How Video is Changing The Recruitment World

Job ads need a shakeup. Typically, online job ads have hardly changed since they were first launched in the 90s and they’re starting to wear thin on job seekers.

Candidate eye-tracking research from The Ladders showed that potential candidates are only reading jobs ads for about 50 seconds if they don’t feel the job is a good fit and around 75 seconds for ads that seemed to match their skills and interests. Considering the time and effort that goes into writing up a decent job ad, they hardly seem a worthy investment.

On the other hand, studies have seen candidates spend over five minutes viewing job ads containing video, an increase of almost 490% in time spent. A CV-Library poll of thousands of candidates also revealed that nearly 80% of job seekers would be more likely to apply for a job that contained a video in the job description.

Video has become central to so many areas of life, from entertainment to shopping to how we share our lives.

To tap into this, a simple rule is to think of your job as a product and you’re trying to sell it to candidates. And in the sales world, video is king!

In a job ad, you’re not just selling a position, but you’re also selling your company, it’s culture and values.

A video job ad gives the viewer an insight into where they may potentially work, and if the organisation’s values match their own. Do you work in a corporate environment or does your office have a more relaxed vibe to it? Show your potential applicants what it is like to work in your organisation and let your candidates see the personality of your workplace.

Not only are videos a far more engaging style of content but they also allow for a deeper and richer explanation than can be conveyed through written word.

With video job ads, recruiters can go beyond describing daily tasks and share the ‘feel’ of the job to a candidate, helping to capture the nature of the role and the culture of the organisation. It’s also a chance to demonstrate passion and emotion that doesn’t come across easily in a written job ad.

When you’re advertising the position via video, viewers are more likely to pick up on the passion and excitement that people feel about their workplace and their role, making the viewer excited about the possibility of working for your organisation.

A well-executed video job ad will provide a unique candidate experience that is both exciting and memorable. Videos have proven to be able to capture viewers’ attention and have become both a leading form of online content and an effective sales tool.

Recruiters who understand this will open the opportunity to put candidates squarely at the centre of the recruitment experience, improving the hiring experience for both the recruiter and candidate.