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March 13, 2026 
15 min read
Candidates trust your employees three times more than your company to provide credible information about working there.
That’s why employee testimonials are essential for strengthening your employer brand and improving application rates. These are authentic stories from your current staff about working at your company.
Your employees are in the trenches. They know your culture, values, daily expectations, career development opportunities, benefits, and employment practices. And, candidates trust that firsthand perspective more than any recruitment marketing message.
Here, we’ll provide you with more than 50 questions for employee testimonials, tips for making them impactful, and a free downloadable template to start collecting at scale.
Just looking for the free template? Click here to jump to the download!
Employee testimonials prove a strong employer value proposition (EVP). They build trust with prospects, making them more likely to apply, engage with your content, and accept employment offers.
Uber, for example, saw a 22% increase in page views after creating employee testimonial videos with iCIMS Video Studio.
Most leaders (56%) find that employer branding enhances their company’s image and leads to more positive perceptions. Employee testimonials play a big part by giving candidates, customers, and current employees a genuine look into your work culture.
You can also use employee testimonials in things like blogs, social media posts, or company podcasts. This versatility allows you to scale your employer branding efforts more effectively without overloading your recruiters.
Employee testimonials during onboarding are one way to get new hires excited about their new positions, so they stay longer. Learn more with Does better employee onboarding equal better retention?
To structure a great employee testimonial, follow these steps:
Effective testimonials are specific, authentic, relevant, fair, and short.
Video testimonials typically follow this flow:
This structure helps employees produce testimonials efficiently. All they have to do is pick up a camera and follow this loose format to capture valuable stories.
A testimonial video example might look like:
Hi, my name is Jane Doe, and I’m a marketing specialist. I’ve been at ABC Corp. for almost five years.
My favorite part of this job is working side by side with my peers. Besides weekly brainstorming sessions, ABC Corp sponsors monthly creative workshops where we leave the office and work in coworking spaces — libraries, coffee shops, even a decked-out barn! Leaving the office gives us a break from the day-to-day, lets our creative juices flow, and encourages collaboration.
If you like change and the chance to build strong relationships in a fast-paced environment, ABC is the right place for you. Through them, I’ve learned to be more adaptable and open to new ideas I never had the chance to explore before.
The right questions uncover unique, meaningful stories about your company’s culture, values, growth opportunities, and belonging initiatives. Below are 50+ questions across various categories to spark the best responses from your employees.
These questions provide basic information about the employee, such as their name, job title, and daily work life. All employees should answer these to provide context for the audience.
Sample questions:
Role and career growth questions focus on day-to-day work specifics and professional development opportunities your company provides. Most candidates want answers to these questions.
Active candidates want to understand whether responsibilities and expectations align with their skills and interests. Passive candidates want to see how this role compares to their current position and what support you provide on their career journeys.
Sample questions:
Culture and belonging questions uncover the interpersonal environment — how supported employees feel to do their best work and collaborate with coworkers.
These questions also reveal the psychological safety employees feel when showing up as their authentic selves, like knowing you’ll take action when they raise concerns.
All candidates are curious about these answers, but you can also use these testimonials to promote a positive culture among existing staff. They’re valuable customer marketing tools, too.
Customers who see proof of a positive work culture are more likely to think highly of brands that support their employees.
Sample questions:
Purpose and values questions assess how engaged employees are in their roles and whether the company’s values and mission align with their own.
These testimonials help sway highly qualified passive candidates to apply. Prospects who see a company that supports career advancement, gives back to the community, responds to feedback, or provides opportunities for meaningful work often feel motivated to apply.
Sample questions:
Flexibility and benefits questions explore how the benefits and perks you offer help employees show up at their best professionally and personally.
A 2025 Gallup study notes that the top two reasons employees take new jobs are work-life balance/personal well-being and pay/benefits. Most candidates want this information to ensure your benefits match their needs.
Testimonials answering these questions also help existing employees learn about and take advantage of your total rewards packages, especially lesser-known benefits.
Sample questions:
Diversity, equity, and inclusion and community questions examine how supported and represented employees feel, regardless of their backgrounds.
These questions also provide insight into your progress toward fostering a more diverse culture. This can include DEI initiatives, cultural competency training, and employee resource groups (ERGs).
Candidates with protected statuses or in minority groups find these answers the most valuable. Testimonials focusing on these questions demonstrate your commitment to diversity and support for unique perspectives.
Sample questions:
These questions draw thoughtful insights from current employees to help candidates determine whether your company is right for them.
These testimonials work best for interested prospects. They provide information candidates need to prepare and succeed in your hiring and onboarding processes.
Sample questions:
Need questions for employee testimonials in a separate document? Looking for employee testimonial examples and tips to create them in multiple formats?
Our free download gives you questions and guidance for creating the best employee testimonials in one place.
Download the employee testimonial questions template here!
Be aware of legal pitfalls when using employee testimonials for marketing.
Never use employee testimonials in ways that violate anti-discrimination laws like Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA).
Testimonials shouldn’t endorse discriminatory beliefs or behaviors, like discouraging individuals with protected statuses from applying.
To protect both you and the employee, obtain the following from them in writing before they create their testimonial:
Be sure to collect these consent forms for every testimonial, even if employees provide more than one.
It’s also your duty to keep employees’ private information safe to comply with laws like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
Accessibility is especially important for video testimonials. Providing transcripts or captions for videos makes it easier for people with disabilities or international applicants to engage with your content.
Note: Always run your employee testimonial consent agreements by your legal team before using them. They’ll provide insight into language and provisions that best fit your company’s circumstances.
Employee testimonials are easy to make, store, and use at scale. You just need to get into the habit of asking and collecting them across teams, roles, departments, and locations.
One way to build this habit is to set reminders to ask employees after certain events, like successful project completions. Employees are more inclined to provide feedback when positive events are fresh in their minds.
Another way is to make it easy for you and your employees to request and create testimonials. iCIMS Video Studio, for example, lets you nominate employees to provide testimonials within the app. Employees can then record and edit their testimonials using a Chrome browser extension or mobile app that provides notes and talking points.
Once you receive employee testimonials and their consent, you can use the content for various purposes. For example, with a two-minute video from an employee discussing their favorite part of their job, you can:
One employee-made video provides countless ways to advertise your company’s careers and boost your employer brand.
A shared library of all your employee testimonials, organized by themes like day-in-the-life, growth, or leadership, also helps you store and leverage testimonials. The aim is to reach the right audience as your hiring needs evolve.
Creating, storing, and publishing your team’s testimonials doesn’t have to be a full-time job for your recruiters. With the right tools, you can highlight employee stories to increase candidate engagement and conversions without extra work for your team or costs from outsourced marketing agencies.
Platforms like iCIMS Video Studio allow your team to:
Start capturing authentic employee stories with iCIMS Video Studio. Request a demo today.
Gazmend Kalicovic is a Senior Product Marketing Manager for iCIMS, responsible for the global go-to-market strategy of the iCIMS Talent Cloud Platform, including iCIMS’ integration, trust and security capabilities. He is focused on leading iCIMS’ position as the world’s most connected and trusted talent platform.
Prior to iCIMS, Gazmend held strategic product and marketing positions at Brother International, where he led go-to-market strategy for Brother’s document capture solutions, and Billtrust, where he led strategy and execution for Billtrust’s invoicing and payment products. Gazmend holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and history from Rutgers University.
