Videos are a modern and powerful tool in recruitment strategy. This video recruitment guide explains how it works, how to produce hiring videos, and conduct virtual interviews. We share how to leverage cutting-edge technology to set your company apart and attract the best talent.
Video recruitment means using video to attract and hire candidates. Why is video key for HR managers, execs, and founders today? Recruitment is undergoing dramatic changes, and video is no longer a nice-to-have but a must-have asset in the recruitment strategy.
Large companies worldwide currently benefit from using video interviews in their hiring process. This trend was accelerated by the global pandemic, lockdowns, and the move to remote work, as well as remote hiring.
Video ensures higher engagement
If you want to engage potential candidates, especially Gen Z applicants, video is now crucial. Video has been proven to generate higher engagement rates than any other type of content, according to recent research. Across all social media platforms, video is the most engaging content format. Let’s take a look at a few of these data points.
- 72% of web users say they prefer video over text content (SmallBizGenius)
- 85% of companies use video marketing (SocialMediaToday)
- 88% more time is spent by users on web pages with video (Forbes)
- 92% of marketers think that video is essential for their strategy (Smart Insights)
Companies can present their company vision and job opportunities better through videos and will increase engagement with potential recruits. Candidates are more likely to stay on the job post page and continue exploring the content, re-watching the video. Job posts with videos have higher application rates and recruiting agencies report 8 times higher engagement for job posts with a video.
- 70% say that video hiring will become the new standard (LinkedIn’s Future of Recruiting report)
- 81% of professionals say that virtual recruiting continues post-pandemic time
A well-crafted recruitment video can attract and convince your ideal candidates to apply. Video recruitment is also becoming more popular as a result of technological advancements and workforce globalisation. People also love it since it promotes personality above expertise, which is increasingly driving talent acquisition. But how can you create a video that is both entertaining and efficient in recruiting talent?
Video interviewing
Virtual interviews are also popular among businesses because of the time and cost savings they provide, as well as the schedule flexibility and efficiency they offer. In the hiring process, it’s become the new normal. Video interviews are an approach that 82% of candidates report as satisfactory. As a result, all organisations should consider developing their virtual interviewing practices and, after adopting the technology, ensure they implement the best video recruitment practices.
This guide covers practically everything you need to know about video recruitment, video job posts, and video interviews. We also cover best practices and how-tos for making a great recruiting video, or a stunning video job post.
Recruitment videos make your company stand out
Recruitment videos reach a larger audience and are shared on social media a lot more. They raise your company’s visibility to job applicants, and automate job search engine listings using video SEO. With modern video recruiting, you can easily promote your company and career opportunities better than other companies.
The goal of the recruitment video’s goal is to help people understand what your company offers prospective employees and encourage them to apply. A compelling video encourages the ideal candidate to apply, saving you time from filtering through a bunch of unsatisfactory applications. A successful recruitment video will enhance your company’s image. Using a graphic and dynamic video job description increases the attractiveness of your business. Job searchers quickly get a sense of what it’s like to work for your organisation.
Candidates want to have a sense of belonging in the workplace and see who their managers would be. Generation Z and Millenials want to work for a company that will provide them with solid professional development opportunities. In your recruitment video, you could include executives to explain the company vision, a manager that an employee would be working for, and employees working in the same role and HR professionals.
Video Job Posts
Video job posts are job posts that include a recruitment video making it easy for candidates to understand what your company offers in one place. Video job posts reach a wider audience and are shared more frequently on social media. They modernise your hiring process, increase your company’s visibility to talent, and automate job search engine listings with a video SEO boost.
Benefits of video recruitment & video job posts
Attract more talent from around the world. Videos may be tailored to attract the ideal candidate profile, even assisting in auto-filtering of low-fit applicants. It can be used at any point in the talent marketing funnel, from employer brand awareness to successful hire. Recruitment videos attract more talent since they receive more views and have a greater engagement rate.
Hiring videos highlight a company’s human aspect
They provide an inside look at the people who run the company, as well as a window into the daily lives of employees and the values you embrace. All of these are touchpoints that a usual text job ad will miss.
Ease of use
Making a recruitment video is simple with a specialised video recruitment platform. Even better, you can save a lot of time if you use templates to make your video. Furthermore, you can effortlessly publish the video on your website, social media networks, review sites for employers, and job boards. Also, your current employees will not hesitate to share a compelling video about their workplace on social media.
