How Hawkins Used a Recruiting Video to Reduce Turn Over by 50%

Background

Providing innovative solutions with exceptional service for a company’s chemical needs

Hawkins is a formulator, manufacturer, blender, distributor, and sales agent for thousands of industrial chemicals and reagent grade laboratory chemicals sold to municipalities and businesses throughout the Central United States. Thousands of water treatment facilities, manufacturers, food and dairy producers, research labs and many other organizations depend on Hawkins for their chemical needs. A rapidly growing organization, Hawkins now has 49 locations in 24 states.

Challenge

A need to decrease new hire turnover rates

Hawkins was experiencing difficulties recruiting for its Water Treatment Technical Route Sales Representative position with higher than desired turnover. It is a demanding position that has a long train-in period to become proficient, meaning “quick quits” (people leaving within 6 months to 1 year of being hired) are very costly. Finding the right talent and giving applicants a clear expectation of the job requirements is essential.

Hawkins came to Blue Key Media to help craft a recruitment video that could act as a realistic job preview, hoping to attract better fit applicants and deter those who’d be quick quits.

Strategy

We sat down with Hawkins to conduct a deep dive analysis of its business and the type of positions they were trying to fill. This included identifying not only what we wanted to uplift about the position, but also what we wanted to include to ideally screen out bad fit hires. For example, we found that people often quit quickly because they didn’t understand how physically demanding the position would be. Therefore, we made sure to demonstrate the physicality of the job throughout the video.

We also worked with Hawkins to develop the core message, define its ideal candidate, and help think through the end usage so the video would be fully optimized. All of this strategy work helped lay the foundation for a successful video.

Production

We produced the recruitment video with a heavy emphasis on talking to and observing real employees in the position, conducting only one “formal” interview with the Vice President in his office. This allowed the viewer to get a true sense of the role and feel like they were experiencing it firsthand.

Additionally, we filmed the video over multiple stages. Initially, we had a 3-day video shoot to create the first version of the video, which turned out great. However, as we continued to work with Hawkins on additional projects over the following year, we collected a large library of additional footage to help make the recruiting video more robust and inclusive of its various locations across the country.

Distribution

Hawkins leveraged its new recruitment video across multiple platforms to drive success. So that applicants could watch it prior to applying, Hawkins incorporated the video onto its Careers page, onto the various recruiting platforms, and across its social media channels. They also used it in initial emails to applicants so they could watch it before the first interview, helping reduce the amount of time required to explain the position.

Outcome

50% Decrease in “Quick Quit” Employee Turnover After Video Launch

Hawkins put the recruiting video into use at the beginning of 2020. Comparing 2019 hires to 2020 hires, Hawkins saw a 50% decrease in its “quick quit” hires year-over-year, leading to significant cost savings. The ability to show applicants exactly what the role would be like before they ever applied helped attract the right candidates and turn away the wrong candidates.

Better Use of Recruitment Resources

In addition to seeing a decrease in new hire turnovers, Hawkins also saved time and increased the quality of its hiring process by using the video throughout. Recruiters save time by sharing the video in advance of conversations, allowing them to spend more time evaluating potential hires and less time explaining a complex position. They also save time in the interview process by increasing the number of high-quality leads they screen and interview.