In our latest interview, we sat down with Jessica Miller-Merrell, also known as Jess, a leading voice in HR and talent acquisition and the Founder of Workology. Jess shared insights from her extensive experience and discussed the growing importance of TikTok recruiting videos.
Jess runs the popular HR blog, Workology, which she started in 2007. Her blog reaches about a million people monthly. Jess is dedicated to educating and supporting HR professionals through her content, online learning platform, and certification prep programs.
The Rise of TikTok in Recruitment Marketing
What is TikTok, and Why Use it for Recruiting?
TikTok is a short-form video-sharing platform that has taken the social media world by storm.Its algorithm puts content in front of a wider audience, not just users who follow you.TikTok content is short and snappy, making it easy to create recruiting content without needing to coordinate an entire production.The platform is user-friendly and only takes a few minutes to get started.
Crafting Effective Recruiting Videos
How to Make a Recruiting Video on TikTok
TikTok is exceptionally user-friendly and only takes a few minutes to get started.You simply need to learn how to edit videos and start brainstorming content ideas.The platform is easy to use, and you can start creating recruiting videos quickly.You can use TikTok to create unique and creative recruiting videos.
Showcasing Company Culture
Showcasing your company culture on TikTok can build meaningful connections with potential candidates and show them what it’s like to work for your organization.Talent wants to know what your company is about, how it operates, and what’s happening behind the scenes.By showcasing your company culture, you can connect with potential candidates on a deeper level and help them discover why they might want to join your team.You can create entertaining content that showcases company culture and values, and piques the interest of potential applicants.
Leveraging TikTok’s Unique Features
Jump on the Latest Trends and Collaborate with Influencers
Trends are a prominent feature of TikTok, and you can use them to insert your company into the conversation.You can create lip sync videos or participate in viral dances to make your recruiting videos more engaging.Participating in trends can help your videos get picked up by the algorithm.You can use trends to have fun with your recruiting videos and attract more attention.Collaborating with influencers can help you reach a wider audience and attract more talent.
Maximizing Reach and Engagement
The Power of Social Media Platforms in Recruitment
Social media platforms like TikTok are an excellent way to reach a wider audience and promote your recruiting videos.You can use TikTok to attract new audiences and promote your employer brand.There are many creative ways to use TikTok to advertise your business, including tours of your office or relatable content.Advertising your business can help attract more talent to your company.
Measuring Success and Optimizing Your Strategy
Measuring the success of your TikTok recruiting strategy is crucial to optimizing your approach.You can track engagement metrics, such as likes, comments, and shares, to see how your content is performing.You can use this data to refine your strategy and create more effective recruiting videos.By optimizing your strategy, you can increase your reach and attract more top talent to your company.
The Power of Recruitment Videos
Jess emphasizes the importance of creating a recruitment video for building relationships and targeting job seekers. She highlights TikTok as an underutilized yet powerful tool for recruitment marketing and developing a great recruitment video with entertaining content. According to Jess, the competition for TikTok recruitment videos is minimal, making it an excellent platform for standing out and engaging with a unique audience.
Why is TikTok becoming a worthwhile tool for recruitment marketing and recruitment marketing?
TikTok is great for both personal branding and company recruitment efforts. Jessica points out that LinkedIn, while valuable, is crowded. TikTok offers a space with less competition and more opportunities for meaningful interactions. With its vast user base composed of both employees and potential job seekers, TikTok has the potential to reach a wider audience, particularly millennials and Generation Zers. HR leaders and TA practitioners can use TikTok to position themselves as experts and build relationships with job seekers. There are several “TikTok Recruiter” profiles on TikTok as well.
Getting Started with TikTok Hiring
Here are some of Jessica’s creative suggestions, inspiration and practical advice for companies and recruitment teams looking to leverage TikTok recruiting videos:
Start with simple, authentic videos.
Use day-in-the-life or behind the scenes videos, video highlights, hiring manager insights, or basic workday snippets that can show your company culture.
