Learn more great video recruiting and employer branding tips for employers by clicking here.
It’s true video is a great way to be able to relate, engage, and tell a story about a company culture and environment going beyond your standard careers page. Job postings with video icons are viewed 12% more than postings without video. On average, employer customers receive a 34% greater candidate application rate when they add video to their job postings. Keep in mind the average YouTube viewer spends 15 minutes a day checking out videos. They are a powerful way to relate and resonate with your candidate in a way the written word does not.
12 Best & Most Ridiculous Employer Brand & Recruiting Videos
Please note, not all of these are suitable for work, but they all tell a story about the type of candiate they are looking to apply for open positions at their organization.
1) Make Work Fun. This is one of the most original employer branding videos I’ve found to date. From the folks at Innocent Glee, they sing Lady Gaga while showing what a fun, exciting, and great place this is to work. A little long at over 6 minutes, but I can’t stop laughing!
2) Personal Insights Resonate with Candidates. One Rackspace employee gives us an inside look at what it means and feels like to work at one of the best and most unusual places to work, Rackspace. I love the guy with the crazy beard and long hair at around 1:32.
3) Let Your Employees Tell the Story. Starbucks has such a strong consumer brand. When it comes to recruiting, their videos help articulate the fun and development focused atmosphere that they offer interns in Seattle. I love the addition of the music soundtrack.
4) Target Specific Audiences & Tug the Heartstrings. Recruitment videos can be used to resonate with a targeted audience of job seekers. AT&T’s Job Shadow video series helps paint a picture of how their program can help make a difference in prospective employees and student’s lives.
5) Funny Goes Viral! Even Twitter gets in the employer branding and recruiting video game by sharing this recruiting spoof video on joining the flock at Twitter complete with it’s own Twitter account, @jointheflock.
6) Recruiting Videos Get Press (Even Bad Ones). Kixeye’s employer and culture video left me momentarily speechless before I laughed. The language and just general sense of the video had me over it in under 30 seconds. Definitely not suitable for work, but it gives you an idea of the type of company culture they are looking to promote.
7) You Say More When You Say Nothing At All. Looking to be different? Take a page from the folks at Carrot Creative as their employment video relies on video scenes and music to drive home their company’s recruiting and brand message. Wishing the folks at Kixeye tried this approach instead. (see above video)
8) Candidate & Customer Experience Should Be Seamless. Apple’s recruiting video gives insights into their drive for perfection and great product, but you probably already knew that if you read the Steve Jobs Biography like I did. While full of information, it wasn’t packaged sleek and sexy like when I opened my new MacBook Air. What do you think?
9) Talk About the Company & Showcase the Culture. Hubspot hands down has one of my favorite recruiting videos. They share insights directly from employees while giving you a picture of the office feel and benefits offered. Where do I apply?
10) Employee Testimonials Serve as Testiment. Of course Google is great at employer videos. Most every engineer and software designer is beating down their door. Employee hopefuls have created entire viral marketing strategies around getting an interview at Google. Their video isn’t flashy, but it shares employee testimonials on what it’s like to work at the world’s fastest growing company.
11) Make Sure Your Funny Doesn’t Miss the Mark. Recruiting videos should share insights not into the company culture. Barclays just shows us how they are using dark arts and ninja tactics to steal talent away quietly from the competition, but do you dare apply?
12) I’m a Sucker For Sap. Candidates want to work for a socially conscious company in larger numbers than every before. Whirlpool’s recruitment video narrated by Reba McEntire tells a story about how employees come together to help others by working with Habitat for Humanity. This one brought a tear to my eye.
Is there a good, great, or lame recruitment or employment branding video I missed? Leave a comment and share the link below. Don’t forget to learn more great video recruiting and employer branding tips for employers by clicking here.
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37 Comments
Really great videos. Here’s one you missed by Lake Appliance Repair: http://youtu.be/pngLXSI1AAg
That was brilliant, my favorite song parodied for advertisement…Thanks for sharing that.
Great pictures. We wish everyone A HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR! http://www.expectad.com/happynewyear.html
One of my favorite – Harley Davidson. Enough to make any hard-core manufacturing guy choke up a little.
http://youtu.be/ThjYcG9H3Ys
Awesome, thanks Paul. This blog post has been popular so it looks like I’m compiling a second blog post! Great suggestion.
JMM
thanks for the nod to Rackspace – we love it here!
B the Dub, that “guy with the crazy beard and long hair” is Brant Bumpers, Linux tech and Racker extraordinaire. You can read more of his (and other Rackers’) exploits over at RackerTalent.com.
had to put together a reply post – c’mon Innocent Glee Club, let’s see what you got!
http://rackertalent.com/core-values/best-employment-branding-videos-2012/
Thank you Drew! You are awesome. It’s the battle of the recruitment videos.
JMM
Great stuff. The AT&T and Whirlpool videos were very inspirational. There are way too many brands not capitalizing on their stories.
