There’s a reason why we see video everywhere. Okay, many reasons. Marketers use it to attract buyers and salespeople use it to sell because audiences love it. It’s human, relatable, engaging, exciting, educating…so why shouldn’t other business teams use it, too? Like Human Resources. HR is all about people, so why not use the medium that is considered the next best thing to being there in person?
If you’re part of a recruitment or Human Resources team, maybe you’re already using video to attract talent. Many organizations have a video on their company website, giving potential candidates a taste of what it’s like to work there and what drives the company forward.
Is that you? High five for using video! But…is a basic video on your website really all you can do? You know as well as anyone that if you want to attract top talent, you have to stand out and do something special. Think about it this way: Would you hire a candidate who just did the bare minimum or even the standard? Probably not. You want someone who jumps out at you, impresses you, and makes you feel like they’re going to do an amazing job for you.
Well, candidates want to experience the same thing in their job search. After all, we spend most of our lives at work, so the best candidates want to make sure they’re choosing the best employer. These eight tips to turn your basic HR video into an amazing and useful tool!
1. Brand your video for instant recognition
The play button and YouTube logo are probably so familiar to you that you could describe what they look like without looking. So many videos live on YouTube, even company videos that are embedded from YouTube on company websites. But your video is supposed to be an experience of your company and your brand, so why let YouTube take all the glory and recognition?
If you’re using a video platform like Vidyard, that play button, the YouTube logo, even the red status bar (called the scrub bar) all disappear, because your videos live in Vidyard, and not on YouTube. That gives you the power to embed a video directly on your careers page (or anywhere else) that is branded with your company’s logo (as a watermark) and colors. Something like this, where you can see the logo in the bottom right of the video:
This screenshot, from the same video, shows the green scrub bar, a color that is associated with the Plugin brand. (This last shot is the end slate – the video’s branded book end – so it makes the small logo watermark redundant.)
2. Hunt top talent with personalized videos
You want to hire top talent, and sometimes that means hunting down the best of the best from LinkedIn or other sources, and reaching out to them. But if you’re really interested in this candidate, the likelihood is other companies are, too. So how do you reaaaally get their attention and stand out from the crowd?
With Personalized Video! You can weave a candidate’s name and other unique personal details right into the story of your video. You don’t have to create one video for every candidate – Personalized Video just requires one video that automatically generates for each person. It’s an undeniably engaging and incredible experience, which is exactly how you want candidates to feel about you!
Check out a Personalized Video that University of Waterloo created to attract new students. Keep in mind, this is the generic version, so anywhere where it says “You” in the video would be replaced by the viewer’s name and other details (e.g. Blake’s stuff, or Emily’s room).
3. Improve your recruitment videos by giving audiences what they’re interested in
Recruitment videos are meant to excite potential employees while educating them on what it’s like to work at your company. But what should you say? Do you give an office tour? Talk about health and safety? Show pictures of the latest company picnic? Get the CEO on camera? You’ve got a lot to say, and you want to make sure you’re saying the right thing.
If you’re using a video platform (*cough* like Vidyard), you can see exactly how candidates are responding to your video. You can discover where in your video most people are dropping off – if they’re holding on 60% of the way through or more, you’re doing fairly well, but if they’re dropping off 10 seconds into a two-minute video, you’re in trouble. You can see which parts they are rewatching – is this section of the video exciting? Maybe you should show more of it! Or does it give detailed information that audiences are trying to catch? Maybe you can slow it down. You can also see which sections people are skipping; if they’re whizzing right by your photo montage set to music of the office holiday party, you may need to realize that only current employees enjoy seeing those, and stick to what will attract the best talent.
When you get the best quality video analytics, you can make sure your video continues to be one of the best out there. Don’t be scared, that doesn’t always mean a complete reshoot – maybe just a trim and edit! It’s worth the effort to get an in-depth look at how your candidates are responding to your content. After all, you want your company to be considered one of the best employers, and a really awesome video is a great help in showing you off!
4. Ask about interview requirements and test knowledge with interactive video elements
Video is no longer just a one-way medium where you just push your message to an audience. With interactive elements like forms that are built right into your videos, you can use videos to have a more engaging conversation than you ever felt possible. It won’t just be a more exciting experience for the candidate, it will also be useful for you. Add a form into your video to ask about accommodation needs, ask for feedback, or even ask skills-based questions that would be applicable to the role. Imagine what you could do when you can turn some of the boring steps in a recruitment process into an experience where the candidate feels heard and engaged!
