30% Reduction in Recruitment Costs, 214 Applications. A Practical Record of 'TikTok Recruitment' Independent of Job Boards.
Leading Communication Co., Ltd. successfully garnered 214 applications and reduced recruitment costs by 30% using an organic, zero-ad-spend strategy on their recruitment TikTok account, '@gal_jinji'.
📋 Article Processing Timeline
- 📰 Published: April 22, 2026 at 18:00
- 🔍 Collected: April 23, 2026 at 00:02 (6h 2m after Published)
- 🤖 AI Analyzed: April 23, 2026 at 10:41 (10h 39m after Collected)
Leading Communication Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, SNS Marketing Division) announces that its self-operated recruitment-specific TikTok account, 'Gal HR Wants to Go Viral (@gal_jinji)', achieved 214 applications via TikTok (with a monthly peak of 36) and realized a 30% reduction in recruitment costs.
In the approximately 1 year and 9 months since a zero-start in July 2024, utilizing only organic operations without spending on advertising, it recorded 16,000 followers, 306,000 total likes, and a peak of 667,409 views. By thoroughly designing a branding strategy focused on 'creating fans for the people' rather than putting recruitment appeals front and center, they realized natural acquisition of applications from job seekers with a strong culture match.
The account is here: @gal_jinji
Are you facing this challenge: "I put out recruitment ads, but the people I want don't come"?
- There are applicants, but rarely anyone with a culture match.
- Spending recruitment costs is meaningless if they quit immediately.
- We want to get into TikTok, but won't chasing trends destroy our corporate brand?
- If the recruitment appeal is too strong, won't it actually turn off job seekers?
These challenges arise because the recruitment market is changing. It has become natural for job seekers, especially Gen Z, to search for companies on social media before reading a job description. "What is the atmosphere of this company like?" "What kind of people actually work there?"
—We are entering an era where only companies that can answer those questions will be chosen.
Therefore, the answer Leading Communication Co., Ltd. came up with was TikTok. In July 2024, they launched the recruitment-specific TikTok account 'Gal HR Wants to Go Viral' from scratch, aiming to balance recruitment branding and direct application acquisition.
Designing the 'Emotion that Makes Them Want to Apply', Not Just 'Going Viral'
Many companies fail at recruitment TikToks because they make 'going viral' their goal. Chasing view counts is meaningless if it doesn't lead to applications.
What this account consistently focused on was designing 'the moment a viewer turns into a job seeker'. As a result, they succeeded in creating 3 winning patterns.
Pattern 1
The Opening 'Knocking on the Window'
—TikTok is decided not by the thumbnail, but by the first second.
The opening on TikTok plays the role of a thumbnail on YouTube. With the same framing and titles as other videos, you just get swiped away. That's why when brainstorming plans and scripts, we design them in the order of 'Title -> Opening framing -> Script'.
For example, the 'knocking on the window' format. The sound of knocking stays in the ear, making you unconsciously want to watch the rest. However, we didn't come up with this from the start. It's a format we arrived at after trial and error while running the PDCA cycle during operations. Furthermore, videos for awareness alone won't lead to recruitment entries. Therefore, we categorize our videos into 3 patterns: 'For awareness', 'For the interested group', and 'For appeal (encouraging applications)', designing content tailored to the job seeker's temperature. This design turned TikTok from a mere viral tool into a recruitment channel.
Pattern 2
The 'Ambush Project'
—Designing from scratch, beyond existing formats.
The 'Ambush' format was also born out of trial and error.
While referencing other companies' examples, simply copying them won't differentiate you. Creating your own original format from scratch, while taking cues from existing ones, leads to originality. It's exactly because the operator constantly follows SNS trends, writes their own scripts, and is involved all the way through shooting and editing that the sense of 'this looks interesting' is honed.
Pattern 3
Appearances by Other Employees
—Delivering the real company, 'Not just the Gal HR'.
By having other employees appear on the recruitment TikTok, the reality of the company is conveyed more multi-dimensionally.
