Finding and attracting the right talent is a challenging enterprise. You have to compete with other organizations for qualified candidates and also convince those candidates that you are worth the effort and risk.
But you can’t just tell them that your company is an amazing place to work, and even if you do, why would they believe you? I mean, no company ever comes right out to say they treat their workers badly or that their workplace culture is toxic.
So how can you relay this message to them in a reliable way? The answer is through employee testimonials.
Employee testimonials are endorsements or official statements made by employees of a given company to explain what they like about their job or what it’s like working for the company. They serve as a form of social proof to lure candidates to apply to join the organization.
The logic is that if existing employees have a lot of good things to say about the company, then it must mean they are worth interviewing with or joining.
In this article, I am going to explore the different types of employee testimonials that you can use and provide some great testimonial examples for employees that you can draw inspiration from to develop your own testimonials.
Forms of Employee Testimonials
There are many different formats you can use to make testimonials for your employees. They include:
Photo testimonials
This type of testimonial combines text and a photo of the employee to whom the message belongs to create a poster or banner image that is easily shareable. The draw of photo testimonials is that they are colorful and more attractive than plain static testimonials.
Article testimonials
Article testimonials can feature short quotes or long essay-like stories describing the employee’s experience working at the company, as well as their career journey, the company’s values, and any other tidbits they want to share.
Video testimonials
Video testimonials bring an added touch of personality and realness to employee testimonials because people can see and hear the employee talking.
They can watch their body language and feel the excitement in their voice, which can help the message resonate better.
Interview testimonials
Interview testimonials can take the shape of videos or text and are conducted using a question-and-answer format.
You just have to create a series of questions to ask your employees about their job and the benefits they get from the company, then record and publish their answers on your preferred platform.
Best Examples of Testimonials for Employees
Let your employee testimonials speak to how your current staff feels about being a part of your organization. Let it take people through their assessment of the work environment.
Talk about how the company has allowed employees to flourish in their personal and professional lives and the approaches it takes to promote their well-being. Feel free to sneak in some thoughts about the kind of working relationship that exists at the company.
The point is to help other people see the factors that make working at your company a positive and interesting experience.
2. Highlight employee history and growth
No candidate wants to join a company where they can’t gain significant experience and advance in their roles. So you want your employee testimonial to show them that your organization supports growth.
Your employees’ career trajectory since joining your company can serve as a good example of how your workers are encouraged and supported to reach greater heights.
In this example, you can see that the employee in question has come a long way from where they started as a junior executive to being a senior manager.
Not to mention other development opportunities like further education and skills acquisition that the company has provided them.
3. Talk about learning opportunities
Does your company take on a lot of different projects that allow employees to learn and practice new skills? Do you offer education stipends that employees can use to pay for courses and learning materials that are relevant to their fields?
Do you sponsor employees to further their studies? Do you have mentorship or job shadowing programs in place? Do you regularly conduct training to upskill or skill workers?
Take a hint from this testimonial example for employees and ask your workers to tell you about how the company has helped them gain new knowledge and skills and perform better at their jobs.
Let them highlight the avenues for learning that are available or that they have taken advantage of.
4. Show a day in the life of employees
People like to see how the sausage gets made. They like to peek behind the curtains and see a breakdown of how others spend their day – and job candidates are no different.
One of the most effective ways to reach them with your testimonials is by giving them a glimpse of what your employees do on a day-to-day basis.
Show them what an employee in a certain role does, what skills they use to fulfill their responsibilities, the people they interact with, and the problems they help the company and its customers solve on a typical day.
5. Let it reflect what the company is about
Your employee testimonials are an opportunity to show what your company stands for, what you believe in, and what you prioritize. Let it speak to the initiatives that are important to you and your employees.
It should demonstrate your passion for championing diversity, inclusivity, innovation, work-life balance, or whatever issues or topics you hold dear.
In this example, the employee talks about how the company values its workers, recognizes their needs, affords them the freedom to choose their own work patterns, and offers them a career and not just a job. Who wouldn’t love to work in a place like that?
6. Give behind-the-scenes insight
One of the hardest parts about deciding whether to apply for a position or accept an offer is not knowing what goes on behind closed doors.
