If a Picture Paints a Thousand Words, Then Video Tells…

The other day I was having a conversation with a customer about the use of video in recruiting and how they could better leverage the medium. They felt that their brand was getting stale and were concerned that producing videos could be expensive and time-consuming. This got me thinking about the reasons organizations don’t or haven’t yet leveraged video for talent acquisition efforts.

Some of the greatest concerns and limitations include:

1. No budget

2. Ownership of talent and/or employment brand

3. Determining content

4. Internal vs. external resources (e.g. production, etc.)

5. Technology (e.g. ability to message out video content at scale, etc.)

In an age where most job seekers are searching and researching from hand-held devices, companies are vying for attention and first-impressions. Video allows an organization to provide a transparent and authentic look into opportunities and their culture. From an employment value proposition perspective, what could be better than a video job description from a hiring manager and team members?

So how do you get started?

A great example of a company successfully using video is right here at Phenom People. Our Chief People Officer, Brad Goldoor, and Director of Talent Acquisition, Keca Ward, have been leveraging the video format in very creative ways for the past seven months. Here are three easy and inexpensive things they are doing:

1. Extending new hire offers via video from Phenom hiring managers and staff.

It gets everyone excited about the new hire and gets the new hire excited about joining a fun, energetic team (we’re usually dressed like we’re ready for Mardi Gras)!

2. Sending a “Welcome to Phenom and Good Luck” video on a new hire’s first day from their family, loved ones, partners, or friends.

We go that extra mile to ensure the new hire truly understands the value we place on culture.

3. After the initial phone screen, we ask candidates to send a short homemade video clip on which Phenom core value resonates with them the most.

This allows us to see the candidate’s personality, level of passion and enthusiasm, and the ability to determine culture fit. Check out this example from one of Keca’s articles.

When thinking about invigorating your company’s employment brand, look to utilizing video because as the title infers, if a picture can paint a thousand words, then using video in the recruitment process, at little or no cost, can capture the entire journey and provide a real look into your company without having to hire a Hollywood production team.

While video content is widely used by marketing teams to engage consumers, it’s seldom used in the candidate journey. Job seekers aren’t expecting to be captured by raw and personalized video pertaining to them. So get creative and in front of the camera.

Ready…Aim…Action!