8 Ways to Use Video Content for Recruiting

Nowadays, we’re hearing a lot about rising gas prices, mass layoffs, and increasing cost of living. Amid the doom and gloom, we’re missing a crucial piece of information – we’re seeing record-low unemployment numbers.

Every month thousands of new jobs are created and employers are looking for the best talent to fill them.

Employers don’t want any talent; they want the best people for the job. It’s becoming increasingly clear that old-school techniques of recruiting don’t work anymore. Here’s why:

• Text-based advertising has lost its reach. Such strategies don’t attract the best and brightest minds anymore.
• Your company isn’t alone. The competition to find, attract, and employ talented employees is huge.

Marketers are pitching ‘video content’ as the solution to the recruiting problem. What’s more, statistics is supporting their claim. Job postings with videos are receiving 12% more views and 34% more applications from candidates.

So, if you’re planning to use video content for recruiting, then here are 8 ways to go about it.

1. Create Professional Recruitment Videos

Nowadays it’s easy to create videos because everyone has a smartphone with a high-resolution camera. It’s ridiculous to even think of attracting the best talent with sloppy smartphone recruitment videos.

There is more to creating quality videos than just recording raw footage.

You need a video production strategy, work on the objectives and script, fine-tune the message, carefully plan the voiceover and graphics, and most of all, need an expert for editing and putting everything into order. If you don’t want to do all the work, you can also use the help of video production agencies since they will also provide more professionalism

On the whole, nothing short of a professionally made recruitment video will do.

Video production for companies isn’t a one-person job. If your company lacks the necessary talent in this regard, hire a professional video production and video marketing service.

It’s immaterial where you create recruitment videos. Your focus should be to make professional recruitment videos.

2. Use Video Job Postings

Text-based job advertising has lost its charm because it’s too impersonal. The popularity of video content is soaring precisely because of the emotional hook it has on the viewers.

If you’re a candidate perusing websites for jobs, will you respond to text job ads or visual ads? I would find video recruitment advertisements more appealing.

Companies need not use the hiring manager in the video. They can get creative by making animated recruitment videos. Businesses can make animated recruitment videos within their budget by availing video animation services. The animated video could talk about the job, the qualifications, responsibilities, and more.

3. Nurture Candidates with Real Stories

Storytelling is an indispensable part of video content. Scientists believe our fascination for real-life stories and tales is hard-wired in our genes. Companies can use storytelling to attract and nurture in-demand candidates.

Make your existing employees the heroes of the video and allow them to share their stories, journey, and experience in the company with the candidates. You can even give the candidates a visual tour of the workspace in the video.

The recruitment videos will have better traction if they included an emotional hook in them. Try to include humor, inspiration, passion, and a feeling of satisfaction to connect with the candidates and make the video memorable.

4. Use Videos for Communication with Candidates

The process of recruiting new talent is not too different from acquiring new customers. From job postings to hiring the right candidate, there are multiple stages to the entire process. Businesses can use videos at every stage of the recruiting process.

Once a candidate establishes the initial contact, after seeing your video job posting, you can nurture the person through the various stages of recruitment using video content.

For example, response emails, that guide the candidates through the next few steps, could include videos instead of text. Through videos, companies can communicate their expectations better.

Companies can also ask candidates to send video resumes. You can learn more about a candidate from a video resume than a text-based one.

5. Create Platform-Appropriate Videos

The type of video to create depends on several factors, including the platform where it’s published. Video content on the ‘job’ page of your website might have less engagement than ‘recruitment videos’ posted on a platform like LinkedIn.

Plus, the videos you create must be tailor-made to the platform. This means businesses need to consider the screen orientation, user demographics of the platform, ideal video length, engagement metrics, etc. No matter the type of video you decide to make, you will always need a video editor to add music and effects to your video.

Developing platform-specific content could be time-consuming and expensive. You can repurpose footage recorded for another platform.

The task would be easier and more cost-effective if you use the marketing suite from HubSpot or HubSpot alternatives.

Marketing tools will help you with customer and competitor research, content scheduling, KPI tracking, and more.

6. Use Video to Interview the Candidates

Remote working is here to stay. The same concept will work wonderfully well for interviews as well. Interviews using live video are convenient and cost-effective. In addition, companies can analyze the videos later to select the best candidate for the job.

Video interviews are also ideal for company executives who have to interview several candidates but are pressed for time.

Video tools such as Zoom alternatives, FaceTime, Google Hangouts, and Skype have made video interviews feasible and cost-effective.

Remote interviews need not be live. You can send questions and ask the candidates to record their answers and mail the video to you. This gives you the freedom to review the applicants at a time and speed of your choice.

7. Leverage Videos to Highlight Career Growth Opportunities

We have come a long way since the economy began to boom post-WWII. The first generation after the war took up jobs to fulfill the basic needs of life – food, housing, and schooling for children.

The next generation, in the80s, wanted something more. They wanted to secure their financial future with job security and higher-paying jobs.

The current generation – the candidates out there are super talented with options aplenty. They prefer jobs that provide growth opportunities, flexibility, and attractive employee benefits.

Companies can use videos to show and tell the various benefits and growth opportunities available for employees.

Such information will not only attract more candidates but help prospective employees make better decisions.

It’s best to use company employees to share such information instead of actors. This technique even works for recruitment in the gig economy.

8. Use Video Content for Talent Onboarding

Talent onboarding is the final step of the recruitment process. You won’t find a better medium than video content to convert new talent to productive employees.

Solid onboarding videos are good for both the employee and the company’s bottom line. These videos will shorten the learning curve and bring the recruits on par with other employees as soon as possible.

Bear in mind the recruits still need to learn a lot about your company. Use the onboarding videos to introduce your company and its organizational culture.

Do not overwhelm the employees with information. Onboarding videos will have a greater impact if they are short, interesting, inspiring, and engaging.

Final Thoughts

The internet is fast becoming video-centric. More and more companies are making videos an essential part of their recruitment process.

It isn’t enough to just incorporate video content. You need to stay ahead of the competition. These 8 talent acquisition techniques will allow you to recruit the best talent with the help of video content.