In 1997, Steven Hankin coined the term “The War for Talent” in McKinsey’s quarterly briefings. What followed the suit were drumrolls of modern warfare. This war wasn’t to be fought on a barren island god-knows-where. Corporate boardrooms were supposed to be the new battlefields. Employer branding was positioned front and centre.
Over the past two decades, corporations were indeed fighting for top talent in a war-like fashion. At times, they even opted for ruthless strategies to get crème de la crème. McKinsey’s slogan-ridden advertorials and eye-catching subheadings were the mere bugle call for the purported “end-game”. Now, it was all the more imperative to "brand your brand", or keep employer brand marketing initiatives at the heart of everything.
A quarter of a century has passed since then. People have made all sorts of claims, from asserting the talent war is coming to an end to claiming it will intensify going forth. A few even went ahead and described the talent war to be the most elaborate conspiracy theory ever created.
All things considered, it’s safe to say that the war for talent is real. We can see it everywhere. Companies compete aggressively to lure in the best minds. After all, it’s the talent that gets everything done. It is the driving force behind product development, impeccable services, and ingenious solutions to unmet market needs. And, this war is far from ending anytime soon. It has transformed, and will continue to do so in the future.
However, the focus has now shifted from a war of attrition to a war of innovation. Companies that embrace new and innovative ideas viz. employer branding have an absolute upper hand against their peers. For instance, did you know that an average adult in the U.S. watched 167 minutes of TV video and 149 minutes of digital video per day in 2021? That’s more than 5 hours of video content every day. Ever thought of making video an essential part of your employer brand strategy? Not just a brand story video. A comprehensive video-driven employee branding strategy?
Since you’re reading this blog, we believe you did!
So, without further ado, let’s understand how you can creatively use videos to build a strong brand and emerge as one of the top employer branding companies.
When we think about employer branding, especially in the context of videos, the first thing that comes to our mind is brand video production. But there’s more to it. Videos can be effectively utilized at every step of your employer branding process.
In this blog, we’ll be discussing innovative techniques that you can use including:
1. In-video quizzes in research and application processes
2. Video interviews to replace traditional face-to-face interviews
3. Branded story videos for social media channels
4. Employer branding videos for the career page
5. Video-based training to upskill employees
6. A day in the life videos to market the actual work environment
7. Intranet videos to build a strong company culture
8. Welcome kits for new employees
9. Exit interviews to avoid any unwarranted attrition
10. Stealth marketing via brand placement, influencers, and creators
Let’s understand each of these stages in detail to understand the power of video in employer branding.
Do you rely on typical form-based approaches for your research, employee feedback, and application process? It’s high time to change that.
Yes, you can leverage in-video quizzes to make feedback forms more seamless and intuitive. For instance, during your research, you can place such polls in your employee-facing content to gather their thoughts about, say, company culture or the job itself. This way, you can assess their attitude and aptitude towards their respective positions. It will also help you unravel salient features to highlight while giving you a sense of direction on how you must approach your hiring strategy.
Such implementations can further leave a lasting impact on your candidate experience and overall branding strategy.
According to a survey, candidate experience influenced 80% of job seekers to accept the offer at their current employer. And it makes sense. Wouldn’t you be more willing to work with an employer that values your experience? How willing would you be to do it if the experience is otherwise? Also, good candidate experience not only decreases the likelihood of a negative review (37%) but also improves the chances of getting a positive one (61%). So, a couple of brownie points there.
To do so, you can conduct a pre-screening video interview. Just ask a prospective employee to record a video of themselves answering your interview questions.
This way, you can quickly assess their communication skills, body language, and overall personality. You can also ask your prospects to record a video of themselves performing a task. For instance, if you're hiring a developer, you can give them a development assignment and record it using Teyuto Clip or Loom. You can then assess their code, the time taken to complete the task, and the overall quality of their work.
A typical interview can last for 15 to 90 minutes. Imagine doing that for 20 promising candidates. That’s a lot of time and effort!
We shouldn't forget that, at the end of the day, we're humans. Extensively interviewing leads to interview fatigue, which affects the quality of our hires. A solution to this quagmire can what you’re already doing – video interviews! The only difference is to replace face-to-face interviews completely with them and start using video analytics solutions.
Reason? A lot has changed in the world of video analytics. Now, you can even gauge candidates by their voice profiles, micro-expressions, word choices, and other non-verbal cues. It also brings down the time to hire substantially, allowing you to quickly onboard the right talent with a high degree of precision.
According to a survey, 77% of job seekers prefer to know about the corporate culture before applying to a company. Another study revealed that 73% people aged between 18 and 34 years found their last job via social media. It’s clear that people want a taste of the internal workings of a company - and social media is a great place to look.
Social media is also the most widely used platform for talent acquisition. Even better, it has a ready audience to consume your content. So, why not produce branded story videos to let job seekers see what they are getting themselves into?
