STREAMING TALENT. Using Online Video to Create a Virtual Candidate Experience, Differentiate Your Company and Recruit Top Talent BROUGHT TO YOU BY

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1 STREAMING TALENT Using Online Video to Create a Virtual Candidate Experience, Differentiate Your Company and Recruit Top Talent BROUGHT TO YOU BY

2 Using This ebook Sure, any man, woman or budding pop star can post a video online and get a few hits, maybe some comments, perhaps a recording contract but would any of these people know the first thing about using this medium to recruit their next great employee? This ebook is for all hiring managers, recruiters and human resources professionals who want to improve their recruitment process, build their brand and increase the quality of their applicants. CONTENTS 2 Using This e-book 3 Online Video: An Overview 4 What is All the Buzz About? The Power and Performance of Online Video 8 Why Go Video? 6 Benefits to Online Recruitment Videos 10 Where to Start: 5 Best Practices 11 How Companies are Using Recruitment Video 14 How to Find a Partner You Can Trust 15 Troubleshooting 101: 5 Solutions to Common Challenges 16 About CareerBuilder 2

3 Online Video: An Overview Video may have killed the radio star, but you might not want to judge it too harshly. When it comes to recruitment, more employers are finding that video online video, specifically is an increasingly key resource. Companies are using this medium to attract better candidates, differentiate themselves and increase efficiencies for recruiters and hiring managers. WHAT A recruitment video is a relatively short (typically between 30 seconds to 2 minutes) video that is available for viewing on the Internet. WHY Employers are increasingly using online recruitment videos to both excite and educate potential candidates on their company and open positions. As the fastest growing medium for consuming content, online video enables companies to communicate their unique employment brand message to a wider audience, at a faster rate, and on a more engaging level than ever before. WHO Companies across all sizes and industries are finding new and innovative ways to use the medium to win over customers and job seekers alike. Employers incorporating video in their job postings report an increase in quality of applicants and diminished irrelevant applicants. WHERE Employers can post their recruitment videos nearly anywhere online from career websites to job boards to social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. They can even package them as downloadable podcasts for mobile media devices. 3

4 What's All the Buzz About? The Power and Performance of Online Video As the fastest growing medium for consuming content, online video as a communication tool and information provider is a force to be reckoned with. CONSIDER THE FOLLOWING STATISTICS: 178,000,000 internet users watched online video for an average of 16.8 hours per viewer in June Web pages with video are 53x more likely than pages with just text to show up on the first page of Google results 2 Technology firm Gartner, Inc. predicts that by 2013, online pictures, video or audio will dominate more than 25 percent of the content workers view each day 3 Video is everywhere job seekers are searching for information on prospective employers: According to a recent Job Seeker Inavero Survey 4, 70 percent of all job seekers search for jobs on search engines or job boards, 55 percent check the company s website, 40 percent look to LinkedIn and 40 percent are job searching on Facebook. All of these platforms are viable platforms for uploading and sharing videos. 40% % 62% Global Internet video traffic surpassed global peer-to-peer (P2P) traffic in 2010, and by 2012 Internet video will account for over 50 percent of consumer Internet traffic. Internet video is now 40 percent of consumer Internet traffic, and will reach 62 percent by the end of

5 The evidence is clear: Video is fast becoming the dominant source for communicating and information sharing online, with the potential to reach the broadest of audiences in the shortest amount of time. Businesses worldwide across every industry and size have already recognized the power and potential of online video as a way to engage consumers online, reach a wider audience and build their consumer brands. But the power of online video as an engagement tool isn t limited to marketing; online video is fast becoming one of the most powerful recruitment tools available. This medium provides employers the unique opportunity to advertise their jobs, showcase their organization as an employer of choice and engage job seeker interest on a whole new level. As more employers begin using online video as part of their recruitment strategy and finding ever more innovative ways to do so the employers who have yet to catch on won t simply fall behind the competition they might never catch up. 5

