I love Twitter for the interesting content that's presented to me every time I refresh my browser. I follow a number of marketing and leadership accounts, and I've noticed that in almost every new set of Tweets there are always several about the value of storytelling. As many of those articles note, in this day and age of information oversaturation, what sticks out better than anything else, is telling a good story.

It certainly makes sense in selling a product or service, but also extends to selling your business as a place to work to the best and brightest employment candidates.. In its just-released 2015 Recruitment Marketing Report Card, recruiting software maker SmashFly looked at Fortune 500 companies and identified the best practices for attracting, engaging and converting candidate leads into applicants. The research found that 74 percent of those looking at job descriptions dropped off before completing an application.

The value of telling employee stories in recruiting is not new; 57 percent of Fortune 500 companies, according to the research, use employee testimonials and stories in their recruiting. The problem is that most of those companies had a single page with all the stories on it to which the candidate had to proactively find and navigate. In a post on Talent Culture, SmashFly's Chris Brablc detailed additional ways to use employee stories in recruiting:

  • Job Descriptions: One way to make job descriptions more compelling to candidates is to include employee stories right in the description itself. The research found that only one percent of Fortune 500 companies include an employee video or image in a job description, so it is a great way to differentiate your position from others.

  • Landing Pages: Many companies use landing pages for different job families within the organization (like a landing page for engineering jobs at a company). While most include copy and a list of jobs in that discipline on the page, integrating employee stories from those in the field can make the landing page more targeted and compelling.

  • Email Nurture Campaign: For candidates who sign up in your recruiting system, employing an email nurture campaign with employee stories is a good way to keep your organization and its benefits top of mind.

  • Recruiter Talking Points: Having your recruiters or sourcers armed with relevant employee stories can make the conversation with a candidate more engaging and improve interactions.

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Source: Chris Brablc is the director of marketing at SmashFly and serves as a council member for the Candidate Experience Awards.