The Future of Recruiting and Employment Branding is Video

By Jessica Miller-Merrell 

Earlier this month we talked about how video broadcasting is key for your employment branding. We’d like to expand on the topic today and show why it’s the future.

As recruiters, we are constantly looking at ways to reach and engage potential candidates. From Twitter chats to Instagram to Pinterest, we’ll try the strange, the out of the box and the things no one else is doing. However, sometimes the best thing we can do is jump on the bandwagon. If our goal is to reach candidates where they live, work and play, then we should look to what media they’re using on a regular basis and how they’re using it. Increasingly, the answer is video.

Consuming video on a daily basis became a part of our lives long ago, but a few recent developments have made it even more present and even more likely to be used in our industry. From Meerkat to Periscope, live video broadcasting is the wave of the future for individuals, retailers and believe it or not, our industry too. While the buzz of these two video broadcasting apps has surely been impressive, it’s LinkedIn’s recent acquisition of Lynda.com that has me saying now more than ever that video is not only the next big thing in recruiting and hiring but is also here to stay.

It’s a digital world we are living in, and right now video storytelling is the best way to share resources, engage with your audiences and take advantage of a new opportunity. Your candidates, who are consumers, are in the middle of a mobile revolution and they expect you to be a part of it as well.

Simply put, it’s video, video, video for everything. Take a look at these four ways you can introduce video into your recruiting and employment branding.

Video job announcements

Technology like TalentCircles allows recruiters to seamlessly upload video and share with their circles. Talent community members who view video are encouraged to learn more about the organization by joining its talent community, which can be accomplished with a simple social sign in through LinkedIn, Facebook or Google+. Video job announcements also offer added value by increasing your ROI on employment branding efforts.

Day-in-the-life videos

Give candidates a peek inside your company with videos that show a condensed version of a day in the life of an employee or team. These video serve as great candidate resources, providing insights into the company culture and allowing them to learn more about the organization and positions before they apply.

Become human again

Technology has done great things for recruiting, but it has also made recruiters seem anonymous and the talent acquisition process hidden. Get out from behind the technology by stepping in front of the camera. Video reminds candidates - and recruiters - of the people behind the HR technology.

Video “interviews”

In our day and age, time is precious and geographic boundaries mean nothing. Use live video chats to engage with candidates without them having to come to you, whether as a pre-interview screening, an informal chat or a formal interview, and allow them to use the opportunity to find out more about the organization as well. Asking questions and building relationships long before the job seeker actually applies can only mean better quality hires.

Jessica Miller-Merrell, SPHR is a workplace and technology anthropologist specializing in HR and recruiting. She's the Chief Blogger and Founder of Blogging4Jobs and author of The HR Technology Field Guide. You can follow her on Twitter at @jmillermerell.