Sean Gordon

By Sean Gordon, CEO, Hirenami

Video has developed into a multifaceted tool with vital uses across industries aplenty. Whether it be for marketing and promotional tools or on-the-job training and coaching, there’s no doubt that video has a dramatic, positive effect on how people gather and process information and communicate with one another.

The communication aspect is what we’re going to talk about today; specifically, how can video be best utilized to reach an audience of educated, experienced employees seeking to make an impact at a new company? The answer has a few components, but we’re going to look at two primary outlets: video as a means of enhancing the recruitment outreach process and as a way of screening potential employees.

Yelling “Hey, qualified applicant! Come apply to work here! You’ll love it!” is probably not the best way to plug a company, but it’s the general idea that we’re trying to get across during our recruitment programs. The IT job market is hot and anticipated to grow by 80,000-100,000 new positions in 2018, says Janco Associates, so you need to stand out from the crowd.

It’s all sales, but in a different sort of way. You want to convey pertinent information about your company so that the most qualified applicants can make informed decisions about whether to apply; that way they essentially prescreen for you. At the same time, you want to make sure that you’re reaching those qualified applicants and giving them valid reasons to apply.

Competition flows both directions: The most qualified people have options and are constantly assessing them.

Video has greater reach than a typical recruitment ad and can say a lot more in considerably less time. Viewers not only get the opportunity to hear about your company from actual staff members; they also get to see what the office looks like. They’ll be able to visualize what it’d be like if they were in that chair, at that desk, doing that job.

There are various ways to successfully create such a video. A classic method is to film staff at your company giving their thoughts and opinions on working there. Have them offer insight into the size of the company and their team, how everyone works together and what their everyday tasks are like. Get interviews from employees new and old, across several different departments. Ask questions about how their company trains and supports them. Have the CEO and other senior execs grant a little face time as well, but try not to make it about them. The front-line staff are the positions likely to be filled by such a video and thus their input will be most important for a potential applicant to decide whether to apply.

Keep the video relatively short, under five minutes. Film it in the office or on location. Don’t script it very much; treat it more like a Q&A with employees. Ask practical questions that would pertain to someone interested in applying. Retain a positive, but not fake, tone throughout the video. At the conclusion, give next-step advice to continue in the process of applying.

How do you reach the most people with this video? There are a couple of outlets. One that will likely see the greatest success is on the careers landing page of the company website. Applicants always visit these pages to scroll through openings and get an idea of the hiring process, making it the perfect spot to place a recruitment video. You can also post it on your company’s LinkedIn and ask coworkers to share it on theirs. Include a hyperlink to it on other company social media accounts, and consider passing it off to the marketing department for them to develop an …

… ad campaign around. These videos tend to drum up residual marketing benefits.

Video Screen to Save Some Green

The other primary way to use video as a recruitment tool is by video screening. This tactic is bit more beneficial for the company but can also assist prospective employees by saving them some time.

For the HR department, spending hours and days poring over hundreds of resumes, cover letters and applications is exhausting. It’s worse when you finally find solid applicants, phone screen them, have them come in for an interview and it’s just not a good fit. Video screening is useful to extend the scope of where your company can hire and save valuable time and resources. Video screening can be used for both hiring and recruitment. Using modern videoconferencing technology, recruiters can set appointments with prospective recruits and host a quick 10-minute video discussion to go over questions the recruit may have and explain more about the company and its open positions.

Recruits get the information they need to decide if they’ll continue with the application process, and recruiters get the opportunity to size up an applicant and decide if they’d like to pursue further.

The video aspect also allows for recruits anywhere in the world to apply and decide if the career may be worth relocating for early in the process. Looks for video screening tools that allow for questions to be sent through video content management platforms back and forth, so that no one time must be scheduled and adhered to. Both applicant and recruiter can send video responses at their own convenience.

Video screening can save the expense of finding a well-qualified applicant and flying them in for an interview only to find out it’s not a good fit. Because video technology is so dynamic and flexible, you’ll find that it can easily be adapted to fit your recruiting and hiring needs and revolutionize the way that you attract qualified applicants to your company.

Sean Gordon is CEO of Hirenami. Sean founded Hirenami to take recruiting challenges from painful, inefficient, and time consuming to quick and effective, for employees and employers. Sean has created new lines of business, reinvigorated stagnant company cultures, and mentored hundreds of employees who have gone on to do great things. Connect with Sean Gordon on LinkedIn.