Use “Job Preview Videos” to Hire Better Candidates

Use “Job Preview Videos” to Hire Better Candidates

Hawkins recruitment video

We all know about the labor shortage that is affecting the US, notably in the industrial and manufacturing space. The combination of very specific types of job positions and demanding physical labor can make recruiting for these types of businesses especially tough. However, there is a recruiting tactic that industrial and manufacturing companies could be leveraging: Job Preview Videos.

Why Use a Job Preview Video?

Candidates look through dozens of online job postings, seeing similarly worded descriptions or flowery language about how great the company is. It may be a good job posting, but it doesn’t pop. A Job Preview Video is like taking that Indeed job description and adapting it into a major motion picture. It helps you cut through the noise and gives candidates a more complete look at the job in question. It allows them to experience a glimpse of the company culture and decide with confidence if they are interested or not.

This will also benefit your interview process as the video will answer many of the initial questions for the candidate, allowing for more high-level questions to be discussed. According to internal data from CareerBuilding, attaching a video to job postings increased the application rate by 34% when compared to postings without video. If you are posting the job on social media, it’s even more beneficial. Video content on social media gets 1200% more shares than text and image content. Not to mention, adding video on your career page is also great for SEO!

Now, I bet you’re thinking, “Wow this sounds great, do they have any personal examples?” I’m so glad you asked. Let me tell you about Minde Frederick, an HR professional for Hawkins Inc, a chemical manufacturing and distribution company. Minde joined us recently on our podcast and shared her story about working with Blue Key Media to create a Job Preview Video. The position they needed to fill is difficult to describe and expensive to train for, taking about 3 years to become fully proficient.

hawkins job preview video

After years of bad-fit hires and wasted resources, they decided to invest in a video that showed the realities of the job. After the video was launched Hawkins saw the “quick quits” drop by 50% from 2020 to 2021. Minde went on to share an anecdote where she spoke with a recent hire to the aforementioned job position. “He said from reading the job posting he really didn’t know what the job was or if it would be a good fit,” Minde explained, “He said if he had seen the video he would have known exactly what the job was, he would have applied right away instead of waiting the 2 or 3 weeks he did.”

If your company is looking to attract the right kind of talent before competitors get them, you need to create the content that speaks to those candidates. Don’t just tell them what the job is, show them what the job is. If you’re interested in creating recruiting content for your business, schedule a free, no pressure meeting!

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Tory Thompson
tory@bluekeymedia.com

Tory Thompson is a cinematographer and editor at Blue Key Media. He is a swiss army knife, interacting across all projects in various ways.