Using Employee Testimonials for Recruiting
Nothing Communicates "You'll Love Working Here" Better Than Employee Testimonials. Here's An Example.
You may remember the recruiting campaign I shot for Yancey Brothers, the nation’s oldest Caterpillar dealer. If not, you can check it out here.
It was a series of TV commercials designed to help Yancey Brothers hire more mechanics and service techs.
It turns out they have a HUGE demand for new hires. No surprise there—it takes hundreds of mechanics to service all their heavy equipment. They even send people out to construction sites and other locations when equipment breaks down.
Employee Testimonials
So to fill their recruitment pipeline, we employed a proven strategy—we interviewed existing employees about the benefits of working at Yancey Brothers.
Not all candidates are the same. In fact, their candidates fall into three main groups:
• Recent high school grads
• Ex-military tech trainees
• Seasoned professionals
What’s more, these different groups have very different ideas about benefits and perks. High school grads, for example, are looking for entry-level positions, including opportunities for paid training and skills certification.
Many military techs, on the other hand, want to continue serving their country, and seek time off for reserve duty.
A Testimonial Video
So if we’ve already produced commercials, why do an employee testimonial video? Simple—we shot way more content than we could fit into 30 seconds.
A video takes away those time constraints, and enables the employees to speak much more in depth about the company culture, the family-friendly atmosphere, and other details that may interest potential job applicants.
And those details don’t change, so it’s evergreen content!
So what’s the best use of employee testimonials? Your website is a good place to start—this content is ready made for a “Careers” or “About Us” page.
Social media channels are another way to go, whether it’s the entire video or individual snippets taken from the footage.
The important thing is for the employees to appear uncoached and authentic. Just like customer testimonials, employee testimonials are most effective when they’re perceived as genuine.
About the Author:
Harry Hayes is the owner and executive producer at Content Puppy Productions, a corporate video production agency based in Charlotte. Before starting Content Puppy, he spent 20+ years as an advertising writer and creative director.
