Peter Wilkinson | Social Media Consultant | International speaker
The international social media consultant gets asked this a lot. Video files are all the rage at the moment – site tutorials, tutorials on how to fill out application forms and conduct yourself in an interview. The trick is to know when it’s good to use video and when it isn’t.
The international social media marketing consultant notes that there’s a major advantage to using video in recruitment – and that is, simply, that the current generation of as-yet-unemployed prospects expect you to do it. When you utilise video to advertise your job, you’re meeting the current employable generation on its own ground. If you don’t, you are by default cutting out some of your potential target audience.
The international social media consultant reckons that no online recruitment plan is complete until it touches every conceivable base. That means using Facebook, using YouTube and using business networks like LinkedIn to maximise your exposure. It also means getting on board with current fads even if you can’t see the point.
Apologists for video recruitment will tell you that a picture speaks a thousand words – and a moving picture is probably worth even more. The international social media marketing consultant reckons much of that is industry bunk – in reality, people like video online because it’s popular, not because it’s particularly good at getting things across to you (except for dancing cats of course – always hilarious).
But the fact that it doesn’t necessarily do anything new doesn’t mean it should be ignored – for the reasons listed above.
So what are the cons?
Well, the international social media consultant also points out that posting the wrong video can have disastrous effects for your target audience. And what, I hear you cry, is the wrong video? Anything poorly produced or inadvertently hilarious. And believe me, unless you’re a professional actor/actress, then any video file you put on the web is liable to be funnier than a dancing cat.
So cost becomes a factor, and production. Also script writing and direction. The international social media marketing consultant notes that your recruitment video has to look, feel and be as professional as a spot on a TV news programme. If it isn’t it can do more harm than good.
On the plus side, if you can create good video content you should also be able to broaden your pool of potential candidates, by diving into YouTube as a social medium. The international social media consultant points out that by Liking and recommending other videos on YouTube, you can align yourself with the networks of suitable candidates in the same way that you would on Facebook or LinkedIn.
Video recruiting is not the be all and end all – but it shouldn’t be avoided either.