Stand out on social media
With so many organisations posting job openings on social media, it’s critical to make yours stand out. The simplest way to do this is with a video, as this type of content is proven to be the highest performing on social media. Adding a video to your job ad will significantly increase its exposure and give you a significant advantage over your competition when it comes to social recruiting.
Social recruiting made easy
Share a video job post on social media to improve your social recruitment performance. A video job post will attract 10X more views, interaction, and applicants, whether it’s on LinkedIn, Facebook, or Instagram. As more people will learn about the job, view the job details, and possibly share it with friends, a video job post will spread much deeper into your social media networks and reach a greater audience.
Appeal to Gen Z talent
Video-based social media posts are much more likely to be viewed and engaged with by Generation Z and millennials. A video job posting is the way to go if you want to attract Gen Z applicants. Learn our tips for using video to hire Gen Z.
Many progressive companies hire the best and freshest candidates, promising graduates from the Generation Z talent pool. Gen Z talent now makes up a large percentage of the workforce so appealing to this younger generation should now be part of your hiring strategy.
You will attract Gen Z talent who have grown up using modern gadgets daily and consuming video content on social media. To grab Generation Z attention, you need to use the video format in your communications, as they are used to learning about brands, companies and products through video.
Achieve cost-effectiveness
Your recruitment videos can be reused and reinvented almost endlessly. You’ll get long-term recruitment results out of any video content investment. You can remove one segment and replace it with another when advertising different roles or create short edits for social media marketing. In C-Me, you can re-combine segments easily.
Boost your search engine rankings
Make your business more visible on the internet with videos. You will receive more organic traffic from search engine results pages using video on SEO-optimised pages.
Modern hiring process
Videos are a great tool for businesses looking to stand out from the crowd and give off an image of a modern and digital brand. They raise your company’s profile and help you attract more qualified candidates. Through recruitment videos you can communicate your commitment to being innovative, digital-first, and even video-first.
Make a great first impression
It’s crucial to make a strong first impression when marketing your jobs. You can persuade future employees that working for your organisation is a solid career decision. It’s critical that a potential hire’s initial engagement with your company motivates them to learn more. Showcase your business and hiring process in a modern, digital format.
Reach more applicants and get more views
Video job posts are the future of recruitment. They are more effective than social media job text ads. Video job ads are a great tool for businesses looking to stand out from the crowd and get an image of a modern and digital brand. They help you hire better candidates faster because they are seen by thousands of people every day. Video job posts help you engage a global audience and attract more job seekers.
Show personality and emotions
An impressive video job ad brings personality and emotion to your company. A recruitment video makes your company stand out in the market and makes talent want to be a part of your story. A video that shows the workplace, employees who are in the same position or department gives an authentic picture of your company’s culture, work environment, people, mission, and core values.
5 times higher ‘Apply’ rate
Video job posts are viewed more often than standard text job postings. Companies get a higher application rate when they add a video to their job ad. A video job post can generate 250% more views and increase engagement rates 8 times higher over traditional text job ads. According to recent research, you can expect a 5 times higher application rate.
Convincing while being fast to produce
Most HR managers think that a video has to be a masterpiece created in a professional studio. However, this isn’t the case. In the age of fast information delivery and short, visual releases, your target audience is not looking for a perfect clip. A hiring video can be produced in minutes using your smartphone.
With video hiring platforms, like C-Me, you can shoot it, animate it, add information and share across social media very easily. To gain their trust, make it real. Introduce your people, show the work environment, and showcase the values and benefits. It should not display a manager reading from a well-prepared script.
Target talent pools globally
Whether your company is based in the UK, France, the US, or Australia, in today’s world you can recruit in any corner of the globe. Well-designed video job posts with appealing visual content will attract the attention of talent in all geographies. In post-pandemic times, video content that ranks well in search engines can help you hire excellent remote employees.
Improve ROI of your HR strategy
Video hiring technology is key to getting the word out about your open job positions faster, introducing your company to a larger talent pool. Videos can help HR managers and team supervisors take advantage of the virality of social media platforms. The video job posts on C-Me are mobile-ready and have social media sharing features. Video recruiting software will help you improve your hiring activities’ return on investment, reduce the workload for the HR team, and lower costs.