6 What's All the Buzz About? The Power and Performance of Online Video (continued) Not only is video a dominant form of communication; it is proven to be influential, as well. Consumers are not just viewing content, but absorbing it, and letting themselves be swayed by it. Adobe Scene7 recently released a study 6 on the impact that digital marketing has on the customer experience and conversion rates. According to the survey, the following marketing executions merited the most very effective ratings among the 1,941 respondents representing a variety of industries: Multi-media product viewing (integrated images, video, Flash, audio, spin, etc.) 39% Videos for merchandising, advertising and demonstration Product information on mobile devices 36% 36% Interactive catalogs & brochures 32% When it comes to recruiting, potential and current employees are the customer, and the companies they choose to work for are the products they invest in. With that in mind, employers need to consider the way users consume information as they evolve their recruiting strategies. Employers can easily implement the above tactics into their recruiting efforts to communicate on a more effective level with job seekers about their employment brands. 6

7 Perhaps one of the biggest benefits to using online recruitment videos is their ability to deliver all of the information job seekers are looking for in roughly two minutes or less. (How easy is that?) Between employee testimonials, executive interviews, facility tours and special event footage, online recruitment videos help answer the following crucial questions job seekers have when deciding to apply for a position: What does this company do? Why would someone work here? What is day-to-day life like here? What sort of companywide events go on here, year in and year out? What types of open positions does this company have? What are the benefits of working here? What differentiates this company from all others? What does the physical space and surrounding environment look like? What are this company's values? What is the company culture like? 7

8 Why Go Video? 6 Benefits of Recruitment Videos Perhaps the better question to ask here is, Why wouldn t you use online video for recruitment? Consider the following benefits: INCREASE YOUR ROI As technology gets more sophisticated, producing and housing online videos becomes increasingly costeffective even more so when you consider the high level of engagement and interest online videos generate over static text. You can also get a lot of mileage out of these videos by distributing them over multiple channels and encouraging employees to share them with friends and over social media. STAY COMPETITIVE As video increases its dominance as an online communication tool, recruiters who stick with text-based career sites and even text-oriented social networks will find themselves overshadowed by competitors who are using this medium to reach potential employees. WIDEN YOUR AUDIENCE REACH As noted earlier, 178 million internet users watched online video for an average of 16.8 hours per viewer in June Video s popularity as a source for information is only growing, and it is reaching wider audiences on a broad scale, representing the opportunity for employers who use this medium to reach out to a larger, more diverse candidate base. 8

9 STRENGTHEN YOUR EMPLOYMENT BRAND No other medium so completely enables you to showcase your organization and truly make it stand out. Videos help you communicate your employment brand more clearly than any other medium, because potential recruits get to see, feel, and hear what it s truly like to work at your organization from the employees and leaders themselves. GET HIGHER RESPONSE RATES According to CareerBuilder internal data, job postings with video icons are viewed 12 percent more than postings without video. On average, CareerBuilder customers receive a 34 percent greater application rate when they add video to their job postings. ELIMINATE IRRELEVANT APPLICATIONS Videos allow outsiders to decide for themselves if they are a fit for your organization by enabling them to meet your employees and executives, tour the facility and get a feel for what life is truly like at the organization. A good recruitment video covers the most crucial questions job seekers have about why they should apply for your organization. Once job seekers understand what it means to work and be successful at your company, those who do not possess the relevant skills or see themselves as a cultural fit will be dissuaded from applying. As a result, they ll effectively weed themselves out (saving you the trouble of doing it later). 9

