How to make an HR video

For every industry, recruitment and onboarding are essential for finding new employees and giving them a warm welcome in their new positions. With the spread of social media, the use of creative video campaigns by the HR department has become more and more popular in order to make job positions go viral and attract a higher number of candidates. And it’s not just for recruitment. Onboarding videos are also widely used: today, new hires can receive a personalized video that welcomes him to the company. 

Whether it’s for recruitment, onboarding, or a welcome, video is much more effective than a simple letter sent directly to the candidate or any kind of text posted on social media. Let’s try to sum up some of the pros of using video: 

• Videos are more entertaining than a simple post, keeping the viewers’ attention higher than while reading. Think about it: as you’re scrolling through your Linkedin feed, would you rather watch a video or read a long and boring text post? For this reason, videos are used to be remembered more easily among job seekers, getting shared and then gaining more attention.  
• In this regard, don’t forget that videos are the best content to be shared on social media, where they are much more engaging than text posts. What’s more, content that is more interactive is a better fit for social media algorithms and, consequently, the platform will help it go viral.  
• Next, a video can be filled with lots of information about the brand and open positions. Keep in mind that a lot of text could be boring, while a video is a lot more enjoyable even when explaining detailed topics. If you’d like to learn how to make an explainer video, start with this blog post. 
• Producing a video will make the brand look more digital and creative rather than a campaign based on text posts. This can have a positive influence on how people view your company, and a video can attract new people–from potential employees to new customers. 

In the recruiting process, it’s essential to engage the viewer (when recruiting) and make him feel special (when onboarding). Two of the best tools to do so are interactivity and personalization. Interactivity has a powerful role in making your content stand out from the competition. For example, you can ask the viewers to send their resume or you can link to a web page that provides more information about the position using a call to action button. The more interactive the video, the better the chance that  viewers will be engaged and interested. 

When creating an onboarding video, gaining data should be one of your major goals. Learn everything about the candidates, their name, their gender, their hometown, their general tastes, what they like, and what they don’t like about the brand. All of this information will be very useful when choosing the best candidates and then, after the interview once you have selected who will be hired, you will want to welcome them. A a personalized video will be the perfect tool to greet new employees and kick off the relationship with a very positive impression of the company.  

Don’t forget that both interactivity and personalization are powerful tools for internal communications, as they can be directed at the individual employee and inform him or her about the latest industry news. 

Interaction and personalization are the keys to creating a great HR video. To learn more about these topics, check out these two posts from our blog. 

As we mentioned earlier, creating an effective recruitment video is too important to be left to chance.  Follow these tips to put your best foot forward. 

1. Start by creating your own template. This will give you a base from to which start every time you need to make a new video. Naturally, you will want to modify it so that every video doesn’t look the same. Want to learn more about what a template is or how to use it? Read this blog post. 
2. Even if the main goal of recruitment videos is to attract new candidates, you must be  authentic in terms of the information you share. Include important details about the position and perhaps feature testimonials from current employees to highlight happy employees and important aspects of the work environment and your company in general. Candidates will appreciate your honesty and authenticity.  

To sum up, provide a real look at the company.  

3. Remember that most social media don’t pay much attention when scrolling down through the platform. This is why you must make your video as interesting as possible. For example, show some data about your business or the positions available. 
4. To keep your viewers focused, it’s also very important that your video is short and straight to the point; make sure it isn’t more than a couple of minutes long.  In addition, avoid adding extra information that can be provided later, such as contact emails 
5. Insert a call to action. In order to make your video more interactive and to collect more data, invite viewers to click on links to send emails, the resume, or any other personal detail. Keep in mind that personal information is essential for getting to know your candidates and selecting the best one for the job. The resume will be the first item that they should send to you. 
6. In order to keep in touch with your viewers, you can attach some frequently asked questions at the end of the video or include a Q&A. In this way, you can interact with them and address any questions  about the positions.   At the same time you, if they decide to ask any questions by email, you will be able collect their addresses and connect with them directly. 
7. Finally, don’t forget about personalization and interaction: Include these features throughout your videos. 

Videos are a powerful support for HR. Whether it’s for recruitment, onboarding, or even internal communication, they can help spread very strong, digital, and even viral messages. If you want your brand to stay relevant you’ll need to take your communications to the next level, especially for HR, and videos are the best way to do so.  

Now it’s your turn: get to work and start creating your first HR video campaign!