If you operate within a tech-oriented environment, you can rest assured that your competitors are using videos as part of their HR efforts.
You should do so too.
Using video offers HR personnel an engaging way to interact with prospective employees and an effective way to introduce them to company culture.
Recruitment can be a costly process. By using video, HR can attract quality candidates and reduce recruitment costs.
What leads to video’s critical impact on recruitment?
We are all highly-stimulated by visual content.
It’s no surprise, then, that video is a format that is most likely to pique the interest of potential hires.
People love to share videos; your employees are more likely to share well-crafted recruitment videos on their social network accounts.
Here are a few ways in which videos prove invaluable during the recruitment process:
Attracting young talent
There are now more Millennials than Baby Boomers in the workforce. If they hope to successfully attract them, companies need to tap into what inspires them. They will need to truly understand their career aspirations and general attitudes toward work and work environments.
It is no wonder that the most effective (and common) recruitment videos showcase a company’s culture, how it perfects a work-life balance, and how it fills its employees with a sense of purpose.
These videos touch on subjects, such as diversity and inclusion as well as corporate social responsibility.
An employer branding video produced by Starbucks focuses on recent college-graduates starting their careers. It presents Starbucks as a great place to grow, and features interns and employees as the stars of the video. It is a great example of a highly-targeted and personal approach toward recruitment.
Generating more applications
The best way to make a job posting stand out is to have it appear in the form of a video. They typically generate more attention, views and clicks.
According to research conducted by Career Builder, job postings with videos are viewed 12% more than postings without video and have a 34% greater application rate.
Video job descriptions, therefore, provide a way to stand out from the pack and show candidates what makes your company unique.
Standing out above the competition
Companies looking to stay ahead of the competition have to use recruiting methods that enable them to combat the large skill gap that exists today.
By using up-to-date technologies, companies are more likely to resonate with technologically-savvy candidates.
In this Apple recruitment video, potential recruits get an inside look at how products are made and how they will be presented with opportunities to work on future ground-breaking merchandise.
It emphasizes that Apple is all about pushing the envelope and how this makes it different from any other company in the industry.
Significant savings of time and money
Companies that use video interviewing tools are nearly three times more likely to reduce their cost-per-hire on a year-to-year basis, compared to companies without such tools in place.
By using video interviewing tools, it’s possible for an HR team to more-quickly identify, interview and hire top talent.
According to LinkedIn, 70% of companies need over 30 days to process a new hire. So, if you can do it quicker, you will be able to nab top candidates who don’t usually stay on the market for long.
These tools provide an HR team with access to talent located around the world and can be great resource-saving alternatives to traditional interviews.
One of the biggest complaints heard from HR teams is ‘no-show’ interviews that waste time. Video interviewing tools digitize the recruiting process.
If a prospect goes AWOL, a recruiter will not have wasted time securing a room or traveling to meet with him or her.
Ways of using videos for recruitment
Company culture videos
Most millennials would rather work in a stimulating environment for lower wages rather than at a boring job for a higher salary.
They also look at culture fit with prospective employers. This is why your company video needs to capture their interest if you want them to apply. Take a video tour through your office and show employees interacting, so applicants can see what kind of environment they’ll be working in.
Zendesk takes a clever approach in its recruiting video. The narrator speaks directly to the potential new hire, giving a personal impression. The viewer is taken on a tour of the Zendesk offices, meets employees, and is even introduced to some interesting tidbits relating to the company’s strong, unique company culture.
Dropbox is a company known for offering many office perks; from an on-site gym to three chef-prepared meals a day. The culture at Dropbox is revealed in a playful recruiting video. It’s told from the perspective of puppets, whom answer questions about why they love Dropbox, making it memorable and quirky.
The best recruitment videos are not just entertaining; they succeed at accurately representing company culture. Whether you take a more quirky or more traditional approach, your recruitment video must represent who you are as an organization.
Applicant bio videos
Asking all applicants to create a short video will allow your team to pick out with whom to move forward in the process, quickly and effectively.
A recruiter may ask a candidate to sum up how they will contribute to the company in 25 seconds. There are plenty of tools available that applicants can use to create such a video.
Through applicant bio videos, recruiters can develop a clear read on the enthusiasm, presentation and body language of applicants. They make it easy to compare candidates while deciding who to advance toward the interview process. Businesses can weed out those who may have been a perfect fit on paper but wouldn’t do well in interviews. This can really save time and costs, especially for businesses to have to fly candidates out for interviews.
Employee testimonials
Hearing positive testimonials from current employees could sway a potential employee to submit an application. In a video by The Shoe Company, actual employees give testimonials about what it is like to work for the company that are simple and yet very persuasive.
Executive team interviews
Executive team member interviews can also go a long way towards attracting potential hires. Leadership is often a huge factor when deciding on which company to work for.
Let a CEO or president present a vision for the company and inspire applicants in their own words.
In Fiverr’s recruitment video, it’s clear that employees see managers as guiding forces, rather than taskmasters. Those with an entrepreneurial mindset will be drawn to the brand’s distinctive sense of humor and collaborative work style.
Featuring recruitment videos on landing pages
Including video on a career landing page can improve the user experience for potential candidates. A video job post gets more attention than a text-only ad. Sending recruitment videos to the inboxes of potential recruits is another option, as well as sharing videos on your company’s social media profiles. If you’re attending a job fair, make sure to show it to recruits.
A final word
Video is a powerful medium that you can use in a variety of ways; from presenting your brand and company culture, to selling your value proposition to potential job candidates. Using video interviewing tools simplifies the recruitment process, reduces costs and increases accessibility and flexibility. By using video, you can ensure timely and personalized communication throughout the recruitment process, essentially guaranteeing a positive initial interaction with you and your company.