10 Where to Start: 5 Best Practices Make strategic casting choices. Choose to feature employees and executives who exemplify the best your company has to offer, embody the company values, and have a lot of high energy. Their enthusiasm for the company and their work will come through on video. Avoid scripting. Scripted videos can be fun to create and compelling (if done well), but authenticity rules on the internet. Try to rely more on documentary-style interview questions to get the most honest responses from your employees and executives. Make the best of b-roll. Include a variety of b-roll (background footage) to add extra dimension and depth to the interviews to get a realistic glimpse into what the job entails. Be concise: With so much noise on the internet, viewers want information quickly and as soon as possible. There is no magic number as to how long a video should be, but a recent TubeMogul survey 7 suggests that average viewing time for an online video is just over two minutes. Remember that your audience s attention span is short, so don t get too bogged down in details or you ll risk losing them entirely. Start with the question What do job seekers absolutely need to know about my company that makes it unique? and go from there. Choose quality: Experience matters when it comes to online content. If the quality of the video is poor or if users have to jump through hoops to download it, it doesn t matter how good the story you have to tell is: viewers won t stick around to find out. This is your chance to showcase the best of your organization and in only two minutes so make it count. If technology, lack of resources or inexperience with producing online videos are an obstacle, consider outsourcing the effort to a company that specializes in creating quality online videos. (Learn more on page 14.) 10

11 How Companies are Using Recruitment Video Companies across all industries and sizes currently use online videos in their recruitment strategy. Nearly half of all Fortune 100 companies (49 percent) have invested in recruitment videos to do everything from highlighting specific positions, to communicating information about the company itself (who they are, benefits offered, location, etc.) to showcasing the company culture and diversity. Video elevates the level of trust between candidates and employers, because it enables candidates to not just read flat words on a page but actually hear the authenticity in the employers and employees voices and see it their body language. For instance, consider how the following companies utilize online recruitment videos to highlight their unique offerings and differentiate themselves from the competition: AVIS BUDGET By featuring employee testimonials, Avis enables interested candidates to hear about what it s truly like to work at Avis, learn about the company and why they would want to work there straight from those who know best: the employees. GOWIRELESS GoWireless uses testimonials from store managers to get the message across that it is a great place to work for anyone who wants to be a part of something that s innovative and exciting, while also looking for career advancement opportunities. NOODLES & COMPANY Again, employees take center stage in this recruitment video, each discussing what he or she personally gets out of working for the organization, the individual reasons they take pride in their work and what the organization mean to them in terms of service to both employees and customers. 11

12 How Companies are Using Recruitment Video (continued) MILE ONE AUTOMOTIVE Mile One uses video to communicate the company s focus on developing employees careers. Mile One s video focuses on the education and training for staff receive to ensure they become the industry s best. REDBOX In addition to employee testimonials across various departments, Redbox s video features interviews from executives to give a face to the leadership team. The video also provides a sneak peek inside the offices to give viewers a virtual tour of the facility. PEPSI Pepsi uses the employee testimonials in its video to speak to job seekers who share the company s mission to provide environmental sustainability and the desire to work toward something that is bigger than them. SAN MANUEL BINGO AND CASINO The unique company culture and history is what stands out in San Manuel s recruitment video. It gives the audience a peek inside the company to learn more about its employees and the wide range of opportunities within the organization. 12

13 MADISON HEALTH CARE CENTER Career advancement and education is extremely important to Madison Health Care Center, as evidenced in the facility s video. Viewers have the chance to see what it is like to be a part of the team environment at the facility. CLUB DEMONSTRATION SERVICES Club Demonstration Services uses its video to showcase the company s diverse workforce and flexible work schedules. Club s video utilizes employee testimonials to communicate what day to day life as an employee is like, and why what they do is meaningful. SIX FLAGS Six Flags created a variety of position-specific videos, each focusing on a variety of employees working in one position, discussing the day-to-day life, the responsibilities required, the benefits, and the success factors of that particular position. Viewers who want to work for Six Flags can find the right position for their individual skill levels, personalities and interests. Despite implementing many of the same elements employee testimonials, executive interviews, virtual tours and conversations surrounding benefits, culture and why work here each of these companies produced a unique video with a vastly different look and feel showcasing what makes that particular organization stand on its own as an employer of choice. 13

