Consider the cost of making the wrong hire. In an online article posted on HumanResources.about.com, “The U.S. Department of Labor calculates that it costs one-third of a new hire’s annual salary to replace him. These figures include money spent on recruitment, selection and training plus costs due to decreased productivity as other employees fill in to take up the slack.”
Let’s focus on the money spent on recruitment. How can employers effectively stand out to relevant candidates, especially for those hard-to-fill positions? Having a strong employment brand is key, in addition to selecting the most effective channels to convey it.
According to an article on TheNextWeb.com, 190 million Americans (61 percent of the total population) watched an average of 397 online videos in the month of January 2014, and 36 percent of those videos (or about 143 per person) were advertisements. In addition, online video consumption is expected to increase.
Consumers like video because it’s more engaging than reading thousands of words on a webpage and using it as part of your recruiting mix presents many benefits. For starters, video can give job seekers an inside look into your company’s culture and help them determine if your organization is the right fit. Applicants will be less likely to waste your and their time by not going through the interview process if they realize they don’t mesh with the company culture. On the flip side, it may help compel a qualified candidate to actually apply.
What about costs? Well, the good news is with all of the technology on the market now, you don’t necessarily have to spend a ton of money to produce a good video. Creating your own videos can also lead to a more authentic end product, and in today’s job market candidates crave that transparency. All you have to do is find a camera, select a few of your happy, outspoken, employees and ask them why they love working for you company.
Here are some basic tips on creating a solid employment branding video:
• Use Two Cameras
Unless the employee you are interviewing has experience in acting, chances are they aren’t going to get the piece you want right on the first take. You can either retake the whole segment or you use a second camera. The second camera could be as simple as a smart phone but it can make a huge difference in the flow of the video. When your subject messes up (which is almost inevitable), you can edit it out by switching to the other camera angle. You can find an example of this here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJXHe8tv4XU
When you watch this video, assume the camera angle changes when she messed up. This will allow for the subject to relax and speak more from the heart rather than a script, which viewers will appreciate.
• Capture B-roll
Shoot random videos of your workspace. Emphasize all the office perks like snack bar, cafeteria and foosball table. I would try to capture overall environment of the work place. This will help break-up the video so it won’t be the talking head the entire time. You can also splice this in to cover up a mistake and just add a voice over.
• Pay Attention to Sound
Nothing is worse than having great HD video but soft noisy sound. Sound is equally important to high quality video so you must consider it when making your video. Lavaliere mics are the best option but if you don’t have a set of those you can always use a smartphone as your mic. Just start recording on a voice memo app and slip it in to the subject’s shirt pocket. You can sync it up in post and have great audio. Also don’t be afraid to make an announcement that you are recording so you can avoid printers going off and door slamming.
• Consider Music
I personally have a hard time picking out royalty free music. I am a bit of a music snob and when I hear royalty free music it all sounds like a guy with his keyboard in a garage. PremiumBeat.com is a site I use often. It does cost around $40 but the music is way better than if it were free.
If you consider these tips you can make a great video for your employment brand without spending a lot of money. Having your own homemade employment branding video can say a lot about what your company is like and it will help attract the candidates you want while at the same time diverting those you don’t. Once your video is ready to go, contact us about how we can get it embedded on your My.jobs Microsite!
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