Video for Recruiters: How to Win Clients and Candidates
Oct 29, 2026
Recruiters win clients and candidates with video by swapping the messages people ignore for short, personal ones they can see and hear: a 30-second outreach video to a candidate or hiring manager, a quick walk-through of a shortlist or report, a check-in with past clients, and a weekly team video on LinkedIn so people know you before you call.
Key takeaways
- Candidates and hiring managers ignore blanket LinkedIn messages, and a short personal video stands out because it is clearly made for them.
- Use video in four places: candidate outreach, shortlist and report walk-throughs, check-ins with past clients, and team content on LinkedIn.
- Innov8Search's team records two 30-second videos every Thursday in about an hour, and that is their LinkedIn content for the week.
- Jason Howes of Arrow Executive Sales landed his biggest client of the year after a simple Christmas video to someone he had not spoken to in a while.
- Book video into the week as a fixed slot for the whole team and take the fear factor out of it, so it gets done every week.
Why do recruiters need video at all?
Because the people you most want to reach are the ones being messaged by everyone else. Tara Sharma knows this from both sides. Before she founded Innov8Search, a recruitment firm for the MedTech and life sciences industry, she worked in MedTech herself and was approached by recruiters all the time:
"I was being approached all the time by recruiters with just really blanket messages in LinkedIn that weren't really relevant to me and never made me want to pick up the phone." Tara Sharma
So when she started recruiting, she set her business up, from 2020, to do its outreach by video only. Those early videos were made on a basic platform with no special lighting, and she says they looked pretty terrible. They still got great responses, because they were personal.
How do you use video to reach candidates?
Record a short video for one person, and make it obvious it was made for them. Use their name, say why you thought of them for this role, and ask for one thing, usually a quick call. Keep it to 30 seconds to a minute. That is the whole method, and it works because it looks nothing like the rest of their inbox.
Tara says video outreach has led to client meetings with people her team didn't even know:
"Clients or candidates saying, wow, that was different. And I wanted to talk to you 'cause that was really different." Tara Sharma
If you have never sent one, follow the steps to record a personalised video reply. The same structure works for a first approach.
How do you use video to win and keep clients?
Use it where a written update falls flat. Jason Howes runs Arrow Executive Sales, which recruits and trains sales teams. When candidate profiles or sales team assessment results come through, he records a short video walking the client through them instead of sending a page of figures and dashboards. He says it has improved both his results and his relationships with clients.
He also uses video to stay in touch. One Christmas he sent short personal videos instead of cards. One went to the CEO of a large company, a man he had known for 28 years but had drifted out of touch with. The CEO replied, they caught up for coffee in January, and Arrow recruited someone for him straight away. Jason called it his biggest client of the year so far. Read how a Christmas video won Jason his biggest client.
"If I had have sent that by a written email, I probably would've got one or two responses." Jason Howes
Hear Jason say it, from 0:41 in his testimonial:
What should a recruitment team post on LinkedIn?
Short videos of your own people, every week. Recruitment is a people business, and being recognised makes it much easier to get someone to take your call. Innov8Search has turned that into a weekly routine:
"Every Thursday team will come in, we decide what themes we want to talk about that week we all jump in. We record two quick videos, 30 seconds done like it's an hour. That's our LinkedIn content for the week." Tara Sharma
It pays off in the room. Within a month of a new team member starting, Tara took her to a conference and introduced her around. Every person they met said, "Oh yeah, we know you", because they had seen her videos on LinkedIn. It helps with hiring too: Tara hired her newest team member because of her LinkedIn presence, and says people who come into the office and see the setup think it is really cool.
Hear Tara tell the conference story, from 2:20 in her testimonial:
Does a recruiter's video need to look professional?
Start before it does, then lift it. Tara's early videos looked rough and still got responses. But when she moved to a permanent desk setup in her office, people noticed. They told her the videos looked so much better than her last business and so much more professional, and she says it represents Innov8Search as a higher quality brand in the market. She now dislikes recording at home because the lighting and sound are so much better at her desk.
The same desk setup is what you take Zoom and Teams calls on, so the impression carries into every client meeting as well as every video.
How do you get a recruitment team to actually do it?
Make it part of the week and take the fear out of it. Tara's advice to other team leaders:
"If you have a team, very quickly, get them seamlessly into, this is what we do every week. Schedule that time. Take away the fear factor from it, and just make it part of your every day and what you do." Tara Sharma
Delivery is the other half. Tara says a video can look as good as you like and still come across as boring if it is delivered flat. What stuck with her from her coaching was to speak faster than feels natural, to smile, and to use the rise and fall of her voice to keep people listening. Her full story, including the course she recorded in two sessions, is in Tara Sharma's recruiter video case study. For the bigger picture of where video fits in a business, see why video matters for your business.
Recruitment video questions we get asked
How long should a recruitment outreach video be?
Short. Innov8Search records 30-second videos, and Jason Howes talks about messages of a minute or two. Say who you are, why you are contacting this person, and the one next step you want.
Do candidates actually respond to video messages?
Tara Sharma's experience says yes. She says video outreach has led to meetings with people her team did not know, with clients and candidates telling them it was different and that is why they wanted to talk.
What should a recruiter say in a video to a candidate?
Use their name, say why you thought of them for this role, and ask for one thing, usually a short call. A video that could have gone to anyone gets treated like a blanket message.
Can a recruitment team make videos without a film crew?
Yes. Tara Sharma used to wait for a marketing agency's camera crew to visit about once a quarter. Now the team records in the office every week with a desk setup that is always ready.
Which of these sounds like you?
"My team would do it if it didn't take half a day to set up." That is what the Desktop Studio removes. Installed in your office, one button to record.
"We record, but nobody likes how they come across." That is what Video Coaching is for: messaging, performance, tech and implementation, worked on live every week.
"Honestly, both." Book a call and we will work out where to start.
Where to start
Desktop StudioInstalled for you. One click to record. Video CoachingMessaging, performance, tech and implementation, worked live every week.Two halves of one system. Book a call and we will work out where to start.