14 How to Find a Partner You Can Trust Recruiting through online videos is all about creating a quality experience, which is why it is crucial that companies invest the right time, effort and resources into such an endeavor. If such an investment poses a challenge, however, partnering with a third party company that specializes in this space is a viable solution. Look for a partner who understands the recruiting industry, has proven media expertise and is willing to work with you to understand your organization s unique needs. The experts at CareerBuilder Media, for instance, work with you to create recruitment videos that meet your standards and showcase your company the way you want others to see it. They can use your existing marketing assets and a voiceover to create a new video, use an actor in studio to present your content or have filmmakers that film a documentary-style video on location. CareerBuilder s media team handles all of the legwork, with input from you to ensure the video meets your standards and accurately depicts your organization. We ll also work with you to meet your creative and budgetary needs. FIND OUT MORE AT: or CHOOSE FROM......Onsite videos, which are testimonial driven, documentary-style videos with custom graphics made to educate job seekers about your company or specific positions....to Basic videos, in which you are given the choice to either repurpose your existing marketing assets with a voiceover or an actor to present your job specific information. 14

15 Troubleshooting 101: 5 Solutions to Common Challenges SOLUTIONS FOR YOUR MOST PRESSING CONCERNS ABOUT ONLINE VIDEO This seems too daunting. This seems pricey. I have no video production experience or scriptwriting experience. I m too busy. How do I get upper management to participate? While producing recruitment videos can be overwhelming, especially if video is new to your organization, partnering with an expert in both recruitment and new media is a viable solution. The media services team at CareerBuilder, for example, makes the production process easy. Clients simply provide a selection of the people who will represent their company on video, secure a conference room on the day of the shoot and provide permission to film b-roll onsite. CareerBuilder handles everything else from production to editing. Producing a quality online video is an investment, but in this case, it s important to consider the return on this investment. To get the most benefit out of your online video, look for a partner who creates a quality product at competitive prices, has proven expertise and success in recruitment video production, and lets clients take ownership of everything that gets produced. Clients who use CareerBuilder s services, for example, benefit from all of these features. Moreover, their videos generate more applications on average than job postings alone. Again, it is worth your while to seek the expertise of an outside person or company with proven video success. The right company will work with you to write the script or formulate interview questions, ensuring you communicate the messages you want to get across about your company, in a way that resonates with your desired audience. Producing videos is also an investment in time, but again, it is a worthwhile one. If you choose to work with an outside recruitment video production company, like CareerBuilder, you may have to set aside time to schedule a video shoot, accompany filmmakers onsite, and later review the video and provide feedback; however, the effort will return a higher quality, more dynamic video that accurately represents your company. The most professional companies will work around your schedule to ensure a quality product in an efficient manner. Some video services companies require as little as 30 minutes for an interview, so make sure they understand that the process is time-efficient. More importantly, let them know that it is the chance for them to share their passion for the company and their expertise about a certain topic with future employees the very employees they need to grow the organization and help it thrive. 15

16 ABOUT CAREERBUILDER CareerBuilder is the global leader in human capital solutions, helping companies WANT MORE INFORMATION ABOUT RECRUITMENT VIDEO? Click here to have a CareerBuilder representative contact you with more details. CareerBuilder.com, is the largest in the U.S. with more than 22 million unique visitors, 1 million jobs and 38 million resumes. CareerBuilder works with the world s top employers, providing resources for everything from employment branding and data analysis to talent acquisition. More then 9,000 Web sites, including 140 newspapers and broadband portals such as MSN and AOL, feature CareerBuilder s proprietary MSFT), CareerBuilder and its subsidiaries operate in the U.S., Europe, Canada and Asia. CareerBuilder for Employers SOURCES 1. Online_Video_Rankings CareerBuilder for Employers Employer Blog CareerBuilder TalentIntel Group c _ns827_networking_solutions_white_paper.html 6. 7.