Benefits wrap-up
The long-term success of any brand depends on its capacity to attract and hire the best young talent. Recruitment videos and video job posts are an effective way to do this. They showcase the advantages of working in your company in a way that text cannot. “A picture is worth a thousand words”. Be modern and digital, create eye-catching video job posts, so you stand out on social media. Get inspiration from our samples and blogs, use video job templates, or create your own custom video job ads showcasing your company’s values.
Recruitment video tips and guide
Recruitment videos will boost your marketing efforts and add value to your brand. Remember that a video is easier and faster to spread across social media. A fantastic video about your business can be shared thousands of times without the need for running paid ads.
Thousands of potential new hires will discover your company and get interested in the job opportunities it offers thanks to a shareable employer video presentation. Do not hesitate to include employer branding videos in your talent acquisition plan, and keep in mind these tips.
Before you start shooting, write a rough script
A video script contains the messages you want to get across in your video. Brainstorm ideas and then finalise the points until you have a clear picture of what you want to present in the employer video. It’s important not to read from a script in your video as it won’t look authentic. Getting 5 or 6 key messages across in a casual but authentic way is much more engaging. If you really need to read from a script then use a teleprompter app – there are many available that can be downloaded to your phone.
Target the right applicants
Consider the ideal applicants that you want to reach with your hiring video. Your video segments should describe open positions, talk about the subjects that matter for this audience, engage with them, and encourage them to apply. When trying to engage Gen Z, focus on topics that concern them most.
Showcase your workplace
Candidates want to know where the company is located and what the local area is like. Your prospective employees want to view the environment where they will be working. Allow them to see into your office environment and day-to-day operations. It will assist them in visualising themselves as employees at your organisation.
Let applicants visit your workplace through the video! Gen Z job prospects also want to understand what makes your company unique, the organisation values, and its social impact. Include a tour of the office in your recruitment video.
Employee generated content
Applicants will be more likely to apply for your available position if you use social proof. A great way to do this is showing current employees in the same position. For example they could talk about the career path and job requirements. People who interview candidates, such as an HR specialist, a team manager, or a technical lead, can be featured too.
Highlight brand’s identity
An excellent recruiting video highlights a company’s unique features, whether it’s work-life balance, pleasant workplace atmosphere, or socially responsible activities.
Inspire with company’s culture
Make a recruitment video that displays your company’s culture. A well-crafted recruitment video can help applicants visualise what it’s like to work for your company in a way that is not possible to do with a standard text-based job description.
Answer candidates’ frequent questions
Try to think about what’s important to job searchers. Consider talking about what a typical day looks like, the challenges associated with the job, flexible work options, performance rewards, career path, top values of the company, etc. The more questions you can address in a hiring video, the more time you can spend on expertise and soft skills in the interview rather than frequently asked questions.
Highlight the differences vs. other employers
Tell viewers and potential new hires in your employer video how your firm is different. What makes it stand out from the competition in the market. Feature the leadership, talk about the values of the company and its advantages. Job seekers want to make sure that once they join the company, they will be happy and engaged, and not fall into a boring routine.
Keep your recruitment videos short
Job seekers will be browsing a multitude of job options. Don’t waste their time with a presentation that goes into the company’s entire history, the work procedure in detail, or topics that are irrelevant. Short videos are seen and shared more frequently.
According to Skill Scout’s study, applicants spend an average of 1 minute and 36 seconds watching a hiring video. So, strive for keeping your videos below 2 minutes long. This is the amount of time you have to grab the attention of your potential employees.
Include a strong call to action
A strong call to action should be included in your hiring video. When candidates are watching your video job description, you have succeeded in capturing their interest. Take advantage of this! If someone is interested in your open roles, it must be clear and easy to apply for the job.
The ultimate goal of a recruitment video is to encourage people to apply. Make sure to include a button that clearly states how to apply or learn more by visiting your website’s career page.
Promote your video on social media to reach a wider audience
Hiring videos should be shared across a variety of social media platforms, including Linkedin, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and others. Choose the suitable platform based on where the target audience spends time online. Assess the feasibility of sharing it through university websites as well.
Encourage staff to share the video in their social media posts, in case anyone in their network would be interested. Request senior employees with a large social media following share the video on their personal accounts. To gain more exposure, upload it to YouTube. Make it a part of your career website. And remember, that job posts with videos are more likely to convert.