Organic traffic is valuable; don’t worry about overproducing content.
Engage with your prospective employees and prepare for direct interaction, including handling negative comments.
Share career growth opportunities, the company’s culture, company’s values, or examples of work life balance.
Create a hashtag challenge to encourage user-generated content using a branded hashtag. Leverage employee participation, offer prizes, and utilize TikTok’s paid ad options to promote the challenge and reach a wider audience.
How to Get Started with TikTok Recruiting Videos:
Objective: Utilize TikTok to enhance recruitment efforts, engage potential candidates, and build employer brand visibility. Afterall, people want to work where they feel they belong. TikTok videos can create that connection instantly.
Setup and Familiarization:
Download TikTok: Ensure you have the TikTok app installed on your mobile device.
Create an Account: Set up an account for your company, focusing on branding elements such as the logo and a clear bio.
Explore TikTok: Spend some time understanding the platform’s interface, popular content styles, and trending hashtags relevant to your industry.
Leverage Paid Ads: Use TikTok’s paid ad options to boost a video from your own account to announce a challenge and reach a wider group of users in your target audience.
Content Planning:
Define Goals: Determine what you want to achieve (e.g., attract applicants, showcase company culture, promote specific job openings).
Identify Target Audience: Specify the demographics and interests of your ideal candidates.
Content Themes: Develop themes for your content, such as “Day in the Life,” “Employee Spotlights,” and “Job Tips”.
Content Creation:
Simple and Authentic Videos: Use your smartphone to create short, engaging videos. The less produced, the better. Authenticity resonates more on TikTok.
Employee Involvement: Encourage employees to participate in creating content, showcasing their daily activities and experiences.
Variety of Content: Include different types of videos such as quick job overviews, behind-the-scenes looks, and fun, engaging snippets.
Posting Strategy:
Consistency: Post regularly, aiming for 5-9 videos daily in the days leading up to events or significant recruitment drives.
Use Hashtags: Leverage relevant hashtags to increase visibility. Examples include #HiringNow, #JobOpening, and industry-specific tags.
Engage with Audience: Respond to comments and messages to foster a sense of community and engagement.
Promotion and Ads:
Organic Growth: Focus on organic reach by consistently posting valuable content.
Paid Advertising: Consider running low-cost ads targeting specific demographics to boost visibility. Use TikTok’s ad platform to create targeted campaigns.
Monitoring and Engagement:
Track Performance: Use TikTok analytics to monitor the performance of your videos. Look for metrics like views, likes, shares, and comments.
Adjust Strategy: Based on analytics, adjust your content strategy to focus on what works best.
Handle Feedback: Be prepared for both positive and negative feedback. Engage with comments professionally to maintain a positive brand image.
Integration with Other Channels:
Cross-Promotion: Share TikTok videos on other social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook to widen your reach.
Call to Action: Always include a call to action in your videos directing viewers to your career page or specific job postings.
Legal and Compliance:
Consult Legal Team: Ensure your content complies with company policies and legal standards, especially when featuring employees and workplace settings.
Privacy Considerations: Be mindful of privacy and obtain necessary permissions from employees featured in videos.
Building a Business Case for TikTok Recruiting Video
To gain buy-in from stakeholders, Jess suggests showing examples of successful recruitment videos. Attracting top talent is crucial, and TikTok recruiting videos can help companies stand out in the competitive job market. Her TikTok playlist features numerous examples that have worked well. She stresses the importance of explaining how new content on TikTok can fit into the organization and broader recruitment strategy, particularly for engaging candidates at different stages of the funnel.
How can recruiters use TikTok?
Recruiters can use TikTok to create engaging, authentic videos that highlight different aspects of their company and job opportunities. Sharing interview tips as a type of educational content can also position the brand as a thought leader and connect with potential candidates on a deeper level. Jessica mentions, “You can rely on organic traffic and just be like a day in the life video or having your hiring manager giving a 20-second insight on what the job is or simply just typing on your computer and making a video and throwing some text on the screen. It doesn’t have to be overly produced.”
