Are you missing out on one of the easiest, most effective ways to get top employees? Employers are using video recruiting to attract top candidates.
Video recruiting introduces your company, and its open position or positions, in a manner more friendly, informative and engaging than any word-filled advertisement. If you’re thinking that making a video is too expensive, think again. Recruiting videos can run the gamut from simple, cellphone created clips to glitzy, professional films.
With unemployment rates at historic lows, the pool of talented candidates is small, and 75% of employers reported problems finding employees during 2019. Although nearly 90 percent of potential employees reported using social media to search for a job, only 60 percent of employers used social media to search for candidates. That’s an increase from 40 percent in 2018.
Are you ready to try video recruiting? We’ll show you some examples, and give you tips on the easiest, least expensive way to make your own.
Learn from Businesses Big and Small
Big companies, such as Starbucks and Google, have the means to create videos in house or subcontract video recruiting firms. Although as the owner of a small business you don’t have the same budget or equipment, you can learn a lot by looking at what they do.
Search for Google Recruitment Video, which you’ll find on YouTube.
During the video you’ll meet various employees, who talk about their job responsibilities and what they like about their jobs. You’ll see that the company provides opportunities for employees to exercise and even do their laundry during work hours. Google also has a mentoring program for new employees, offers onsite childcare for employees and is located in a pleasant climate. Obviously if your small business is conducted in one room, you can’t offer all those perks.
What you can learn from that video is the importance of putting a face on the company and its workers. After watching the video recruiting clip, potential employees feel as if they already “know” the people who work there. It’s a very effective technique. You as owner, and any existing employees, “talk” to potential hires on camera, putting a face on the company.
Starbucks
Starbucks has different video recruiting styles, one for corporate workers and one for retail workers. Search for Starbucks Recruitment Video, which you’ll find on YouTube.
Each video is only about two minutes, short, sweet and to the point. The Starbucks corporate video recruiting clip emphases the company’s place within a community. The retail video recruiting clip focuses on person-to-person interaction, both between employees, and between employees and customers.
Think about what things are the most important aspects of your company. Do your employees have a lot of customer interaction? Is your workplace more of a closed shop, a quiet atmosphere? Make sure your video recruiting clip focuses on the most important facets of your company.
What is the work that is accomplished by your small business? Do you produce an in-house product, or perform off-site work? Is the work blue collar or white collar, or a mix? Make sure your video recruiting clip explains the work.
Listrak
Listrak, a family owned company founded in 1999, produced this video blending elements of a tech business with that of a small business.
The company offers a marketing automation platform for retailers. So the video promotes the company’s tech starteup vibe, but also it’s small company feel. Employees call each other by their first names. And the company is run by a father and son team who are very accessible to their workforce.
When creating a recruitment video, think of the kind of company culture you’re trying to build — and howto promote it to potential employees.
R&R Heating and Air Conditioning
Let’s look at a video that explains explain exactly what a future employee would be doing and what the employer expects from employees. Visit the website of R&R Heating and look at videos under the tab, Join Our Team. There are two videos to watch.
One describes the company, shows the workplace headquarters, employees at work in the field, and discusses work ethic and character traits desired of employees.
A second video is a clip of an employee, describing why he works at R&R Heating and Air Conditioning.
As a video recruiting tool, it’s a one-two punch. The first video is very professional, showing various scenes with a voice over dialogue. During that video, a prospective employee sees the interior of the headquarters and gets an idea of typical field work that’s required. The second video is just a simple clip, an employee talking about his job, what he does and why he likes it. Remember, keep it short and to the point. Although YouTube will accept videos that are 20 minutes long, and Facebook will accept videos that are 15 minutes long, there’s no need to create a video of that length. You’ll run the risk of losing your audience. Don’t be afraid to break up the information into shorter clips.
Examples of effective video recruiting by using employees are often used in the home health care industry.
Interim Healthcare
For example, Interim HealthCare posts this video on YouTube where employees discuss what they get out of working for the company.
The Alliant Home Health video is simple. It allows potential employers to get a feeling for the team they are about to join — or perhaps are thinking of joining. Viewers meet the people who may be their coworkers in the future. What better way to pull would-be team members into your culture?
Making a Video Recruiting Clip
Write an outline to follow, including things such as building exterior, work area, break room, talk with employees, information on how to apply. Don’t despair if you don’t have video equipment.
Many great videos are shot using cell phones. The most important piece of equipment you’ll need for that is a tripod or stand for the phone, so that the phone is still while recording.
Using a cell phone has a number of advantages. First, it’s cheap. Everybody has one. More importantly, if you make a mistake, it’s just a do over. You aren’t rescheduling a video team.
Let’s say you make a couple of separate video clips, following your outline. You’ve downloaded your individual videos to a laptop or PC. Now, how do you link them together in a seamless way?
Of course, there are Apps for that. One of the most popular is I-Movie. YouTube has numerous videos demonstrating how to link videos using that App. I-Movie and similar Apps are very user-friendly.
If you need more ideas about what to include in your recruiting video, you can check the Small Biz Trends related article, Tips for Creating Marketing Videos. After all, that’s what you’re doing to attract new employees. You are marketing your company as a great place to work.
Where to Post Your Video
You’ve done it. You’ve put together a video recruiting gem that’s sure to attract top employees. How can you make sure those top employees see it?
You can check on this website under Best Job Search Engines and choose one that suits your needs. You may also want to try local sources, such as radio stations and newspapers in your area.
Whether you have a website or a Facebook page for your website, you can post the video there and direct people your home page using short newspaper or radio advertisements.
That technique has a number of advantages. It builds traffic to you site, and also makes it very easy for an applicant to respond by messaging you.
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