Calls-to-action are another interactive element that HR professionals can put to use. Right inside your video, you can ask your viewer questions, pose options, and suggest they take an action, whether that’s completing a form, moving to a different part of your website, emailing a specific recruiter, or selecting which team they want to work for and watching the next appropriate video (maybe you have different videos for different teams that you recruit for!). The point is, these elements in your video help keep your audience engaged, and create a two-way ‘conversation’ before you even speak to them directly. Who wouldn’t be impressed with a company and a recruiter who puts so much effort into the candidates’ experience?
You’re probably aware that YouTube has some basic annotation tools that you can add to your videos, and if you’re comfortable with that platform, try them out and see what you can do! But if you’re looking for something a little more that will really step up your game, you can find out more about the best interactive elements for your videos! (While the video is geared toward a marketing and sales approach, it’ll show you a great taste of what you can do with forms and annotations right inside your video!)
5. Identify the most engaged candidates
Many companies hiring processes are automated to some degree. Often, candidates can find a position on a job board, click the link to apply, send their resume, and bam, they’ve applied. And that can all happen without talking to a recruiter, or even looking at the company website. Now that it’s so easy to apply (no more door-to-door job seeking!), this can mean an avalanche-like onslaught of applications for recruiters. And, just as software is great at identifying keywords, candidates are almost as great at jamming all those keywords into their resumes.
What candidates can’t fake? Their true interest in a company and a job. Their actions speak volumes, actions like watching your recruitment videos! If you want to identify who these engaged candidates are who are doing their research, just add an email gate to your video from inside your video platform. Candidates will have provide their contact information to you before they can click play. You’ll get a complete list of candidates who went beyond just clicking ‘Apply’ and actually wanted to hear what you have to say. Now that you have their emails, you can get cracking on putting those ones on the top of the pile!
Note: You probably don’t want to put an email gate on your main video on your careers page – after all, audiences have to know something about you in order to get excited to learn more! But if you have follow-up videos (say, based on team/location/role), these could work well with an email gate.
6. Quickly and efficiently get a grasp of culture fit
Resumes and cover letters are great, but they don’t necessarily show you who someone is, what they’re like, and if they’re going to fit into your company culture. Which means recruiters have to book interviews and go through many first rounds before narrowing down the list to candidates that could be right at home in your company. What if there was a way to narrow that list down without having to book countless interviews and sit through some awkward meetings?
Video doesn’t have to be just for the recruiter. You can ask candidates to create their own short video and send it right to you so you can get a sense of them in person without, well, having to meet them in person. Sound intriguing? Video interviewing “increases speed of hire, allowing recruiters to focus more time and energy on the best candidates”, according to one leader of a UK-based recruitment firm.
Sound too tricky to ask of your candidates? Vidyard GoVideo (formerly ViewedIt)allows anyone to create and send videos (for free!), and all it takes is a computer! They can even keep their resume on screen while recording, so they can reference certain skills, past jobs, or even answer questions that you provide. You’re dreaming right now about blasting through all those first-level interviews and snatching up the best candidates, aren’t you?
7. Share video interviews with the right people, quickly and easily
Once you’ve narrowed down your list of candidates that seem like they could be a good fit, then comes the struggle of booking in interviews with hiring managers, and briefing them in detail about each candidate’s qualifications and benefits. Or, you could let hiring managers (and any other appropriate coworkers) check out the candidates themselves, as quickly and easily as you did. Actually, even quicker and easier. How? With a Video Hub.
A Video Hub is like a library where you can store and organize all your videos (by team or role or hiring manager…whatever you like!). Managers can take a gander through the videos you share, and help narrow down the list of candidates they want to meet (and you don’t have to worry about these videos being seen by unintended audiences because your Hub can be locked down by permissions). And just like that, you’ve sped up the process for everyone, and got that much closer to bringing top talent on board before they’re snatched up by another company.
Have you done some awesome things with video for your HR department? Or watched or created any awesome videos you’d like to share? I’d love to hear about it!
