Cheezhead Recruiting News and Opinion

The use of video for recruitment is nothing new. It may not be widely used yet but its nothing new – in 1999 while at Macy’s Inc. we launched our first college recruitment site with 20+ executive video interviews. Even the use of video for candidate interviews is not really new – several years ago video-conference style interviewing was trying to emerge….it never happened, due to many of the same questions that remain today around the use of video resumes.

You’ve probably noticed though that there’s been a meteoric rise in online video content, unless you’ve been living in Diomede, Alaska helping Sarah keep an eye on Russia and don’t have TV or Internet access. Chances are you’ve even created your own videos. Overall, user generated video content has become explosive – just visit YouTube. And, people are watching! According to eMarketer, about 80% of Internet users consume online video content; its about equal by gender; and, even seniors (50% of them) are consuming video content. Thanks to the popularity of the Flip camera, increased functionality of digital cameras, and availability of webcams most people today have access to create and then post their newest artistic creations online.

The question is – is it right for recruitment? The answer is absolutely YES for companies to communicate out to prospects and candidates. But, for candidate interviews there are still a lot of challenges to overcome.

Company Communication
Any good corporate recruitment site incorporates video to allow job seekers an opportunity to get to know their company through the community of people that come together to make their business happen every day. Yes, that also implies that good recruitment videos include “real” people and not hired actors. And, the really good ones aren’t scripted either. It’s more cost effective than ever to produce good recruitment videos. Once you have content created you can use snippets of video in many, many ways to make your recruitment site more engaging, layer content into social networks, and incorporate video links into candidate communications and job postings – yes, job postings! The story here is that you get a lot for what you produce if you think about how to leverage it.

Candidates
At the end of the day this is a by-company decision. What is right for one company’s recruitment strategy and process is not necessarily a good fit for another. Know your company – their process capability, culture, and tolerance for risk. With any good recruitment process it must be fair and consistent. When video resumes are “solicited” there is an absolute obligation for fairness and consistency in your selection process. Although video creation and the Web is widely accessible a case can still be made around those that don’t have access. More importantly, video brings to the forefront of the selection process increased exposure around personality and appearance. Additionally, there are challenges around “time-to-view” and video retention. While many of these key issues will evolve over time its important to consider today’s reality amongst all the video hype.

So, now for some hype!
Vipe
I recently had the chance to meet Adam Peterson, founder of Vipe – a recruitment video service. There were a few things about Adam’s approach and application that intrigued me around the use of video for company communication and candidate video submission. Overall, the application is very easy to use and the interface is intuitive and crisp. Vipe can accept video from digital cameras (currently #1 source), web cams and mobile phones. The system isn’t currently integrated into an ATS, which isn’t ideal from keeping a process streamlined. The Vipe service can also be quite helpful for candidates that would need to travel to an interview and have difficulty taking time away from an active job. Vipe is an ASP model so they manage file retention, as long as you are a client. Here’s what I specifically liked about Vipe for each category of communication.

Candidates
Vipe’s product services aren’t positioned as video resume but more of a candidate video introduction for hiring managers, supplementing the resume. Vipe recommends videos be only 30 seconds in length. While I’m not sure that is sufficient time, I like the idea of keeping it short and simple for the candidate. The video would actually be requested after the phone screen. Once you’ve identified a core group of candidates its quite simple to send each an invitation to record a video response to a specific question(s) – either custom or selected from the Vipe library. This can be quite valuable to recruiters trying to position a non-traditional candidate. It gives the hiring manager an opportunity to hear the candidate address a specific question rather than simply viewing a resume that doesn’t tell a sufficient story. Another consideration here if you don’t want to use video is an audio service called Verbal Summary offered by Jerry Albright.

Company Communication
This is where I think Vipe gets really interesting. Creating and sending videos out to candidates is very simple. The ease of creating and distributing content makes it quite feasible to incorporate video into direct candidate communication. In some cases, like college recruitment, I think it’s a must – whether your using Vipe or not. For other types of candidates, its just a smart way to differentiate your brand. Vipe makes it so simple there’s no reason not to give it a try. Here’s just a few ideas –

Close the time gap: Given the lag time between when college students receive offers and when they begin, keeping them warm and connected has always been an opportunity. Since this is “their medium” it’s a great opportunity to keep them engaged.

Team welcome: Why not have a team record a quick video message to send to a new recruit. How would that play out over dinner party conversations!

Get aggressive….in a smart way: When pursuing a top candidate it can often be very competitive, especially at mid to senior ranks if multiple companies are involved. Why not have the candidate’s potential boss, division head, or better yet the CEO, record a quick personalized video sharing how much they’re looking forward to the candidate joining the company. Again, this takes seconds and its done. Not a lot to ask if the company has a commitment to getting the best talent.

Back to college: As summer internships come to a close and students head back to campus wouldn’t it be nice for them to receive a video message letting them know that an offer is on its way? Or, simply thank them for a great internship and wish them the best in the school year? Even if your not going to hire them the story will be a positive one.

There are more opportunities today than ever to integrate video into your recruitment strategy. Incorporating video into your corporate recruitment site is no longer an option or nice to have but an expectation and powerful medium through which to share your brand message. Vipe is an interesting provider to explore and consider for direct candidate communication – incoming and outgoing. Regardless of what technology you use, have a strategy in place around how video fits into your overall recruitment goals and talent philosophy. If your intrigued about using incoming candidate video, resumes or introductions, consider first how it fits into your company’s culture, process and risk-tolerance.

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