Companies can swear till the cows come home that they have an inclusive culture that prioritizes respect, sharing of ideas, and having fun at work.
But how can candidates tell that these things are true without first joining your company? The way around this is to provide testimonials from your employees that show how you operate behind the scenes.
Ask them to paint a picture of how the business runs and how they contribute to that objective.
7. Keep it authentic
When potential candidates are researching your company online and looking through your website, they might be understandably reluctant to trust you right away. Seeing testimonials from real people who work in your company can help increase their trust in your brand.
Your testimonials need to be honest and come straight from the mouths of your workers. If you have to bully your employees into saying nice things about you or create fake testimonials on their behalf, that should tell you that your company is not a good place to work.
To lend more credibility to your testimonials, try using video or adding photos and links to LinkedIn profiles to each employee’s quote like this testimonial example does.
8. Make it about the employee’s journey
People resonate with individual stories on a deeper level than they do with collective stories or general observations. Personalizing your testimonials will make it easier for the audience to relate and connect to what you are saying.
In this testimonial example for employees, personalization is achieved by focusing on the employee’s journey before and after joining the company. It talks about how the company helped them transition into a new industry seamlessly and has supported them ever since.
It even shares some insights on the process the company used to help the employee build their skills and advance as a software developer.
9. Tell an interesting and engaging story
This employee testimonial example goes the extra mile to paint a portrait of the company and its workers by weaving storytelling into it.
It uses the format you’d expect from a story or article in a magazine – a title, an introductory note with a quote, an image, and a couple of paragraphs of text.
The testimonial uses a first-person narrative which makes it seem as though the employee is speaking to the audience directly. Then it goes on to tell a captivating story of how the employee first came to work at the company and what made them decide to stay on.
It also provides examples of fun memories and experiences they have had at work, as well as community initiatives that they have launched with the support of their coworkers.
10. Showcase the company culture and work environment
Job applicants will be relying on your employees’ opinions to make assessments of your company’s culture and decide if it aligns with their personal views, interests, and preferences.
So be sure to cover things like how the company engages employees, what the team atmosphere or dynamics is like, and how personal well-being and professional growth are nurtured and supported.
This will make it easier for candidates to evaluate your workplace experience. It will give them a sense of the kind of relationship they will have with their colleagues and managers, the growth opportunities within the company, and other benefits they will enjoy while working with you.
11. Let the employee’s personality shine through
Testimonials for employees don’t have to be boring or formal. It’s better to use casual language to make your video, audio, and text testimonials more engaging and exciting.
Give your employees room to show off their personalities and speak in their own voice when talking about how much they like their jobs and the advantages they enjoy in their workplace.
Your intended audience will find your testimonials more authentic and relatable when you do.
To be convincing, your employee testimonial has to show the qualities that make your company a great place to work. It should give potential hires a preview of the kind of treatment and experience they can expect if they choose to join your organization.
Have your employees describe what they appreciate about the way your company runs. Do they like the leadership style because it gives them greater control over their work?
Or maybe they feel appreciated for what they do or they enjoy being included in the decision-making process rather than having their voices and ideas ignored. These are all qualities that paint your business in a positive light and make it more attractive to job seekers.
13. Keep it short and sweet
Remember that people have short attention spans and a lot of things to do with their time so reading or viewing long testimonials might not appeal to them.
You want to limit your employee testimonials to two or three paragraphs at most when using text. You don’t have to write an entire novel to speak to readers’ emotions and motivate them to find out more about your company.
Just make sure you use direct words and include examples of how an employee has specifically benefited from working at the company.
14. Cover their achievements and future plans
Your employee testimonials are the perfect place for your workers to showcase how they have progressed or what they have achieved since joining your organization. This practice helps to kill two birds with one stone.
On one hand, it is promoting the employee’s positive experience as a member of your company to prospective employees. And on the other hand, it’s demonstrating how your company was instrumental in making those achievements happen.
When candidates read this, they will get a sense of how much they can accomplish with your company by their side.
