Although nothing can truly replace face-to-face meetings when recruiting and hiring new employees, human resources professionals will want to consider the benefits of using video to improve the hiring process.
With the advent of affordable video creation tools along with affordable (or free) submission and storage of clips via the sites like YouTube or Vimeo, it’s never been easier to use videos in the HR world.
When you use video, you no longer have to limit yourself to reading resumes and written responses to questions from applicants. Modern computers and smartphones with built-in cameras make it easy for job seekers to see your questions and submit their responses quickly and efficiently.
Show Videos, Ask Questions
You can incorporate embedded videos in the job descriptions that you place on your career portal to great effect, notes a recent article at ExactHire.
Showcase video testimonials from current employees and show details about your city to entice people to move to your location. Some HR professionals will provide safety videos or clips that show details about a particular job, and then ask applicants to answer questions about what they just viewed to help them weed out less-than-desirable candidates. In addition, sites like YouTube make embedding video into a site extremely easy.
Record Your Own Video Questions
What are you looking for in a new recruit? To get started answering this type of question, you can use equipment that you already own, such as your laptop or desktop computer or a tablet or smartphone. Make sure there is adequate lighting and record your video in a quiet environment.
Remember to consider the context of your video. A good option is to record the videos in your HR office as you sit in front of a non-cluttered background (pictures on the wall, a company logo or a bookshelf are suitable).
If you don’t feel comfortable posing the questions yourself and there is no one else at your organization to make the videos, you can always use pre-recorded video questions created by professional actors.
Get a Better Sense of Job Applicants
Many people have the skills to look good on paper, and those who don’t can hire experts to help them polish their resumes and responses to questions.
Videos enable HR professionals to get a much better sense of an applicant and eliminate candidates who only look good on paper, notes a recent article at CIO.
This is especially useful when considering applicants for jobs that require good people skills and presentation abilities. Does the person mumble or speak clearly? Does he or she maintain eye contact with the camera while appearing relaxed, alert and professional? First impressions can be much more significant in video than text on the printed page or computer screen.
Screen Videos Quickly and Forward them to Stakeholders
You can zip through an enormous amount of videos fairly quickly, notes a recent article at Crain’s New York Business. Just as casting directors can quickly say “Next!” to actors who aren’t quite right for a movie part, HR professionals can typically spot an unsuitable candidate fairly early in the video and move on to the next one.
Once you’ve selected the most promising videos, you can forward them or their links to stakeholders in your organization to continue the evaluation process.
Hiring managers should take advantage of all available tools to help them do their jobs better. Using videos will definitely expand your capability to find the best and most talented recruits for your organization.