Agreed, Blake. Thanks for reading and taking the time to comment. This post was fun to research. Looks like we’ll be doing another.
JMM
Jessica-
Excellent list of recruiting videos.
It’s strange how little real information there is about inside corporate culture. I know of glassdoor.com, and that can be tainted, since the postings are anonymous which begs for posts by disgruntled employees.
Have you seen other sites that compare the “corporate culture” at different companies?
That would be interesting to see.
I know a lot of job seekers would probably find this usual, since it’s corporate culture that is probably one of the biggest “soft skills” that employers are hiring for.
Thanks again,
Jonathan Duarte
Thanks for pulling together the selection Jessica – some really nice and innovative videos here. But also interesting to see that the production values on some are really poor.
It’s an interesting conundrum for brands – in hard times they can be criticised for producing a glossy video that looks expensive, but if they go too much down the user generated route it doesn’t pay justice to their brand. We’ve produced over 1000 employer brand videos here in the UK and more recently in the US and have found that in order to make an effective and believable recruitment video you have to find a balance between quality and authenticity.
Also, no examples of animation. This example proves it can work really well – http://casualfilms.com/uk/work/building-a-wall-award-winning-animation-for-the-ngdp/
Hi Barnby,
Thanks for the link.
From my experience, Recruitment Branding is a much newer concept in the US than in Western Europe and Australia.
I could be wrong about this, but I think it was a combination of Social Networking sites and Search sites like Google, that really got the momentum rolling in the US.
This was only in the last couple of years that Recruitment Branding was even a concept talked or written much about in the US, at least to the level that it is now.
Jonathan
Jonathan,
You are not wrong. It is a very new concept one that some companies are really taking too. The candidate relationship through non-traditional job search channels is growing in importance every single day. Companies like AT&T are using SEO to drive candidates to their career site versus spending money on job board ads. We recently did a webinar with AT&T and Direct Employers last year. You can view it on demand at https://workology.com/events/.
Thanks for the comment.
JMM
Hi Barnaby,
Good point there was no animation and I agree that the production quality isn’t always the best. It’s a balance isn’t it? You don’t want too look too polished and produced losing the voice and authenticity of the individual. I’m no videographer no I can’t say for certain. This post has been so popular so we are working on a second and I think that your suggestion on animation is a great one. Honestly, I saw a view of those really lame talking head videos after I published this post. I will likely add those to the mix for the next.
Thanks for the comment.
JMM
Thanks for the round up – some great examples of how to bring an employer brand to life here. Would be interested in a similar feature on best in class use of Pinterest for employer branding – feel sure this will be a growth area this year. Do you agree?
Rachel,
That’s a great idea.
I haven’t followed the theme of using “Pintrest” in the Recruiting Brands, yet.
I’m sure there are some experts out there that have done some testing and tweaking to see what IS and what IS NOT working, so far.
Jessica,
That would be an interesting blog post.
Jonathan
Hi Rachel,
I wrote a blog post on the top companies using Pinterest last year but it is probably about time for an update. You can look at the article here: http://www.smartrecruiters.com/blog/5-best-employer-brands-on-pinterest/. This just gives you a feel for a few of the companies that are leading the way in the employment branding scene. Appreciate the comment.
JMM
We just posted our employment branding video: http://youtu.be/8rz_uh0dYMY
Thanks Steven. This post has been popular and we will be releasing another round of employer branding videos.
JMM
Glad to hear it.
this is why this stuff is great for companies! A large news station interviewed this company because they saw the video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVpNgi2zlG8
Hi! Some other inspiration when it comes to recruiting young adults 🙂
http://youtu.be/e-y1Aqg-228
Johan
Thanks for pulling together the selection – some really nice and innovative videos here. But also interesting to see that the production values on some are really poor.
I watched all the videos, also those which are mentioned in comments! Each video is standing up with good information.
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These are exactly why THIS was created….http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Pq5hEC703g
Hi Jessica
Brillant post! Where did you get the stats from? The ones you talk about in the introduction.
Thanks
Hi Jessica
Brilliant post! Where did you get the stats from? The ones you talk about in the introduction.
Thanks
Hi Sonia,
Thanks for the comment. The link next to the statistics takes you to an inforgraphic where this information and statistics were sourced. You can also click here: https://workology.com/social-media/youtube-recruiting-video/
JMM
Thanks Jessica!
Your article is very interesting and useful. It seems that some companies have low standards. Great work!
Hi Jessica,
If your putting another list together any time soon. 😉
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roy0fJQBUKk
Love the list, especially barclays.
Hi Jessica,
here I found some examples from germany:
http://recruiting-videos.net/
Best regards
Tom
Thanks, Tom. I’m working on a new list right now.
JMM
Jessica,
Top list – one of my favourites this year, this is almost like a movie and is all about the people and values of the organisation – Pobl Group
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4aReloHL3w
Might even jerk a tear, it’s very powerful and makes you want to join their team!
Great collection. A lot to think about!.
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