Using Company Culture Videos to Attract Strong Candidates
Imagine this scene:
A fantastic job candidate sits in front of her computer after a full day of work, scanning the careers web pages for two different companies. Both jobs look great on paper.
With tired eyes, she scans the first company’s page–it has some text and a few stock photos, but is full of the standard boring company language. The candidate leaves with the feeling that it’d be a very corporate environment to work in.
Looking at the second company, she sees they use photos of real employees, jargon-free text, and a video. Overall the impression is that this company is a welcoming place–the video supports that as it’s full of employees talking about why they love the company.
The candidate smiles to herself as she submits her cover letter and resume to the second company. She’s already envisioning herself at this company and spends the next day at work daydreaming about reaching the next level in her career and feeling a sense of belonging at that company.
I’m no novelist, but also this doesn’t have to be a fictional tale. Company culture pages can inspire daydreams and ambitious goals!
Having a sincere, authentic corporate culture video on your Careers page is one step towards a really welcoming page.
Thanks to Hannah Busing for this photo on Unsplash - it feels like a big hug.
Why should you use video to showcase company culture to job candidates
Thanks to Sincerely Media on Unsplash for this photo!
Oh, let me count the ways (well, there are actually five ways)!
Better hiring translates to cost savings
Hiring can be expensive—the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) shared that some companies estimate 3-4x the cost of a position’s salary as the total cost to hire a new employee.
If you’re spending that much, you want to make sure the candidate is the right fit for the role and your company. What better way to do that than to help candidates better understand the company culture before they apply?
Sharing your values and benefits through video can allow candidates to see themselves at the company and can make the hiring process go more smoothly. It’ll attract candidates that are in sync with your company, which can increase retention and job satisfaction, too.
Accessibility
Not everyone can or has the ability to read a bunch of text. Maybe your perfect candidate has eye sight issues or they’re job searching after a long day at work or while watching their children.
How candidates can interact with your content is dramatically increased with video.
Using videos (with closed captions) allows for viewers to watch with the text on and the audio off if they’re in a space where they can’t make noise or don’t want to be heard. Or they can choose to listen to the audio while doing something else.
Videos allow for this flexibility of viewing to suit different people’s needs and preferences. This also is great for your diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts because it helps many different people learn about you.
Web pages people actually want to check out
Wouldn’t you love it if your visitors looked like this when they were on your website? I would!
A web page full of big blocks of text, even if it’s nicely designed, can be boring to read. Photos and videos break up the text and can complement the written text.
According to this Wyzowl 2021 study, 83% of video marketers say video helped increase how much time visitors spend on those pages that have it.
And the longer a candidate spends on your page learning about your open positions or your company, the better for you! It might make all the difference to attracting a candidate that’s just right for your company.
Your company is seen as more credible
Thanks to Dave Lowe on Unsplash for this photo1
If your video features real employees sharing what they love about your company in their own words, you’ll get a lot of social proof power. Social proof is when someone else is the one singing your praises. It lends your company more credibility and trust.
These types of testimonial videos pair so well with Careers pages because every prospective candidate would rather hear from actual employees and get a feeling of the company from the people who work there.
Real people bring color and life to the page.
Creation of reusable, re-shareable content
Company culture videos don’t just have to stay only on your company page. They could be re-used across social media, added to your YouTube or Vimeo pages, and shared in corporate newsletters.
These videos could be used to celebrate employees on special days (e.g. work anniversaries or holidays). Or the videos could be repurposed and made into a series of shorter videos or brief testimonials to be used across social media separately.
Video is probably more affordable than you think
It may seem like a corporate culture video will be expensive to shoot and edit, but as with all things video, there is a range of costs.
Thanks to Elena Mozhvilo for this photo on Unsplash!
At the lower end of the range is the HR manager conducting virtual interviews or recording employees with a smartphone and using an online video editing platform (if so, I’d recommend this post about equipment needs and this one about what to prep—you can do this!!). Your video might headline the Careers page.
A video at the upper end would include a full video shoot with videographer and crew plus a video editor for post-production. Or you might decide to shoot videos for each department and make multiple videos in the end.
The lower end would require more employee time than budget and the higher end would require more budget. And there are many options between the two.
For example, I work with some clients who record their own footage and I help pull the story together with a combination of their footage, stock footage, music, and more. This allows for a medium pricing option that significantly frees up employee time while requiring less budget than a full video shoot with a crew.
Whatever direction you take, a video with great storytelling and a solid outline will go a long way to helping candidates decide if your company is a good fit for them to grow and thrive.
Plus, a video like that can help get your company in front of awesome candidates in the first place if it’s shared by you widely across your marketing channels.
If you’re thinking about adding a company culture video to your Careers or Jobs page, let me know!
I can help use either self-recorded footage or footage from a videographer to create amazing videos that’ll motivate candidates to apply or watch your company for openings. I’m happy to connect!
