A couple of quick facts about Web video: It is more than five times more likely to keep people on your site than simple text. YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world. Your website is 53 times more likely to appear on the first Google results page if it contains video.
Let’s face the facts: If you don’t jump on the Web video train, you are missing vital opportunities. I spoke briefly yesterday about using video interviews as part of the hiring process, but I want to speak more about the subject because it will benefit those of you reading this.
There are two areas that Web videos can play an integral role in the recruitment areas of your business: branding your company and screening potential candidates. The former utilizes the employer for the guidance and direction of the message to be conveyed, and the latter brings a candidate to life in ways 
a resume simply can’t.
I’m going to focus on the employer-produced recruitment video. There are three points to contend with when using video for the hiring process: quality of message, reach and impact.
- Quality of message. This portion of the video process will usually be governed by the Web video company retained. This element is about the way your video looks (production values are key here), the way it makes a candidate feel and the possible impact it will have. This is the most difficult portion of the three areas to measure success. It would be wise to implement questionnaires or focus groups to provide feedback.
- Reach. This part of the Web recruitment video process is the easiest to measure. Remember when Google Analytics was the hottest tool around? Well, that model has been applied to video, so now you can you measure how your video is performing. Unfortunately the numbers here can be misleading when it comes to the virality of a video. Just because a large group of people have seen your video doesn’t mean they’ve all reacted the same way. Use the analytics to focus on how the video was targeted and distributed.
- Impact and action. These two portions are directly tied to the initial objectives. Often the results are more difficult to ascertain because the changes in emotion might be subtle. A good way to provide more analytics for the video’s performance is to include a call to action or other objective that can only be found by watching it. This will let you know if your company message is being well-received.
If you use these three areas as guideposts when creating a recruitment video for your site, you will find a seemingly daunting task to be quite easy. Of course many companies don’t have the ability to shoot video in-house, so it’s important to seek out a Web video production company (such was my case).
Barnaby Cook for Recruiter.com does an excellent job of elucidating what he deems “The Tripod” of Web video recruitment. Make sure to take a look at other tips for using a medium that will revolutionize your company’s hiring abilities.
Published by Conselium Executive Search, the global leader in compliance search.