Your branded story videos should be well thought out and focus on your company culture and how your company culture can positively impact a job seeker’s life. It’s best to chronicle the employee journey and highlight their success stories. These stories must subtly incorporate your vision and mission, ethics, and the overall work environment. The idea is to show the human side of your organization and lure in the best candidates that are a culture fit.
Here's a great example of an employer brand marketing video:
Your job post and career page are the most important pieces of real estate for your talent acquisition efforts. 63% job seekers consider the career pages as a valuable resource. So, it’s imperative to invest in them.
But, you can make your job postings and career page even more enticing by embedding employer branding videos on it. Job postings with a video receive 12% more views while improving the application rate by 34%.
The idea is to share videos that highlight the most important aspect of your company, especially for that particular job. For instance, the video above clearly states that there’s “no glamour in beermaking” and then it gives it a spin that there’s “a lot of glory” in crafting beers.
Just be honest (while being exciting). It’s the best way to motivate people to apply for any position.
Earlier, a Learning Management System was a luxury that only large companies could afford. But the rapid pace of technological advancement has made it an indispensable part of any organization.
No, it’s not just about having an LMS. It's also about how you leverage it to upskill your employees and make learning more engaging.
The answer is video.
Most people learn better by watching a video rather than reading a lot of text. It’s easier to understand complex concepts, follow steps, and visualize the process. It also improves the overall learning experience and retention.
Let’s say you’re hiring a bunch of people. They are coming from diverse backgrounds, and they aren’t well-versed in your company’s processes, core values, and vision.
You can’t spend hours, days, weeks, and even months teaching them everything, right? So, what do you do?
The easiest solution is to create an on-demand training video for your employees. Share it with your new hires and let them learn everything at their own pace. The best part is that they can revisit the video anytime to brush up on their knowledge. Such practices not only improve productivity but also drive better employee engagement.
Don’t you wish you knew what it was like to work with a particular organization?
A day in the life videos lets you do just that. It’s a candid video to show what it’s like to work in a particular department within a company. It’s a great way to give people an insight into the work environment and convey the daily challenges of a particular role.
It’s especially useful when you’re hiring for a unique position. No matter how well-worded your description is, there’s always a chance of misconceptions. A day in the life video helps you overcome that by giving people a first-hand experience.
It’s the best way to highlight the mundane aspects of your company and win the hearts and minds of the best talents.
A company’s culture is the soul of its identity. It’s the keystone that binds everything together and provides the employee with an identity of their own. It’s not just about the usual perks like health insurance or stock options. Instead, it's about the culture that you are fostering in your organization.
In today's largely digital work environment, intranet videos are the best way to convey your company culture. They help you bind the entire workforce in a single thread, especially when some of them are working remotely.
The best part? It can be accessed anywhere, anytime.
You can feature a new hire in the video that shares their experience of working at your company. Share a video that talks about the perks of working with you. You can even share content that talks about your core values and ethics.
Such videos are an excellent way to stay connected with your workforce while nurturing a sense of community.
Onboarding can't be stressed enough in the employee journey. It’s the first step towards a long-lasting relationship, and it needs to be done right. Welcome kits are a great way to make your new hires feel welcome.
You can send them a welcome kit that includes a welcome video from the CEO, a welcome letter, and a gift.
It’s a great way to personalize the onboarding and make your new hires feel valued. You can also have your all employees record a fun video about themselves, the jobs that they do, and upload it to your corporate intranet. This will make your cross-department collaboration much more seamless.
Do you know that about 75% organizations conduct exit interviews? However, only 1% do it right. Yes, a study by Harvard Business Review, revealed that 70.9% of companies let their HR departments handle the exit interview while 8.9% let an outgoing employee's immediate supervisor's manager to do the job. Roughly 19% even handed the baton to the employee's direct supervisor.
But why are these stats problematic?
The study found that people are not truthful to their supervisors in exit interviews. Perhaps, because they want references. They are also outrightly dishonest with the HR team. The research revealed that exit interviews were only effective if done by an external consultant.
So, where does video-based exit interviews fit into the picture? A video-based exit interview conducted by an external consultant is the way to go if you want to improve your retention rate. It’s the best way to get honest feedback and take the right steps to prevent any unwarranted attrition. Furthermore, you can also leverage video analytics to gauge the micro-expressions of an employee to determine the quality of their responses.
Have you watched "The Internship"? You might have noticed the branding of Google throughout the movie. Not just that, several "Google" products were featured in the movie.
It’s called brand placement, and it’s a form of stealth marketing. It’s frequently used by most top employer branding companies to subtly promote their brand.
You can do it in two ways – either by working with an influencer or creating your own branded content. For instance, you can rent out your workplace to an influencer or content creator in exchange for a shout-out in their content. Alternatively, you can collaborate with them to create branded video content.
Video is the most powerful medium for conveying a message. It’s an essential part of your employer branding strategy. It’s the best way to showcase your company culture, attract the best talents, develop a strong employer brand, and improve employee engagement.
By utilizing videos at each stage of the employee journey, you can emerge as one of the top employer branding companies.
Experience the power of videos first-hand with Teyuto’s comprehensive video solutions. Book a personalized demo today.
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