15. Focus on what employees love about the company
Certain aspects of your work experience will appeal to your workers more than others so why not concentrate on those beloved parts and bring them to the attention of your audience?
All you have to do is ask your employees what they love about their job and working for your company.
Be prepared to receive some unconventional answers. You can filter the ones that align with the image your company wants to project and publish those on your testimonial page.
16. Make it an interview
If you are looking for great employee testimonials to emulate, the multinational beauty company, Coty has some of the best ones you can find on the internet.
What sets its testimonials apart is that it ditches the traditional quote style for an interview format.
The testimonial starts off with a photo and a short quote from the employee, followed by some info about who they are, what they do, and where they live. Then it launches into the interview with various questions that are answered by the employee directly.
The beauty of this type of testimonial is it looks more authentic and transparent and allows the employee to share more information in an engaging way.
17. Highlight how employees are treated in the workplace
One of the things that candidates are particular about when submitting applications and considering offers from companies is employee treatment. They want to know how your organization treats its workers across all levels.
They want to know whether they will be treated with respect and valued, or have their opinions and well-being disregarded. They are eager to find out if your workplace environment will stifle their creativity or give them the freedom to try new things and take charge of their responsibilities.
Your testimonials should address these concerns and put their minds at ease.
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18. Go with the simple approach
As this testimonial example for employees shows, you don’t have to share a ton of information or use multiple formats to get your message across.
A simple testimonial that goes straight to the point and only covers a narrow aspect of the employee’s working experience can be just as effective.
This testimonial started with a bit of text exploring the employee’s work history and concerns before joining the company and how the organization helped put those worries to rest. It then goes on to talk about the aspects of working at the company that the employee loves.
It then rounds off with some of the experiences that the worker has in their daily routines and how it allows them to engage with individuals at all levels of the company.
19. Shine on the employee’s personal development journey with the company
Everyone expects the places they work for to provide opportunities for professional development so they can improve their skills and climb higher up the career ladder.
But a workplace that also supports personal development and welfare so you can be the best version of yourself is not easy to come by. So if your company has programs and initiatives that are specifically targeted at personal development, you want to highlight that in your testimonial.
Provide examples of how your employees’ personal lives have been improved or their welfare is catered to by your organization.
20. Make it about why they decided to join the company
There are many reasons that motivate people’s decisions to join a company especially if they have multiple options or competing offers to choose from.
Sharing the factors that drove your current employees to become a part of your company can help you influence candidates who are in a similar position.
Your employees’ testimonials can help job applicants realize that they want the same things or are searching for the same opportunities in their next job that your company currently provides.
21. Place emphasis on the benefits employees enjoy
Job seekers love benefits. They want to know that your company has something to offer them beyond the salaries they earn.
They want to feel recognized and appreciated for the hard work they put in so they can feel motivated to give their best to the job. So take a cue from this testimonial and include all the wonderful benefits that your workers enjoy in your testimonials.
When potential employees see the benefits and compensation you provide, it might push them to join your company so they too can reap these rewards.
22. Go all out with your design
Testimonials can take different forms. This testimonial example for employees demonstrates this perfectly.
Rather than the typical text-based content that’s posted on a website page, it goes the extra length to promote employee testimonials on social media. The post is made up of a picture of the employee and a quote about their experience working for the company.
This is accompanied by a caption that shares more information about the worker and shows appreciation for the work that they do. The brand’s logo and colors help to make the post eye-catching and entice viewers to keep reading.
23. Show off the company’s values and mission
It never hurts to include your organization’s mission, vision, and values in your employee testimonials. Candidates will love to know what you are working towards or how you intend to change the world and make it better.
Let your testimonials feature employees who believe in your vision and strive to live according to the values you espouse in both their personal and professional lives.
Promoting your values and mission will make it easier for your business to attract job applicants who share the same values and are interested in helping to make your vision a reality.
Conclusion
Just the way customers trust the opinions of other customers more than brand advertising and marketing, job seekers trust the opinions of past and present employees more than anything you can say about your company.
Employee testimonials allow you to use the people who matter to sell your company to the talents you want to attract and hire.
These examples of employee testimonials will help guide you on how to structure and create effective testimonials.
