37 [Customer] Elevating the Candidate Experience | Jasmine Bernabe from Westpac

[00:00:00] Welcome to the Video My Job Pod, where we feature industry experts, on-the-tool practitioners, and Video My Job customers to help you activate your employer brand strategy and EVP. Welcome back to the VMJ Pod. I'm Megs, and in today's episode I sit down with Jasmine, a graduate programs consultant at Westpac, to discuss their recent participation in the Video My Job pilot program in partnership with GradConnection.

[00:00:24] We explore Westpac's journey incorporating video content to enhance their candidate experience for graduates, the insights gained through this initiative, and the impressive outcomes that followed. So let's dive in. Well hi Jasmine, and welcome to the VMJ Pod. Well now that you and your team at Westpac have just gone through the VMJ pilot program in partnership with GradConnection, I'm really excited to unpack that with you today.

[00:00:53] Yeah, thank you so much for having me Megan. I'm excited to be sharing our story that we've been involved in for Video My Job. Amazing. Well look, let's jump straight into it. Can you give our listeners a quick overview of your role at Westpac Jasmine and also how you became involved in the pilot program? Yeah, definitely. So I'm a graduate programs consultant here at Westpac and our team sit within the talent acquisition team.

[00:01:21] So the beauty of our team is that we provide a 360 candidate experience to our grads. So we work on stuff like brand and marketing, recruitment, then onboarding, roll off and the learning and development journey. So we were introduced to Video My Job through the GradConnection, our partnership with GradConnection. So year on year we look for ways on how we can improve the candidate experience.

[00:01:50] And we thought that by having these short shot videos for our employee stories, it would be a good opportunity to share them. So I put my hand up to get involved and I work closely with the team to bring it to life. And yeah, so it's so exciting to be a part of the project and it's exciting to see our grads share their stories.

[00:02:15] Amazing. And what made you and your team decide to participate in the pilot program initially in partnership with GradConnection? Because I know you guys have been with GradConnection for a little while. So yeah, what made you decide to bring BMJ on board? Yeah, I think as I briefly touched on earlier, we are looking for ways year on year to improve the candidate experience. And this opportunity, I think, yeah, was a great opportunity for it.

[00:02:44] But as you know, short shot videos is how we consume content these days. I myself love a good reel or a short video on how to find new recipes. I love a good recipe with the captions in the, sorry, with the recipes in the captions.

[00:03:05] But yeah, so the pilot gave us a real opportunity to share what life at Westpac looks like for our grads in short engaging videos and who better to tell their stories than the grads themselves. I think you touched on such a great point there is, you know, like you could explain what your graduate program is like or what that experience is like. But you're right, like there's nobody better to tell that story than a grad that's actually gone through the process.

[00:03:35] And I kind of feel like as well when that happens, I feel like grads or people just in general, like we believe, you know, like when somebody else is actually talking to the experience as opposed to you telling them, oh, you know, this is amazing. But like when you actually hearing what the experience as being in that team is like, like I just feel like that's, yeah, it's just it's so much more authentic and believable, isn't it?

[00:04:03] So, yeah, I'm glad I'm glad that you guys had recognized that and wanted to bring that to life. Yeah, no, definitely agree. Yeah, amazing. And then my next question is, how did that process of creating video content with your grads and team go? Like, did you guys have any standout moments, Jasmine, that you wanted to share? Yeah, overall, it was a great experience.

[00:04:29] I think we had really great support from Gavin and the team. So it was really great support there. It was a bit of a learning curve navigating through the systems, of course, as any project, as any new project is trying to navigate the tools, understand the platform, what works well with the grads and what doesn't.

[00:04:50] But I think once we were confident with the platform, we were really confident enough to really start launching our campaigns, sending out the videos, making the edits internally. And I think having the platform be so intuitive. So we were able to edit the videos in such a short, short timeframe and turn it around in such a short timeframe was great. We had really great energy from the grads as well.

[00:05:18] So we had about 40, 40 grads join our drop in sessions, our initial drop in session. So that was really great to see. And then from there, we reached out to our grad alumni who also wanted to be part of the process. So I think, yeah, really being able to connect our grad and grad alumni to our candidates was such an exciting and memorable moment.

