In 2020, companies must go the extra mile to strengthen their employer brand in a tight hiring environment.
Recruitment marketing videos have proven beneficial in this regard, helping to attract candidates at the start of the recruitment funnel. Videos can also be used throughout the recruitment process to deliver a more engaging candidate experience.
Before we discuss exactly why you need recruitment marketing videos in 2020, let’s look at the various application areas to consider.
Stages of the Recruitment Funnel Where Video Intervention Makes Sense
If we look at candidates as we would a consumer, recruitment can be broken down into four stages: awareness, interest, desire, and action. Video can bolster recruitment marketing across all four.
Awareness: Short videos to share on social media, which depict the employee experience at your company, can make job seekers outside your region/immediate domain aware of the employer brand.
Interest: Videos embedded on your website and career pages showcasing the company culture inspire interest in what you do and how you do it, making candidates more likely to apply when an opening is available.
Desire: Video job descriptions that make candidates feel like they would be a good fit speak directly to candidates and call for action.
Action: Video applications and video interviews give candidates the flexibility to connect from anywhere, at any time, at their convenience and make the application process more candidate-centric across the recruitment funnel.
As you can see, recruitment marketing videos aren’t just glorified ads for a company. They holistically engage with your talent pool and build a lasting relationship.
4 Reasons Why You Need Recruitment Marketing Videos
While video has been a popular recruitment marketing tool for a while now, employers simply cannot ignore it in 2020. Here’s why:
1. Gen Z prioritizes video as a key method of brand discovery
The top platform for discovering new brands (in other words, awareness) has changed dramatically over the decades.
How does Gen Z find their brands of choice, both to purchase products and to find employment?
Research suggests that Gen Z is rapidly turning to video for brand discovery and engagement. More than half of Gen Z in an international survey of 2,000 cross-generational respondents said that they want videos to portray their areas of interest.
In short, employer brands looking to make an impression on Gen Z talent entering the workforce in 2020 must necessarily use video.
2. Recruitment marketing videos convert static content into a story
What better way to foster engagement and build relationships via storytelling? However, this isn’t always so easy. A job description for a senior-level position that might run up to 1,000+ words risks becoming dense and uninspiring.
By converting the job description into a coherent narrative (i.e., a story), recruiters have a better chance of holding candidate attention and evoking an action from the best talent.
A survey of 576 respondents found that nearly 31% of HR professionals find it challenging to tell interesting stories about "boring topics." This is where recruitment marketing videos could change the narrative.
Instead of listing job requirements as static text (incidentally, 38% of HR professionals find it difficult to “write creatively”), you can have a video where the business unit manager, the team lead, and the recruiter discuss the various aspects of an open position or simply those of working with the organization.
3. Recruitment marketing videos can increase the number of views and applicants per job post
With so many companies vying for the best talent available, it can be challenging to get your job ads viewed in the first place. Imagine a scenario where the job is absolutely perfect for a candidate who simply scrolled over because the title did not catch their attention – this would be a lose-lose for everyone.
That’s why it is a good idea to embed videos in job ads, as well as embed a video emoji in the job ad title. Interestingly, a report by CareerBuilder (email required) found that job postings with video icons on the CareerBuilder platform got 12% more views than ones without video.
And the benefits don’t end there – CareerBuilder users who embraced the power of recruitment marketing videos achieved a 34% uptick in application rates!
4. You can leverage VR to create immersive recruitment marketing videos
We have been discussing the mainstream adoption of VR for a while now, but 2020 could be the year when this technology takes off.
All signs point in this direction – according to one estimate, the VR market will expand at an astonishing 48.7% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in the next five years! This could be because affordable VR hardware is now easily available. In 2019, the Oculus Quest headset got a $400 launch, making it accessible to young professionals around the world.
In other words, the climate is just right for VR usage among your intended candidate pool. 360-degree videos that take advantage of this technology can deliver immersive and compelling experiences to candidates.
Recruiters can even partner with providers like 360dgrees to create VR-enabled recruitment marketing videos at low costs (360dgrees is free forever for up to three videos).
Getting Started With Recruitment Marketing Videos in 2020
You can use several tools to create recruitment marketing videos, making it possible to get started even if you do not have video marketing skill sets within your organization. Here are a couple of options to consider:
Hinterview: A video engagement platform for recruiters that lets you create videos, share them through links, and gather real-time feedback through emails.
Cammio: A platform to create videos about open positions, where you identify topics, submit smartphone clips on each topic, and Cammio weaves it into a video story.
Let us leave you with a simple #ProTip: modern candidates want to connect with your employer brand through video, and you have 1 minute 36 seconds (on average) to tell your story. This data from Skill Scout’s 450+ employer videos across YoutTube and Vimeo reveals the importance of short, crisp, intelligently created recruitment marketing videos in 2020.
By using the right tools and identifying points of video intervention on your recruitment funnel, you can address the four factors mentioned and build a winning recruitment marketing strategy this year.