Is TikTok good for recruiting?
Yes, TikTok is good for recruiting. Compared to other social platforms, TikTok’s effectiveness in leveraging hashtag challenges and recruitment ads is unparalleled for engaging with a large audience and targeting specific user groups based on their content engagement. Jessica points out, “The competition on TikTok is, it’s really low cost for running ads and it can produce some really great results. There’s just not a lot of TA, HR leaders over there that are doing it well, sharing resources with job seekers.” She also highlights that TikTok can help recruiters stand out, “If I want to stand out from the rest, I want to be like number one. And there’s not a lot of competition and there’s a lot of space to have conversations over on TikTok.”
Why TikTok Recruiting Videos Work!
TikTok is becoming a worthwhile tool for recruitment due to its high engagement and low competition. The platform attracts a wide array of users and job seekers, making it an ideal place for diverse recruitment efforts. Jessica explains, “It’s busy. It’s noisy over there [on LinkedIn]. And if I want to stand out from the rest, I want to be like number one. And there’s not a lot of competition and there’s a lot of space to have conversations over on TikTok.” Additionally, she notes the platform’s popularity and reach, “The kids are on TikTok. They use TikTok the way we use YouTube. It is a great place…for low cost. Acquisition can be really low in terms of engagement.”
Tips to Nail Your TikTok Recruiting Videos:
Use Trending Music: It keeps the content fresh and engaging.
Be Creative: Use filters and effects to make your videos pop.
Call to Action: Always end with how to apply or learn more.
Track Performance: Use TikTok analytics to see what works and tweak your strategy.
How to use TikTok for employer branding and company culture?
To use TikTok for recruiting, start with simple, authentic videos that highlight daily activities, job insights, or company culture. Showcasing a typical day can provide potential candidates with a glimpse into the daily experiences and activities within the company. Jessica suggests, “You can rely on organic traffic and just be like a day in the life video or having your hiring manager giving a 20 second insight on what the job is or simply just typing on your computer and making a video and throwing some text on the screen.” It’s also important to engage with the audience and be prepared for direct interactions, as “TikTok, they’re a little bit real and ruthless. So negative comments or feedback is not necessarily a bad thing.”
Can TikTok be used for recruiting?
Yes, TikTok can be used for recruiting. Jessica highlights its effectiveness, stating, “Honestly, the more real, the better. One of my best videos is me opening a Hydro Flask with some text on the screen. And I think it has 250,000 views.” She also emphasizes the low cost and high engagement potential, “The competition on TikTok is, it’s really low cost for running ads and it can produce some really great results.”
What companies are using TikTok for recruiting?
Several companies are successfully using TikTok for recruiting. Jessica mentions, “Six Flags does a really good job on TikTok. There’s a lot of new restaurant openings.”
@sixflags Starting today, we’re hiring over 15,000 team members !! #sixflags #newjobcheck #nowhiring #worklife
♬ dancin - esmée
Additionally, she notes, “I’ve also seen 84 Lumber do some really good videos for manager training. So like targeting assistant managers or people moving into store manager positions.”
84 Lumber TikTok REcruiting Videos
@84lumbercompany 84 Lumber: Building more than just homes, but also careers for our #veterans 🛠️ Proud to stand with those who served. #HiringHeroes #militaryappreciation #militaryappreciationmonth #hiring
♬ original sound - 84 Lumber Company - 84 Lumber Company
These examples demonstrate that even simple, low-cost videos can significantly impact recruitment efforts.
The Role of TikTok in the Candidate Journey
Jess highlights a gap in the recruitment and hiring process: engaging candidates in the middle of the funnel. TikTok can be a great tool for keeping candidates interested and informed about company culture and job opportunities, especially for hourly positions. It’s an effective way to qualify candidates and ensure higher engagement in recruitment events like job fairs.
