There’s always some new “latest and greatest” in the world of recruiting. Some of the trends are over as fast as they start (remember job fairs on Second Life?) and some have serious staying power, such as employee referrals. For some other initiatives, the jury is still out. But, if you’ve been holding off on creating your company’s first recruiting video, it’s time to get serious about it. We’ve put together the 10 most important reasons to stop waiting and start shooting some video. And just in case you’re looking for the hard data to back it up, we’ve included some important stats too.
With the proliferation of video across the web, it has become part of the expected online experience. Internet users are accustomed to finding their online information in the form of video. In fact, 82.5 percent of the U.S. Internet audience have viewed a video online, but it’s not just for funny videos and personal entertainment. According to a recent study, 75 percent of all executives said they watched work-related videos on business websites at least once a week, and more than 50 percent use YouTube to watch those videos. And not surprisingly, studies show that people prefer to watch a video for information than read that same information in written form.
Many companies today leverage employees and alumni networks for referrals. Make it easy for people to share your employment information with their connections. Video is one of the most shared pieces of information over the web, including on social media. An amazing 700+ YouTube videos are shared on Twitter every minute. And you don’t have to stand around a group of people very long before someone references a video on Youtube. That’s because a whopping 76 percent of users tell a friend about a video they have seen. Make sure your ideal candidates are hearing about your videos!
With more than 90 percent of adult internet users using search engines, optimizing your website and content for search results is imperative. And it’s not just Britney Spears and the NFL draft that people are searching on the web. There are over 185 million job related searches through google each month, which means that your presence in search results can be critical to your recruiting success. And, in thanks partly due to Google’s dominance in the search market and their introduction of universal search, video can and should be an instrumental part of your search visibility strategy. Still not sure about the importance of video for search engine optimization (SEO)? Studies show that video appears in 70 percent of the top 100 search listings and videos are 53 times more likely than text pages to show up on the first page of search results!
Basic recruiting starts with identifying your target candidates and then going to where they are so that you can put your jobs in front of them. Today, the reality is that if the user population of Youtube was a country, they would be the third largest (after China and India). And while Google dominates the search engine market, they also own Youtube which is often considered the second largest search engine in the world based on number of searches per day. By 2019, online video is projected to account for more than 80 percent of all internet traffic. Your candidates are watching video on the web and if you don’t have a presence there, your competitors will (or already do!).
Think of whoever you consider the “master recruiter” at your organization or the employee who refers the best candidates. They probably do a great job communicating what it’s like to work at your company and they get people excited about applying. It’s just too bad that they can’t do that 24 hours a day, 7 days a week... oh wait, they can! One of the powers of video is that you can harness the right people with the right message and make it available 24/7 on the web. So that when you have that perfect candidate looking for a job on your career site, whether at 2pm or 2am, you have the right person available on video, encouraging them to apply.
As every HR professional and business executive knows, there is a significant time and financial expense caused by employee turnover. A recent study of several research reports found that on average it costs businesses about 20 percent of a worker’s salary to replace that worker. So how can business reduce turnover? Some data implies that turnover may be a result of a disconnect of expectations that occurs as part of the hiring process. One survey found 50 percent “customer” regret and 50 percent of the people involved in the hiring process (both managers and new hires) later regret their "buying" decision. Another survey found that 25 percent of new hires regret taking their new job within one year! Helping job seekers to better understand the job and the company can help ensure realistic expectations during the hiring process, leading to better job and culture fit, which ultimately decreases early employee turnover.
What if your candidates knew they didn’t want to work at your organization before they ever applied? How many hours would you save per week screening and interviewing the wrong people? Video gives an “insider’s view” as to what it’s really like to work at your organization. By “meeting” members of your organization and seeing their potential workspace, job seekers gain a clearer understanding of whether they see a job and company fit. Allow yourself to spend your precious time with the right candidates and help the wrong candidates select themselves out. You’ll save loads of time in the recruiting process, by letting candidates do some self-screening for you.
We’ve all heard the adage that a picture is worth a thousand words. Well, studies show that video is even more powerful. The information retained from one minute of online video is equal to about 1.8 million written words. So, when you’ve got a message that’s really important, video is proven to be one of the most powerful ways to communicate it. And what could be more important than sharing why your company is the right place to work for your ideal candidate? Use the power of video to share your employment message with your targeted audience.
Few initiatives can have the ROI of video that we’ve described here. But you might be thinking, “That’s great, but not every company has the money, time or resources to create a video.” Today, there are many options for video production that range the gamut from full production to DIY. Reach out to one of the experienced companies that offer video production services, even employment specific, for every budget. Professional video production shouldn’t mean full scripting, a ten person crew and shutting down your business for days. In fact, some of the best videos are shot with one videographer, some simple lighting and an interview given from the heart. Ready to DIY? Pull out a flip cam and use some simple online editing software, or hop on an iphone where you can both shoot and edit video in HD within minutes. Whatever route you choose, remember that great video shouldn’t be complicated - it’s the message that matters.
At the end of the day, you need to hire the right people and, for the most part, that requires them to submit their information and interest to your organization. Video can be the magic that entices more people to take action on your job opportunities. 44 percent of online video viewers report that they have taken an action based on ads they have seen, and surveys show that consumers are more likely to purchase a product or service after watching a video about it. And that data applies to recruitment, too. Candidates are more likely to apply to a job or company that has at least one employment related video on their job posting, company profile or career site, than those without a video.
With video helping you to reach a wider audience, encouraging the right candidates to apply and filtering out the wrong candidates, how can you afford to not include video as a strategic part of your recruitment plans?
SOURCES: Youtube Blog, Alexa, Brainshark, TMG Custom Media (Engage: The Blog), Online Publishers Association (OPA), emarketer, comscore, Pew Research, Challenger, Gray, Recruiting Roundtable, Center for American Progress, SHRM