From the job seeker's perspective, seeing multiple employees, not just a single HR representative, makes it easier to 'imagine themselves joining'. What's even more effective is the strategy of building fans not just for the Gal HR, but for other employees as well. When they get recognized like, "Oh, it's Mr./Ms. So-and-so!" comments and engagement naturally increase, which also leads to algorithmic evaluations. The next action for a job seeker who watched the video is accessing the profile. We set up a path on the profile saying, 'Apply for a casual interview here', simplifying and unifying the route from TikTok to application. Designing this flow—'Watch -> Become a fan -> Get interested -> Apply'—without breaking it generated the 214 applications via TikTok.
In the approximately 1 year and 9 months since a zero-start in July 2024, utilizing only organic operations without spending on advertising, it recorded 16,000 followers, 306,000 total likes, and a peak of 667,409 views. By thoroughly designing a branding strategy focused on 'creating fans for the people' rather than putting recruitment appeals front and center, they realized natural acquisition of applications from job seekers with a strong culture match.
The account is here: @gal_jinji
Are you facing this challenge: "I put out recruitment ads, but the people I want don't come"?
- There are applicants, but rarely anyone with a culture match.
- Spending recruitment costs is meaningless if they quit immediately.
- We want to get into TikTok, but won't chasing trends destroy our corporate brand?
- If the recruitment appeal is too strong, won't it actually turn off job seekers?
These challenges arise because the recruitment market is changing. It has become natural for job seekers, especially Gen Z, to search for companies on social media before reading a job description. "What is the atmosphere of this company like?" "What kind of people actually work there?"
—We are entering an era where only companies that can answer those questions will be chosen.
Therefore, the answer Leading Communication Co., Ltd. came up with was TikTok. In July 2024, they launched the recruitment-specific TikTok account 'Gal HR Wants to Go Viral' from scratch, aiming to balance recruitment branding and direct application acquisition.
Designing the 'Emotion that Makes Them Want to Apply', Not Just 'Going Viral'
Many companies fail at recruitment TikToks because they make 'going viral' their goal. Chasing view counts is meaningless if it doesn't lead to applications.
What this account consistently focused on was designing 'the moment a viewer turns into a job seeker'. As a result, they succeeded in creating 3 winning patterns.
Pattern 1
The Opening 'Knocking on the Window'
—TikTok is decided not by the thumbnail, but by the first second.
The opening on TikTok plays the role of a thumbnail on YouTube. With the same framing and titles as other videos, you just get swiped away. That's why when brainstorming plans and scripts, we design them in the order of 'Title -> Opening framing -> Script'.
For example, the 'knocking on the window' format. The sound of knocking stays in the ear, making you unconsciously want to watch the rest. However, we didn't come up with this from the start. It's a format we arrived at after trial and error while running the PDCA cycle during operations. Furthermore, videos for awareness alone won't lead to recruitment entries. Therefore, we categorize our videos into 3 patterns: 'For awareness', 'For the interested group', and 'For appeal (encouraging applications)', designing content tailored to the job seeker's temperature. This design turned TikTok from a mere viral tool into a recruitment channel.
Pattern 2
The 'Ambush Project'
—Designing from scratch, beyond existing formats.
The 'Ambush' format was also born out of trial and error.
While referencing other companies' examples, simply copying them won't differentiate you. Creating your own original format from scratch, while taking cues from existing ones, leads to originality. It's exactly because the operator constantly follows SNS trends, writes their own scripts, and is involved all the way through shooting and editing that the sense of 'this looks interesting' is honed.
Pattern 3
Appearances by Other Employees
—Delivering the real company, 'Not just the Gal HR'.
By having other employees appear on the recruitment TikTok, the reality of the company is conveyed more multi-dimensionally.
From the job seeker's perspective, seeing multiple employees, not just a single HR representative, makes it easier to 'imagine themselves joining'. What's even more effective is the strategy of building fans not just for the Gal HR, but for other employees as well. When they get recognized like, "Oh, it's Mr./Ms. So-and-so!" comments and engagement naturally increase, which also leads to algorithmic evaluations. The next action for a job seeker who watched the video is accessing the profile. We set up a path on the profile saying, 'Apply for a casual interview here', simplifying and unifying the route from TikTok to application. Designing this flow—'Watch -> Become a fan -> Get interested -> Apply'—without breaking it generated the 214 applications via TikTok.