Targeting and Algorithm Tips
Jess provides tips on leveraging TikTok’s algorithm to reach your target audience:
Post frequently leading up to events.
Create content that is relevant to your audience’s interests and needs.
Use TikTok advertising to target specific groups effectively.
Conclusion
Our conversation with Jess was enlightening, revealing the untapped potential of TikTok in recruitment marketing. By embracing this social media platform, HR leaders and TA practitioners can reach new audiences, build stronger relationships with candidates, and enhance their overall recruitment strategy. For more insights and examples, follow Jess on TikTok at Workology blog.
Resources:
Workology Blog and TikTok Playlist: Visit Workology for examples and additional resources.
TikTok for Business: Explore TikTok’s business tools and advertising options.
Full Transcript: Jessica Miller-Merrell – TikTok Recruiting Videos
Jonathan Duarte: Hey everyone, so I’ve got one of my favorite guests in TA and HR Jessica Miller Merrill. And Jess, do you go by Jess now? I saw you change that, but
Jessica Miller Merrell: Yeah, Jess is what my friends call me, so I figure like we’re friends in HR and TA, so just call me Jess.
Jonathan Duarte: All jess, don’t remember how long ago we met, but I would gather it was about, I think good, my good, no, it was before GoHire days so 2010, I don’t know, around there.
Jessica Miller Merrell: Probably 13 years ago or ish. Yeah.
Jonathan Duarte: Yep. And in, in TA conferences and stuff. And as part, as we’ve talked about, my goal in these video interviews and whatnot is to introduce the brightest, most talented people in the space that I know.
So I want to get everyone on record with all their great knowledge and tips and tricks on how people can execute. Jess, why don’t you give you, give us a little heads up about you and what you’re up to these days?
Jessica Miller Merrell: So I’m Jess and I have a popular blog in HR Workology. I started as a HR director and I started a blog in 2007, I think, and it became my job.
And so now I spend my days educating, training, providing resources, information, and support for HR I cover a wide variety of content our website reaches about a million people every single month, and it’s a lot of fun to just talk about our space and share with the community, just information and just what I’m learning and what I’m reading.
Most recently, we’re focused a couple different areas. I have a book that came out last year and it’s called Digitizing Talent. So I’m spending my time talking about all things digital recruiting, a lot in training, and a lot of one on one engagement with TA teams. And then on the other side of things is I have an online learning platform and program for HR certification prep.
So helping support HR leaders with their SHRM or their HRCI certification and recertification. And it’s available on demand and always accessible over on Workology.
Jonathan Duarte: Awesome. Awesome. So I know you do a lot of speaking. What are your favorite topics that you’ve been talking about lately? I guess there’s a, yeah, I guess there’s a favorites and then there’s the, so are you using Tik Tok for recruiting or tell me about, and I learned how to spell it.
That’s about my abilities with Tik Tok, right?
Jessica Miller Merrell: I think it’s such a great way to build relationships and rapport and target job seekers or people who are looking, who are your customers whether you’re an HR tech company or someone like me who’s selling courses and resources there’s a lot of really great ways to engage.
Honestly The competition on TikTok is, it’s really low cost for running ads and it can produce some really great results. There’s just not a lot of TA, HR leaders over there that are doing it well, sharing resources with job seekers. I think it’s a great place for people to be able to build a brand with the power of video.
Jonathan Duarte: So would you do it for for our our audience, HR individuals and TA practitioners as well as for their companies, would you recommend them look at it for their own personal brands as well as their company?
Jessica Miller Merrell: I don’t think it, I don’t think it hurts to go into different spaces to build their brand.
Honestly, while I love LinkedIn. I think it’s a great space. There’s, it’s busy. It’s noisy over there. And if I want to stand out from the rest, I want to be like number one. And there’s not a lot of competition and there’s a lot of space to have conversations over on TikTok. So you can be the number one TA leader in retail really easily on TikTok.