Try different approaches
If resources allow, try different styles as you may find one approach appeals more to your target audience. For example, when posting a video on TikTok it may be better to create a cut-down version more tailored to the platform and audience in terms of job and generation.
Track the performance
Measure your video’s performance on specific indicators that modern video marketing platforms offer. They give you a clear sense of your video’s impact. Its effectiveness can be measured by the number of clicks, views, click-through rate, engagement rate, and time spent watching it. Take note of where the drop-off occurs, as it could be a sequence to be improved or a suitable way to end the video with a call to apply.
Virtual interviews and video interviews
As a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, many companies have dispatched their entire workforce to work remotely, putting recruiters in an unusual position. Video interviews are an essential tool if you want to stay in touch with applicants and continue the hiring process. Having the capability to conduct remote interviews is key for efficient hiring nowadays.
While you may have conducted video interviews before, the transition to a totally remote hiring process is a major change. The concepts of face to face interviewing apply to video interviewing as well. There are, however, a few nuances to be aware of.
A poor virtual interview process can appear unprofessional and potentially harm your company’s reputation. Our suggestions for preparing for and performing successful video interviews are described below.
How to conduct video interviews: tips
When conducted in a well-prepared and professional way, video interviews are as effective as in-person interviews. Virtual interviews are also a strong plus, as candidates don’t have the extra stress of organising interviews with their in-office job schedule when working remotely. Nonetheless, it is a shift for which recruiters, and hiring managers must prepare.
Explain the interview procedure
Brainstorm with your hiring team to create a plan that you can share with candidates. Consider if there are any preparation activities that candidates should take ahead of time, such as submitting work samples or executing a test task. Share with your applicants in advance: expectations, timetables, interviewer names, and even a virtual background to put them at ease.
Once they are aware that their interviews will be conducted via a video call, inform them of the content of their interviews, just as you would if they were coming in to meet with individuals in person. To avoid confusion, outline all necessary information and virtual interview process details.
Explain in advance which video interviewing software to use
When scheduling a virtual interview, send job applicants a link to the meeting on the video software you’ll be using. It gives candidates time to install / update the software or get familiar with how to use it, and practice video interviews.
Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams are among the most widely used video technologies for online interviews. You can also use pre-recorded video interviews, which we’ll show you how to do below.
Get your equipment ready
Before conducting an interview, regardless of the interview software you use, it’s critical to learn and practise with the nuances of your equipment. Conduct a few practice interviews with your team to verify that everyone understands how to use the video and audio options, mute themselves, share their screen, and communicate while the interview is taking place. Fortunately, video conferencing is not a new concept, and there are numerous excellent tools available.
Set up an ideal interviewing environment
Choose a good location for your video interviews. Try to find a calm, well-lit place where you won’t be disturbed, with a clean background and a stable Wi-Fi connection. Make sure you choose a spot that is clear of distractions in the background to communicate that you’re taking this interview as seriously as you want the candidate to take it. Choose a quiet location where you are able to talk openly and with no interruption.
Ask the right questions
Virtual interviews can help you analyse important soft skills that can help them succeed. Here are some examples of good interview questions to ask. What excites you about this job? How do you stay productive when working remotely? How do you overcome barriers at work? What’s your greatest achievement in a similar role? Why do you think you are a good fit?
Standardise questions and ratings
Some talent acquisition firms have designed standard questions that interviewers ask each candidate as a method to help recruiters ensure both fairness and efficiency. This method can be utilised for both virtual and onsite interviews. When interviewers ask everyone the same questions, they may compare applicants more fairly on an apples-to-apples basis.
Interviewers are less likely to fall to unconscious bias and more likely to spot the talent they need by focusing questions on analysing the candidate’s strengths and capabilities rather than finding just educational, and professional background, and similarities between applicants.
Emphasise your company’s culture
Provide a detailed description of what it’s like to work for your organisation. Above all, bring your company’s culture into the discussion by illustrating your key values and address the candidate as you would a colleague. Applicants won’t be able to experience your company culture personally during a video interview as they would in an interview in the office. So promote your company’s mission and core values during the session, tell stories about your projects, explain how your office is structured and why.
