Video: A Necessity in Recruitment Marketing

Are you using video in your recruitment marketing strategy? If not, you should. Video reigns king in content and with the evolution of platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, and Snapchat, the amount of video content going live every day is increasing. In fact, over 72 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube every 60 seconds.

“Companies have to be proactive about telling their story and using inbound recruiting methods to connect with talent throughout the candidate journey. With video, recruiters have an opportunity to do just that with content that’s engaging, authentic, and free.”

– Riely Stefano, Culture Content Creator at HubSpot

Video has been an essential part of the recruiting process at Phenom People. It’s simple, inexpensive, effective, and you can utilize it in your practice.

At the center of Phenom People’s talent acquisition and on-boarding practice is our core values: positive thinking, curiosity, confidence, responsibility, and intensity. We use video very early on in the recruiting process after the initial phone screening. We ask candidates to send us a short video clip on what core value resonates with them the most. They send the video (we prefer through text message) sharing their preferred value and what it means to them. The video illustrates a couple things about the candidate that’s hard to infer from a resume or cover letter:

1) personality

2) passion

3) enthusiasm

4) culture fit

Recruiters can now add the video to the candidate’s application and begin to get a much clearer picture of who they are. For example, a recent candidate sent a video presenting the core value of confidence. She goes on to say that whether it be personal or professional, confidence is a value that speaks volumes to her in everyday life. She believes that with confidence she will achieve success. Her video illustrated her passions, but more importantly, how interested she was in the opportunity. The only requirement we have is that they show us which core value speaks to them. Anything else goes. We want to see their level of creativity.

Phenom’s interview process is truly a red-carpet experience for candidates. From the minute they walk in the door, they are greeted by a bright colorful screen display with their name saying, “Welcome to Phenom People Jane! We are glad you are here!”. Then, if that candidate receives an offer, another video is utilized where we showcase the Phenom culture by gathering five to eight team members to be part of the offer video. We light sparklers and throw confetti as we announce that they’ve been offered the position. The best part is that the video comes in the form of a text message, surprising the candidate and finishing the experience on a high note while starting the employee journey off on the right foot. It’s all about showing appreciation.

For current team members, the offer video is one of the best parts of their day. They get to take a short break to show their enthusiasm and express how excited they are for this phenomenal candidate to join the team.

Last, but certainly not least, is the most special video we use during the employee’s first day. We reach out to the new hire’s loved ones and request a heartfelt first day video wishing them success in their new job. New hires are truly speechless that we accomplished this without their knowledge. Seeing familiar faces on a nerve-racking first day can really put people at ease.

Video is easy, economical, and magical and can be connected to your core values. Today we discussed how Phenom People incorporated video in our recruiting and on-boarding process, however, video can be optimized throughout all Human Resource functions.

Take a quick look at this short video of a husband's wife and son wishing him luck on his first day!

We know using video will work well for you too.