Whereas you might have to compete with 25, 000 other people on LinkedIn. And so you can use it to build relationships with job seekers. To position yourself as an expert in HRTA or for sales or just resources purposes. I use it like Google or YouTube. It’s the number one search engine in the world right now is TikTok.
Jonathan Duarte: I got, I have to, this is motivating me. I’m going to ask you more about this because I, like everything, it’s all about as I mentioned, getting good knowledge in front of people and people who know how to use it too. And I know that you’ve dabbled in so many different channels of stuff over the years that if you’re in it and you’re talking about it, then it’s worth it, worth discovering.
Let me ask you this. If a company were to or maybe a recruitment marketing team member said, Hey, let’s do some TikTok videos. What would you recommend? How would you recommend they start? Or do you have some resources? Do you guys have resources on your site that they can point to?
And just, do they have, they’ll, I think a lot of times. So I want to blend this question together is, what are the resources and things and then how do they create a business case? Because a lot of times it’s oh, we’re going to do a video on TikTok and it’s you might as well go to the attorneys and sign an enterprise, deal because it’s just never going to happen.
You have to go through the checks and balances. But I think that’s loosening up. But you still have to sell it.
Jessica Miller Merrell: So I think that, and I have on my TikTok playlist is a huge list of different examples that I like of recruiting videos that I feel have done a good job. You can rely on organic traffic and just be like a day in the life video or having your hiring manager giving a 20 second insight on what the job is or.
You simply just typing on your computer and making a video and throwing some text on the screen. It doesn’t have to be overly produced. With TikTok, honestly, the more real, the better. One of my best videos is me opening a Hydro Flask with some text on the screen. And I think it has 250, 000 views. What?
It’s the it’s the best. It was it, there’s a misspelling on the text when I posted the video but it went viral in a sense. So you don’t, you can just experiment with things. I think the most important thing to remember with TikTok and video is that you can’t just put a link. And say, click here to apply for the job.
Like they actually are going to have to leave to, from your bio or, and go to your careers page, unless you’re going to pay for an advertisement and placement. So you have to think about how you can move them through to your funnel. If it’s going to be organic, but it can be a lot of fun. And again, not a lot of competition on Tik TOK.
You also do have to be prepared to actually have engagement with your audience. So it’s definitely not a one way conversation. And sometimes TikTok, they’re a little bit real and ruthless. So negative comments or feedback is not necessarily a bad thing. It starts a conversation and builds awareness. I think that’s a conversation.
If you’re going to be doing it from a corporate standpoint that you need to have with legal or your boss or whoever’s monitoring these things, because if somebody says something that is not kind. You just like it or heart it. Personally, the more trolls I have, the better, because the more people that are seeing my video.
Jonathan Duarte: Yep, yep. That’s a lot of social too. And, you have to deal with the haters, and the This is one thing I think from recruitment marketing that a lot of people miss. But I think this might actually work very well for TikTok, because I think I’ve seen it, but I wasn’t really trying to pay attention to the details of how it was presented.
But in a lot of recruitment marketing, and especially in the candidate journey when, A lot of, I believe, a lot of recruitment marketing professionals are using video early on the top of the funnel to get candidates engaged with the company. I think there’s a big missing, which is in the middle of the funnel, where they may have even applied.
They may even have a scheduled interview, but we’re not feeding that, those videos about the company and the culture. to those candidates. And I think TikTok, especially in the hourly worker space, might be a great opportunity. Say in our case, like if a candidate applies, there’s gonna be a job fair, like I was helping a client build out a job fair today that’s happening today.
They have all the candidates, like they’re saying, hey, here’s about our company, you wanna come to the job fair? You can send them a text and say, Hey, by the way, if you’re on TikTok, here’s about our company culture. You’re going to get higher engagement at the job fair. You’re going to get the people who want to be there.