[00:05:43] And just reflecting back on the campaign, I think a memorable moment was when we were about to go live. We timed it, we timed the go live for our video, my job videos, the same time as applications. So I think the ramp up of the go live was such an exciting, exciting time. It was quite busy, but no, very memorable and exciting period. Amazing. I'm so glad. And you're right.

[00:06:09] Like, you know, when you try, when you're trying something new or you bringing sort of like a new platform with technology into stuff, there's always going to be that little bit of a learning curve. But it sounds like you guys, like you guys picked up on things pretty quickly. I'm glad to hear that Gav supported you guys really well through the process. But I'm also really glad to hear that you guys had a bit of fun there. And what a cool way to kind of like kick off your whole grad recruitment process by having like a whole library of videos to kick that off with.

[00:06:39] So, yeah, that's that's pretty exciting. Which I guess brings me to my next question, Jasmine. What were because I know there's been I'm not sure how many weeks now it's been since you guys have launched. But what were some of the key results that you've seen since completing the program and incorporating those videos out in your in your grad recruitment strategy so far? Yeah, so it is exciting to see the results that we've seen.

[00:07:06] And can I say the stats that we can see on the platform is so intuitive and easy to navigate through. So there's a dashboard internally and you can see in real time how you're going and there's lots of insights there. So really great to see that live. But some of the results that we saw. So we had five hours of candidate viewing time.

[00:07:31] So this showed us that the videos were really engaging and that people were engaging with the videos. That's really great to see. So we had 82.5% positive candidate experience. So I think for a pilot program that that's an amazing result. There was about 2000 interactions with our story feeds and that shows that viewers were really engaging and interacting with our videos and content.

[00:07:59] And we had a 5% click through rate from video to application. So I think from what I believe is above industry benchmarks. So that's really exciting to see. And then also finally from our data point to the grad connection, we had a 58.2% increase in applications per session compared to our 2024 benchmark. And I know that video my job may not have been out the main factor or initiatives.

[00:08:29] We had other initiatives in place, but I think the pilot program was one of the factors that really elevated the candidate experience this time around. That is amazing Jasmine. And what incredible results. Because I know, you know, with anything, like I know a lot of work would have gone into this, not only just the employee videos that you've done through VMJ, but just everything that sort of goes into making something like this successful.

[00:08:58] So I'll start firstly with the 500 hours of viewing time, which wow, by the way, that's incredible. But what do you think made your content so engaging to candidates? I think definitely having the short shot videos. I think that's what really engaged our candidates. As I touched on before, it's relevant. It's relatable. Candidates, they're after quick and direct answers.

[00:09:27] I think anything over the five minutes, they're kind of not really paying attention. So they just want that quick information, quick answers. And we gave them that. And Video My Job has given them the opportunity to find that bite-sized content that spoke directly to them. Amazing. And such a good point as well, right?

[00:09:50] Particularly as I, as we, you know, like it's, there's so much information now about Gen Z and they've been brought up with, you know, social media and video and everything else. And it's just how they consume content. So that's, you know, it's, it's, you make a really good point. Like that's how they get the information. But the key part there is they want that short, sharp. Yeah. The short, sharp videos where they can just get that information pretty quickly, move on to the next thing.

[00:10:18] As opposed to watching these long form videos. So such a great result to gain. So, and then with your story feed that was viewed nearly 2000 times, Jasmine, how important is that visibility and representation of real employees for your employer brand? Yeah, I think, I think it's such a crucial part of the employee brand.

[00:10:43] I think candidates are really looking to see and hear from the candidates themselves. I think it starts to build that initial trust in the company. And I think having the grads share their own stories really starts to build that trust with, with the candidates. So candidates are wanting to hear from the grads themselves who are still on that journey and it helps them picture what that grad experience could look like for them.

[00:11:12] Yeah, I think you raise a very good point there. It's just, it's that authenticity, right? Like it's that real voices by the real people talking about their real experiences, which is, which is so key for things like this. And then lastly, Jasmine, you mentioned that you guys had like a 58.2% increase in applications per session. What do you think contributed most to that jump? And where do you see like the employee videos or your story feed playing a role in all of that?

