Hyper-Personalisation
aka “actually communicating with candidates” 😉
There’s so much noise on the internet, it’s a wonder we get anything done. Personalisation is what gets cut through for the people and companies trying to reach you - whether it’s what the Instagram algorithm surfaces for you or what Netflix recommends you watch next. Amazon merrily presents you with the latest book from an author it knows you like, and programmatic advertising makes sure that those heels you looked at that one time follow you across every article you read this week.
For the user, some of it is helpful, some of it is annoying. But for 2025, personalisation is here to stay and there are ways to use it to offer content that gives value to the user and increases loyalty to your brand - including your employer brand.
From unique email messages generated through a finely segmented CRM, to targeted social media posts that speak to specific demographic motivators, it’s possible to create a sense of one-on-one engagement that operates at scale. If Netflix can suggest that I might like to watch yet another forensic documentary, why can’t your careers site suggest that if I’m interested in marketing, I might like to look at some other communications or PR roles that you also have on offer? It seems obvious.
Hyper-personalisation tools are increasingly available to recruiters and it helps make job seekers (who always rightly complain that they don’t hear back from us) feel directly seen and valued. By leveraging the handy latest CRM tools, responsive website data and AI, recruiters kinda have no excuse not to be tailoring job recommendations, messaging, and relevant content to individual candidates. Not to mention keeping them updated about their application status and building useful relationships with silver medallists.
User-Generated Content (UGC)
Multiply your marketing department exponentially 🚀
Cards on the table: Seenit is an Employee Generated Content platform, so doesn’t it just suit us to say that UGC is going to be big in 2025? But hear us out. Firstly, this research is taken from several sources who don’t work for us, and secondly, we have plenty of proof.
A recent study by Entribe revealed that 86% of consumers are more likely to trust a brand that publishes user-generated content. And according to Brick Road Media, a survey found that 89% of consumers want to see more videos from brands - UGC, not glossy branded adverts. On a broader global scale, we turn to Edelman’s world-famous 2024 Trust Index report, which gives us some pretty heavy clues to the continuing landscape in the coming year. Their survey revealed major themes around the ‘democratisation’ of content away from the hands of the biggest players: A decline of authority and trust in companies. There’s also a growing concern over societal threats and misleading information - while peers on social media are as trusted as scientists. Err, yikes.
Some of Edelman’s trends might sound a bit apocalyptic - but they can actually mean good news for employers. Think of it this way: if people trust their peers more than they trust the authorities, then an organisation with engaged, happy employees can find itself with more than just a marketing department - but instead, a network of employee advocates numbering in the thousands, around the globe, penetrating social networks with an effectiveness that a trad marketeer could only dream of.
UGC continues to be a powerful tool for a more authentic expression. Encouraging colleagues to share their own stories not only strengthens trust but also makes the brand feel more human, relatable and accessible. Win / win / win.
And the other big UGC win? Reach. Employee Generated Content gives you authenticity of messaging but on top of that, it rewards you in the algorithms. Video is engaging and social media platforms are rewarding posts containing video with much better organic reach. That’s set to continue, meaning that video ECG could be a way of doing quite a lot even if you have a smaller 2025 budget.
It can feel tempting to gate-keep, we understand. Brands have equity and value and it can be a little scary to hand the keys to your employees. On this one, we have you covered: Seenit makes it possible to gather authentic content at scale from your people, that’s branded to you, with a suite of easy editing tools that will help you make sure that it’s all on message - without taking away your contributors’ freedom to be who they are and share their real stories.
Don’t let a bot replace you, just have one as your intern 🤖
I’m asking you as a friend… Why are you still answering all those FAQs? Why are you directing candidates to open positions? Why are you talking candidates through the candidate process and scheduling interviews? Love you babe, but where have you been? Haven’t you heard of chatbots?
No one is suggesting that human beings should remove themselves from the candidate process. But you should be choosing your personal touch-points and your automated touch-points to enhance the experience and let people focus on what they’re best at.
Cheat sheet – Is the recruitment process element:
- Volume
- Repetitive
- Generic across populations or segments
- Or even potentially going to suffer from human bias?
For those recruitment process elements, it might be time to deploy a bot.