And you use video to qualify people in and qualify people out. But I think TikTok, because of its it’s just proliferation is a phenomenal tool for that. Cause I think a lot of people don’t really want to deal with going to YouTube sometimes. But it, I think they live on. on TikTok way more.
Jessica Miller Merrell: The kids are on TikTok.
They use TikTok the way we use YouTube. Yeah. And it is a great place. What I do love about TikTok advertising, so let’s say that we send a text. We tell them to follow us on TikTok. We can then target that audience specifically for specific videos for low cost. Acquisition can be really low in terms of engagement.
And it’s just a subtle way to remind them, especially if maybe we’re at like we’re going on campus, it’s an engineering event or something highly specialized where we want to reach them multiple times. You can do that. The key is we have to look at this just like we look at LinkedIn and Twitter and every other search tool, it’s an algorithm.
So we have to train it and provide it insights into if we’re not going to pay for ads, of who we want to show our videos to. So if you’re going to be posting videos about your job fair for retail workers, you should be posting probably 10 days leading up to event a probably five to nine videos a day for seven days, all related to retail tips for recruiting or hiring for that audience.
So that when it sees you in the same proximity with your phone and their phone. It’ll start to serve up your video.
Jonathan Duarte: Wow. That’s super complicated in my brain, but it’s your recruitment marketing team will figure, can help you with this. And now everyone knows how to find Jessica and all her details on.
Jessica Miller Merrell: Yeah. Workology, workologyblog on tikTok. Give me a follow over there. The examples are on a playlist. It’s called Recruitment, like Recruiting, and if you have a question, just send me a DM over there. I respond or leave a comment on a video. I see all those things. It’s such a fun place to explore, even if you just have 15 minutes.
It’s a great way to just engage with your audience and learn, which is what I want to do. I want to learn the kinds of questions that my community would have, so then I can serve up more resources before they need it.
Jonathan Duarte: Yep. I, yeah, I think some of the things like now we’re getting into spring hiring for the summer water parks and entertainment and all that stuff.
I’m like, Seasonal. You got, yeah, you got to be on TikTok. If you’re trying to hire lifeguards and things like that, that’s just a perfect example. It doesn’t have to be, it’s not like you’re throwing 80 percent of your budget at this thing. It’s just have somebody who, Likes doing that stuff.
Play around and see if it works this year.
Jessica Miller Merrell: Have somebody on your team and just shoot. It doesn’t have to be overproduced with dancing or whatever. It can be simply somebody walking, drinking a drink in the theme park or at your place clocking in. And your employees can make all the videos and then somebody else can put them together.
You don’t have to be the video designer, developer, all the things they know.
Jonathan Duarte: Just the aggregator.
Jessica Miller Merrell: Yeah, let them explore and put some good content together for you. It doesn’t have to be super produced, perfect. camera ready. And honestly, the less camera ready, the better. Yep.
Jonathan Duarte: And I think what, why I also think that the TikTok in that environment might work is because people want to work with their friends and especially at an entertainment and a seasonal job like that.
If they find a TikTok video, they’ll share it with their friends and say, Hey, what are you going to do this summer? What are you going to do? And. Now you start your own, referral program. Your potential employees are sharing it around.
Jessica Miller Merrell: Six Flags does a really good job on TikTok. There’s a lot of new restaurant openings.
It’s a great thing for a lot of hourly positions. I’ve also seen 84 Lumber do some really good videos for manager training. So like targeting assistant managers or people moving into store manager positions. And again, it doesn’t have to be highly pervert, perfect or overproduced to, to be an effective ad.
Jonathan Duarte: Wow. Like I had no, this is what I love about this stuff. I had no idea we were going to be talking about TikTok, but I’m all down for it. That’s awesome. All right. Hopefully it opens up the conversation for a lot more. So thanks for always being that same person for the HR and HR tech community for us.
Jessica Miller Merrell: Of course. Happy to connect and talk more. Thanks for having me on.
Jonathan Duarte: Yeah. Awesome.
12 June, 2024
Jonathan Duarte 