[00:11:40] Yeah, I think, I think as we touched on, I think having that authenticity piece really played a part. Candidates listening and seeing people from the, from the business speaking to their own grad journey really helped with, with the increase in applications.

[00:12:00] And I think the strategy that we did was, we were really looking at it from the candidate experience and we were looking at how can we improve, improve that experience for them. So I think participating and getting, getting involved in the pilot program really allowed us to bring the, the employee journey and share that with candidates with them. Yeah. Amazing. That's such a great idea. Cause you're right.

[00:12:28] Cause then you get to inform them of what their process looks like. They kind of know exactly how, you know, like how, how they go about it as well as hear from other graduates in terms of like what the, you know, what's possible, what's available, what kind of projects they're working on, et cetera. So I guess it's, it's that key around just being more informed. So they yeah.

[00:12:51] And so now they kind of know what they applying for, which allows them to, I guess, which is probably one of the big reasons you guys have gotten that increase in applications, which is just amazing. So congratulations again, Jasmine, you guys have truly, truly done such a great job over there. Now, how do you see this type of content shaping the way you attract early talent moving forward? So I know you guys have just gone through the pilot program for your, for your recruitment strategy.

[00:13:18] That's just been, but how, what, how do you guys tend to do that moving forward or continuing doing that moving forward? Should I say? Yeah, I think, I think definitely using the videos as a way to attract our candidates and really share the grad journey with them. I think that's such an important piece to this. And I think this type of content, it's essential and relatable.

[00:13:47] So I think really for our next campaign, we're really excited to, to share what we have. So we've already started planning for our next campaign in July. So we're, we're trying to, now that we do have the confidence with the tools and the platforms, I think we'll be able to confidently send out the videos as quick as we can.

[00:14:12] And also, since we do have more of a cadence and rhythm with how to engage our grads and how can we, what, what candidates are looking for. And we can kind of paint that picture and share, share it through the videos in our July campaign. Amazing. And isn't that the best, like you, you know, like that's with like anything new that you're trying out, like you have so much learnings that comes, that comes from that.

[00:14:40] And then like your next, and then you can just kind of continue to like take the learnings and then build on that. And then, you know, and particularly now that you know exactly how the tool works, as you were saying before, it just allows you now to be like, okay, look, we know exactly what we need to do, how to create that cadence, how to, yeah, how to streamline the whole process and, and, and find new ways to, to create content. So amazing. So amazing. Love that.

[00:15:06] And then lastly, Jasmine, if you had to summarize the impact of this pilot program in one sentence, and then also just, you know, if you wanted to also just give us a little, I don't know, just an overall experience as well. What, what, what would your one sentence be? And then just, if you could just talk us through your, you know, just to summarize your overall experience as well. Yeah, I think the overall impact was having relatable and relevant content.

[00:15:36] I think really elevating the, the candidate experience for our grads. I think that that's what the video, my job pilot was all about. And I think, yeah, being part of the video, my job pilot was such an exciting and new opportunity for us. Lots of new skills being built and added to the, the tool belt. I think it really brought out, yeah, different set of skills and working with the team as well. I think I could definitely speak to that as well.

[00:16:06] It was a great project to work on. I think the platform is easy to navigate through. It was a great way to get our grads involved as well. And I think it was great to see, it was great to, to get our grads involved in our marketing and attraction part of the grad life cycle. So really it comes around full circle for them. And I think with, with the, with the videos on video, my job, the candidates saw themselves in the grads on screen.

[00:16:34] And I think that really reflected in the engagement interaction of the story feeds. But yeah, really grateful to have been a part of, of the project and the pilot. And we're so excited to be, to be launching our next campaign for July. Amazing. Well, congratulations again, Jasmine. As I said, like just incredible results you guys have achieved and I'm excited to see what you guys, yeah, do next. Thanks. Thanks, Megan.

[00:17:03] So excited to have been a part of this and looking forward to it. Thanks so much for listening to today's episode. If you want to learn more about activating your employer brand strategy and EVP, then check out podcast.videomyjob.com for a library of industry perspectives and how to's. Now, if you're ready to level up your activation strategy, then you need an employee story video platform. And that's what we do.

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