If you’re really obsessed with them, the bots of 2025 could probably do the lot. But should they? AI could help you do video interviews, and we do understand that lightens the lift for recruiters - but is that missing an opportunity to form a closer relationship with top talent? Generative AI like ChatGPT could do your storytelling too - but do you want it to? Will it warm people up to your brand more than an employee testimonial would?
If you must involve AI in content creation, what it can do is take your content, that comes straight from humans, and help streamline both creation and editing processes (to make it easier for humans to participate) and maybe even pick up on community management, allowing for real-time responses and personalised interactions.
And don’t forget some of the more hidden sources of talent. AI applied to your talent pool (do NOT tell us you don’t have one, it’s not 2002) or even to publicly available social feeds can help recruiters identify passive candidates and notify them of opportunities tailored to them, enhancing their perception of a more direct, personal connection to you as an employer.
Feedback Loops
Talking to candidates is so good, we’re mentioning it twice 😘
Actively listening to community feedback is crucial for any brand development. Consumer brands have known for a long time that you can’t just broadcast anymore. You have to encourage open dialogue through polls, surveys, UGC, dedicated forums and moderated conversations.
Active listening is especially critical for recruitment because it signals to candidates that the company values their input. We’ve all heard of the power of NPS (Net Promoter Score) by now, and we know that not only does it help us hold ourselves accountable for a better candidate experience - it can even help us build the business case for next year’s employer brand budget.
You should be doing social listening on LinkedIn — and you should seriously be doing it on Glassdoor. In addition to making sure you claim and own your profile there, you should be providing engaging content and joining an honest conversation about who you are as an employer. That includes addressing feedback you’ve been given, both positive and negative. PR is a part of employer brand presence now, with its knock-on effect to recruitment effectiveness. It’s important to be brave and transparent with your community.
This isn’t just a PR exercise though. You can improve your processes based on what you learn from your community, if you’re listening. Feedback loops have the potential to help improve candidate experience by allowing recruiters to continually refine and enhance their outreach, application processes, and onboarding based on direct feedback from applicants. It’s basically free. And if you don’t think you have time to analyse it all - just collect it and ask a bot to summarise for you and suggest actions. Another area where a heavy lift becomes much more manageable if you just go a tiny bit cyborg.
Storytelling and Purpose-Driven Content
Once upon a time, long ago, in a faraway land that was a great place to work… 📖
Let’s end on some definite good news. People still like a good yarn. And if the young people are anything to go by, the idea that employees want to do work that has a purpose behind it is going to keep on growing. That gives us licence to hold our businesses accountable for good ethics, to be decent employers, and to let our people talk about the positive experiences they’re having as a result.
The world’s a little interesting right now. Employer brands can do great work with their talent communities by passionately and bravely communicating their mission and inviting the community to participate in shared goals. In fact, if you don’t, it’s entirely possible that the talent community, who are frankly becoming a lot better at boundaries and good life balances, will be expecting this as a part of your employer brand proposition - and if you’re not articulating beliefs they can get behind, they’ll keep looking. Ethics and values are far more central as a consideration than ever before.
There’s a softer benefit too. Storytelling, and especially Employee Generated Content, allows companies to highlight specific aspects of their culture (collaboration style, work environments, diverse role modelling), which makes recruitment messaging more compelling, personal and memorable.
There’s also a potentially interesting twist in the fundamental shape of Employee Generated Content on the horizon for 2025. While short-form video content continues to dominate the digital landscape, we are seeing some branding trends starting to favour longer-form videos. We already saw this come back this year, particularly on platforms like YouTube. But in 2025, even platforms traditionally associated with short-form content, like Instagram Reels and TikTok, are embracing long-form content, with options for three or even 10-minute videos. Watch out for it, and think about what type of content potential would open up for you if you could hang on to your talent community’s attention for a bit longer.
And if you don’t believe us that the attention span could be increasing, did you know this? TikTok – yes, TikTok – is also considering introducing 30-minute long videos, as it competes with YouTube. As audiences crave more immersive, extended content, don’t be surprised to see more brands producing detailed narratives, how-tos, and in-depth explorations. So put your fidget spinner away and settle in for some soul searching narratives in the coming year.
And there you have it, recruiters!
Don’t hold us to this… anything can happen. But it’s always a useful exercise to indulge in a little bit of future gazing, and keep ourselves enthusiastically committed to the ever-improving standards, and the evolving trends, of the people business.
*Sources:
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