4 Reasons Video Is Your New Recruiting Holy Grail

Get this: There is more video content uploaded to the web in a month than created for TV in the past three decades. The popularity and growth of online video is mind-blowing—video will account for 74 percent of all web traffic this year. The medium has become an untapped channel of content marketing for reaching and interacting with customers. So why aren't more companies using it for recruiting?

The first goal for any recruitment campaign is to make sure candidates know you have a job opening. Since most job searches begin online, a successful campaign requires your job posting to be listed at or near the top of a jobseeker's search. You can sponsor ads, but that can get expensive. Similar and even better results can be achieved by optimizing your content—and that's where video can be a recruiter's best friend.

For starters, Google loves video. Part of Google's algorithm for search rankings considers the amount of time visitors stay on your website. And people tend to spend on average 2.6x more time on pages with video than without. The longer visitors stay, the higher the ranking you should get. With higher rankings, your job openings are more likely to be seen. Since the ultimate goal is to get a candidate to actually apply for the job, video on a website landing page can increase conversions up to 80 percent.

Studies also suggest that the more text there is on a page, the less visitors read. About 90 percent of the information our brains pick up is visual, and we process visuals 60,000 times faster than we can process text. That is one of the reasons that many recruiting efforts fall short. Potential candidates look at the typical job posting—a copy-and-paste of a long, boring job description—and leave. Alternatively the marketing value of a one minute of video is equivalent to 1.8 million words, according to Dr. James McQuivey of Forrester Research.

Video is also mobile friendly. That's perfect for recruiting because nearly 90 percent of job seekers start looking for a job using a mobile device. Besides, video is watched on nearly every platform from the small-screen smartphone to mega-screen TV.

Video alone won't fill all of your open positions, but the reasons to incorporate online video into your larger recruiting strategy are compelling. If higher rankings and more engagement aren't enough reason to convince you to add video, here's a little more ammunition: Social media loves video, too. Nearly every company targets candidates who are also users of Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. On Facebook alone, 500 million people watch videos every day as of last year! And that's just the tip of the iceberg. YouTube, which is owned by Google, reaches more 18-34 and 18-49 year olds than any cable network in the U.S, and 75 percent of business executives watch work-related videos at least weekly.

Video also provides a lot of room for creativity. The most engaging videos are "explainer" videos—short, fun and informational animations. A 15 second explainer video gets more views and is shared 37 percent more often than one that lasts 30 seconds to one minute.

What type of video content works? While professionalism is important, "YouTube" quality videos, and even "selfies" in good taste "humanize" your company. Personal smartphones now capture high resolution images and you can't get more authentic than that. Effective content may include a brief introduction from managers, a 30 second interview with a current employee, a glimpse into "a day in the life" at your company, or just a brief announcement about job openings.

While many job boards don't allow the placement of video, company career sites do (which is just one more reason every company needs its own career page.) Video is no longer just a nice touch—it's an essential strategy.

Photo: Creative Commons