How to Attract Top Talent with Video

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The Step-by-Step Guide for Using Video in Your Hiring Process

 

We’re quickly approaching the end of the year and with this we often review the year prior, as well as explore plans to expand and scale in 2023. While retention of your best performing employees is front of mind, in today’s climate you may also be thinking of ways you can grow and attract the best top talent to your firm. One of these main ways to do this is through video in recruitment. 

With the oncoming recession, UK unemployment has already risen to 3.6% and this is not solely in low-income jobs but from successful firms and corporations. The result of this? A lot of top talent at your fingertips. 

With this in mind, this top talent will be looking for great job opportunities and you want to be front of mind. So how can you ensure you engage and attract top talent? We highly recommend including video and/or animation in your recruitment process. Video in recruitment is growing at a significant rate and is becoming more and more essential to your recruitment strategy.  

As video and animation specialists, you may be thinking we are a little biassed – however video is proven to help drive engagement and interest in a company. Indeed, according to The State of Video in Talent report, 88% of respondents who have used video within the hiring process believe it generates more responses from candidates. Further a whopping 93% of applicants have engaged with an employer brand video to explore the company and their values. Let’s get stuck in. 

 

How should you use video in your recruitment strategy? 

The Bearded Fellows top tips for attracting top talent

 

Define your target audience

The first thing to consider is – who do you want to attract as part of your recruitment process? Clearly defining who you want to hire and work with/for you is a great first step. Understanding where they are and what position they are currently in, as well as what their character is like. This detail will lay the foundation for the style of video, the type of video you want to create and where you will promote it as part of your overall recruitment strategy – “be where your audience are”. Just like any other marketing video, you need to get inside the mind of the target audience in order to make the video relevant, engaging and exciting. 

 

Get comfortable with speaking their language

Once you know the type of top talent you want to attract with your video, you need to outline the type of language they will use. This is one of the biggest mistakes recruiters make when creating their recruitment video strategy. Many companies put forward what they are looking for in a language they have been using for a long time. They are not speaking in a way that their target market can relate or feel comfortable with – hence why their recruitment process may not always be great. If you’re unsure what type of language your target audience are using and how to emulate this in your video, speak to our video and animation specialists. 

 

It’s not just about showing your face on camera, though this is important

Over the past few years there has been a huge push in video to ‘personalise’ and ‘show the faces behind the company’. While this is important, it is not the magical key to nailing your recruitment video. What you say, and how you say it, is far more important from an engagement perspective. 

Further, many video recruitment adverts unfortunately reuse content from a previous video strategy, or even worse, just copy and paste from somewhere else. Showing your face, while helpful for brand engagement and video engagement, does not make a difference if what you’re saying does not engage the user. This again comes back to the need to outline your target audience, define the language they use and think carefully about what you’re going to say to best represent your company. 

 

Be authentic and transparent 

For recruitment, it goes without saying you have to be realistic in your video. Your audience and future employees will value your authenticity and honesty, so being transparent about what the role ‘is really like’ can help potential applicants engage with you as a brand. While it’s okay to ‘talk the role up’ and sell it and your brand, make sure you also put your full self forward. 

It might also be beneficial to include a testimonial from an employee in your video recruitment strategy, or simply showing your people being themselves. In doing so, not only will you share with your target audience the ‘type’ of people they will be working with, but it’ll again show your authenticity and lack of fear in showing off your company culture. The biggest challenge here will be finding an employee that will happily speak on camera without trembling! 

 

Don’t be afraid to be creative! 

As a video agency who puts creativity into everything we do, of course we’re going to tell you to be creative – it’s a huge part of what we do! However despite our bias, creativity really will help you stand out from the crowd and make you known against your competitors. Who wants another boring corporate LinkedIn video anyway? 

At Bearded Fellows, we are huge fans of docu-style visuals. It is not bows and whistles – it is straight to the point. In our experience, this helps to emphasise the company culture, the role and the people in a quick and to-the-point video. When potential applicants are exploring new roles, being efficient and effective is key to cut through the noise. 

 

Be subtle with your brand

Of course, branding plays a significant role in how one perceives a company. The key here when it comes to using video in recruitment is to keep it subtle when bringing your branding in. Whether you bring in your colours occasionally, or you use your logo at the end of your video – keep it sparse and focus on the people instead. Better still, using your brand alongside your people can help people associate a good feeling with who you are as a company. 

Just remember: the company is just a name. The people are what make it real. Try not to focus on pushing your logo and colours at every possible opportunity. 

 

Have fun with it

When using video in recruitment, don’t forget to have fun. If you’re recruiting for a specific role, then you may need to focus on specific areas or departments. If you are recruiting to attract a specific type of person, again you will need to adapt. However, try to have fun and keep it entertaining. After all, this is someone’s first view of you as a company and potential employer – how do you want to be perceived?

 

If you’re looking for a video marketing agency to inject creativity and strategy into your recruitment campaign, get in touch to start your project.