How to create an effective Corporate Recruiting Video

Did you know that according to a CareerBuilder article “Job postings with video icons are viewed 12 % more than postings without video? On average, CareerBuilder customers receive a 34 % greater application rate when they add video to their job postings.” 

Looking for talent by taking your job ad and turning it into a corporate video is a great branding opportunity and gives every employee a certain first impression of an organisation. A company can have two options to choose from:

1. A general corporate video or 

2. Different videos depending on the job roles, e.g. technical jobs, marketing jobs, administrative jobs etc. 

The latter would be the more expensive option since you would have to make a series of them. I would like to offer you some tips as to what you need to consider when creating an effective corporate recruiting video:

1.) Think about who the key people are that you would like to involve in this project. Exchange ideas as to how to make the video, how the outcome should look like and try to get feedback throughout the process. Also consider of asking for some legal advice to make sure that you don’t get into any legal trouble. 

2.) Make sure you have a good camera and you produce first class quality. If you prefer to hire a video professional it would be advisable to check his credentials and ask for some video samples that have been created by him in the past. If you like what you see don’t hesitate to hire him for your project.  

3.) Pay attention to the length of the video and remember that the attention span that viewers normally have is short. It might be difficult to fit a lot of information about your company in a short video (company culture, staff, job roles, benefits offered, what it is like to work there, interview procedure, a day in the life of an employee of that company, excerpts from company meetings etc.) but three minutes would be an appropriate length. 

4.) Think about what your top three to five core messages are that you want to put across and focus on them. For example: the diversity of your employees, the characteristics of the employees working for the company, the type of company and its culture (whether it is a fun, conservative or innovative corporate environment), the specifications of various job roles, the values of the company or a 360 degree online tour of the premises and offices.  

5.) If you include employees talking about the company make sure they practice their answers so that it sounds as natural as possible, avoid reading from the script. Let them talk about why they decided to work for this company and what they particularly enjoy about their job. It would be also very effective to show them in action while they are doing their job and that should be reflected in the most realistic way possible. 

If you would like to see how other companies did it and get some inspiration have a look at the following links. 

GOOGLE: http://youtu.be/JcXF1YirPrQ

APPLE: http://youtu.be/A7HVt3xgTn4

ZENDESK: http://youtu.be/l0uaSU6IVN4

HUBSPOT: http://youtu.be/EXOtTvb5OFE

Bear in mind that using a video can make you stand out from the crowd and gives a much better picture about a company’s life than any ad could ever do. If you consider videos for recruitment purposes remember that quality as well as the content are key.