We love our work. Because each one of our clients has a distinct culture, every project takes on a life and story of its own and contributes to our growth as recruitment marketers.

And while every story provides candidates with insight, some do the job better than others. Here are some of our favorite employee stories, along with reasons why each piece is great recruitment marketing content.

See below for examples and tips to inspire your content!

1. Find personal purpose.

We chose this story from Electronic Arts because Eric found purpose in his work from an unexpected encounter with a customer. Eric’s heartwarming conversation reinforced his decision to work at EA. Capturing moments where your team found meaning in their work creates compelling culture content.

2. Repurpose! Create four pieces of content from one story for social recruiting.

A story that gives candidates real insight into a company’s culture is powerful and shouldn’t be kept to just one channel. Dell took one great story that showed access to leadership and created several pieces of engaging content. Want a longer form video featuring multiple storytellers? Got it. How about a short video that links to the longer form? Done. Need a social media graphic? That’s easy.

Great employer branding content should be repurposed to fit several different platforms and different contexts. Don’t forget to caption videos and upload directly so they play natively for optimal engagement. 

3.  Capture interesting yet realistic visuals of a workplace. 

Filming a realistic picture of a workplace that’s visually interesting? Hard. When that workplace is a busy gym at lunch hour? Harder. When filming for recruitment marketing purposes it is essential to capture a realistic work preview for the candidate, but it also needs to be visually engaging. Read more about how Christian Jarboe framed those awesome interview shots for 24 Hour Fitness here!

4. Prove you are who you say you are.

Most career sites claim their company has a “diverse and inclusive culture,” but very few actually share what that means. Joanna “hid her deafness for years” before coming to BAE Systems, Inc. We love her story because it shows exactly how she is supported in the workplace. Stories like this bring concepts like core values, EVP statements, and taglines to life with real employee experiences so your messages resonate and stick.

5. Think outside video! Choose the medium that best does the story justice.

For Angel, her life-changing career journey at 24 Hour Fitness culminated in a personal moment outside of work. To do a memory like this visual justice, we had to think outside the box. Our comic gif transports you into the scene where Angel shares how 24 Hour Fitness “gave me my life back.” Finding the visual that best serves the emotion of the story will create a stronger connections between the candidate and the organization.

6. Build a connection with hiring managers and leaders before the interview. 

Your team is a major selling point. Why wait to introduce them to candidates? Share a personal story about a team member to create a connection early in the process. When employees connect and appreciate the team members around them, quality of work can increase, job satisfaction, and potentially lower turnover rates. We’re biased with this 2018 pick! Get to know Scott Thompson, Stories Inc. cofounder, through a personal story he shares.

7. Uncover what’s truly unique about your environment.

In this favorite story, we were shown servant leadership in action when Sonoco turned hierarchy on its head. Rebecca shares her experience taking the lead in a professional development event. Specific stories show the moments that make a company culture unique. A question to ask to get this good stuff: “What has happened here, that wouldn’t happen other places you’ve worked?”

8. Start with Why: lead with organizational purpose.

70% of all people want a career that is lead with purpose. The American College of Cardiology is a perfect example of a culture that empowers every employee to fill their work with purpose. While every ACC team member isn’t directly “fixing hearts,” but the work of each person helps make that happen. Sharing stories around organizational purpose like this one from Dr. Kovacs shows candidates and reminds team members why your organization exists.

9. Make an immediate impact: tackle talent shortages by showing what makes a team tick.

Want to make a big impact, fast? Tackle your company’s biggest recruiting challenge by focusing on why you’d want to do that job in that team, at your company. Healthcare professionals and software developers are notoriously hard to recruit: start there! In this example, we worked with a team of scientists at MedImmune to showcase their team culture. Aimée shares how her team celebrated after a product approval. We love a good lab hug!

Now it’s your turn!

One of the (many) great things about stories is that they are truly unique to your organization…but the strategy isn’t! Use the takeaways from these employee stories to uncover your own and create recruitment marketing content that truly communicates your organization’s value to candidates.

Just think: if every organization can authentically tell their story, just how much better will our world of work be, both as businesses and team members?

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