Follow non-verbal communication
Treat a video interview as if it were an in-person interview. Just because you’re separated from the candidate by a screen doesn’t mean they don’t understand your non-verbal communication, such as tone of voice and body language. As a result, even in a video interview, the way you present yourself is essential. Make eye contact, sit up straight, and show that you’re paying attention to what the candidate is saying. Never answer emails on your laptop at the same time!
Avoid the common risks of video calls
On a video conference, it’s easy to talk over each other by accident, especially if the connection is poor. Make sure that you allow for a longer pause after the candidate has finished speaking before asking the next question.
Follow up with a thank-you note and next steps
After you crush your video interview with your remote candidate, you’re not quite finished. Follow up with a thank-you note to them for giving up their valuable time to speak with your team. Let them know if they’re no longer in consideration or let them know they’re a finalist and may still need an additional interview, assessment, or background check.
Collect feedback to improve your interviewing process
When the candidate is hired, follow up with them to get feedback, ask what aspects ensured a positive experience in the interviews, and obtain strategic ideas that will help you improve your hiring process.
Pre-recorded interviews
When scheduling online interviews is challenging due to time constraints or a lack of resources, consider pre-recorded interviews. Provide applicants with a fixed number of questions to answer, and let them know the time they can use for their responses. Consider including a video introduction of yourself and your company or link to your hiring video. You can also invite candidates to submit a video CV in their reply.
Applicants will record their responses and upload the video footage of the interview. This can be done in a traditional way using email or via a modern technique, on a video interview software. Make sure to provide the file size, format, and any time constraints. Explain how the video will differ from a live online interview in terms of how it will be used and evaluated.
It should take no more than five minutes to record video questions, and you can send the identical questions to all candidates. You and the candidates both have the option of re-recording your video as many times as necessary to achieve an optimal content quality. Give candidates instructions on how long their answers should be. While the length of each video answer varies depending on the overall number of questions asked, one video answer should be no more than two minutes long.
It’s simpler for recruiters and hiring managers to assess the applicants in their own time than trying to schedule times for online meetings with candidates.
Benefits of Video Interviewing Software
Employers can rapidly screen a large number of applicants and therefore dedicate more time to the best candidates thanks to pre-recorded video interviews. Recruiting teams can use one-way video interviews as a pre-employment screening tool to speed up the whole hiring process. Pre-recorded video interview tools have many advantages:
- Screen applicants faster
- Reduce time-to-hire
- Standardise the interview process
- Eliminate interview scheduling challenges
- Gain more insight into job applicants in less time
- Reduce bias in candidate assessment and hiring process
- Ensure a better candidate experience
Streamline your hiring process with video
Using a video interview solution to analyse applicants quickly is a fantastic way to save time and streamline the hiring process. Founders and recruiters are increasingly using video interviewing solutions to enhance their company’s employment process. Video interviews benefit both hiring managers and HR managers, as well as candidates, particularly Gen Z.
Applicants that are interviewed with this cutting-edge software perceive the organisation to be forward-thinking and innovative, qualities that Gen Z and Millenials value in a company. HR managers and founders may use the C-Me video interview platform to modernise and upgrade their recruitment processes, making them faster, more efficient, and improve the candidates’ experience.
Video-first recruitment platform to follow modern hiring trends
As we saw above, there’s a shift happening in recruitment. With the number of job vacancies now being posted on social media platforms, employers are turning to video job posts to catch the attention of job seekers.
Video has dominated consumer marketing and social media engagement over the last decade, so it makes sense that companies are now using video to attract talent, especially when younger people prefer to consume information via video.
The video recruitment process raises a company’s profile and modernises the employer brand so it stands out from the competition. With more visibility and engagement, employers will get more applicants.
A Video-first recruitment platform, such as CMe, can help employers to empower their hiring processes with video. Employers can use video job posts to get more applicants and request video CVs and applications to improve screening processes.
With the CMe video recruitment platform, businesses get extra visibility. Our video job posts are automatically listed in GoogleForJobs for free, and the video helps the jobs rank a lot higher in the search engines.
Nowadays, people are monitoring their feeds on social media and may already be considering a new job opportunity. Including a video in a job post helps businesses to increase visibility to talents and your chances to hire.
We hope that our video recruitment guide and CMe Video-first hiring platform will help you to reach a wider pool of talents, generate 20X more views of your job posts, and hire excellent employees who will bring your business to the next level.