Show off what sets you apart, whether it’s being innovation-led, customer-centric, or highlighting the importance of employee well-being. This can also be similar to a ‘Values’ video if you already have set company values. If you don’t have official values, that’s also fine; you can still portray the culture easily with good video production and planning in place.
This kind of video is also your chance to show off how inclusive and diverse your workforce is, as we know that the benefits of diversity in the workforce are massive, and representation matters. It’s a way to make everyone feel proud and excited about the unique culture and work environment. Here we also put effort into making sure our video productions are as inclusive as possible.
Roles Video
This video highlights the diverse range of roles available. In engineering, for instance, there is often a wide variety of roles requiring different skills and experience, more than people may initially think. A video that specifically addresses this variety of roles can highlight all the opportunities available that a potential employee may not have considered needed in your organisation at first glance.
Brand Video
A brand video is a key tool to help potential candidates and volunteers, especially those new to your organisation, quickly understand what you’re about, how you help your clients, where you are based, etc. This kind of video is more geared towards potential clients but is also helpful in recruitment. This short and concise video should show clients and potential employees your best side, whether it’s filmed, animated, or a mix of both.
Using Video in Different Recruitment Channels
A first touch point where a potential candidate may find you is a job site or your website. So a video series for a specific recruitment section of the site will let the person browse in their own time to get a feel for the work required and your company. Then you have Social media (e.g., LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram). These want to be quick and dynamic; a potential candidate may follow you for a while or have a deep dive into your socials to learn more.
If you regularly recruit staff, a specific section on your website with plenty of information and a video library with the above selection allows candidates to browse at their own pace and learn about you. When they apply, they have a much clearer idea of what it’ll be like, and the chances of it being a successful match for everyone are higher.
Best Practices for Creating Effective Recruitment Videos
- Keep it concise and engaging: Aim for videos that are no longer than a few minutes.
- Use high-quality audio and video: Invest in a good video production team like Digital Finch to ensure a professional feeling video.
- Focus on storytelling: Create a narrative that connects with your target audience.
- Optimise for mobile viewing: Many people watch videos on their smartphones, so ensure your video content is mobile-friendly if it’s likely to viewed on phones.
- Promote your videos: Share them on your company’s website, social media channels, and job boards.
Summary
Video is a powerful tool for attracting top talent and showcasing your company culture. By creating engaging and informative videos, you can enhance the candidate experience and increase your chances of finding the right people for your team.
Ready to use video to boost your recruitment? Contact us today to discuss your video production needs. Our team of experts can help you create impactful videos that will make a lasting impression on potential candidates.
