If you’re here, or part of the #EBrandCon community, one thing I know about you is that you’re probably looking for new ways to attract talent to your business. And you have probably already gotten started by understanding your candidate experience and building your employer brand. So what I’m about to tell you will come as no surprise. Are you ready?

Video transforms how you attract, hire and develop your people. More importantly, it doesn’t have to break the bank.

My team and I have helped companies create nearly 1000 videos in the past 4 years. From job videos, to a welcome message for a new employee, to celebrating events and accomplishments. From world class brands like American Airlines, Deloitte, Thermo Fisher Scientific, as well as some lesser-known but equally awesome brands like Kerry Ingredients & Flavors, INX International and Ace Metal Crafts, video makes communicating with their team more human, engaging and drives real business results.

In fact you can get started for free.

So, first let’s talk about how your communication impacts the bottom line of hiring. For an entry-level position, on average you might be spending $4,500 for each hire. Depending on your industry, geography and positions, this can be higher.

Candidates have a hard time picturing what the job looks like day-to-day, and whether they would be a good fit. Communicating in a transparent, tangible way with candidates helps reduce surprises that lead to turnover later down the line.

Our friends at American Airlines came to us to help create a realistic job preview to help them increase the quality of applicants, and reduce turnover for their Fleet Service position. This position is outdoors, physically demanding and a pretty tough job. But for the right person who enjoys tight turnarounds, physical work and flight benefits - it can be a perfect fit.

Let’s start with the most common way a candidate outside your company learns about your jobs: the job post. For those of us who don’t boast employer brands like Facebook and Google, most of our candidates encounter our companies first, on our job postings.

The tools you use to communicate dynamic, interesting jobs, fall flat. They’re legal-speak on a screen. They don’t capture attention, or share what it’s actually like to work in the job. They don’t tell a story. You feel this, and candidates do too.

I’m a data geek, so let me lay some numbers on you. Research tells us we have about 8 seconds to capture a candidate’s attention online. You heard that right. This is shorter than the attention span of a goldfish. So, how do we communicate as much compelling information as possible, in as little time possible? And do it in a way that moves someone to action. You guessed it: video.

source: https://www.marketingprofs.com/chirp/2018/33632/five-reasons-people-are-wired-for-visual-marketing-infographic

Our brains are wired for visuals. We can process visuals 60,000 times faster than text. So if text is the only way we’re communicating with people outside and inside our companies, we’re missing an opportunity to make the most of the 8 seconds they’ll give you.

You can learn how to do almost anything on YouTube. Braiding hair, installing a kitchen sink, touring the White House. Video demystifies the process for things that would be difficult to understand by reading a text description.

I believe media is the literacy of the 21st century. Video is how people are consuming content. Google tells us that by 2020, video will be the largest driver of internet traffic. Think about it - what was the last video you saw online? Whether it was about a product, a how-to video, or celebrity news video (no shame!) -- video transports you to an experience that was once far away. Immerse yourself, see up close and feel like you are in the same room as the action.

So it makes perfect sense to use video to communicate jobs, and your workplace.

But I know what you’re thinking. Video is expensive. It’s time consuming. It means shutting down production for several days of shooting. It requires someone with special editing skills. Or maybe it’s owned by marketing or your agency.

Because of that, video can also feel too precious for you to create. But it doesn’t have to be. Video is a powerful way for you and your employees to share more stories, more often as a way to engage your team in sharing and building your brand.

Not a filmmaker? Not a problem. If you can take a video of your cat or your kids, you can film your jobs. By following the recipe below for success, you can transform iPhone video to high quality workplace storytelling.

By making video more accessible, you open up storytelling to your team. Anyone can be a contributor if they have a phone. They share their experiences at your company, and build a strong, authentic brand. And actually engages people in the process.

Here’s how you can make videos to build and share your brand with candidates.

What you need:

1| A recipe for what to capture. Below is the “recipe” my team uses to capture behind-the-scenes job videos that create an authentic preview of the job. I’d encourage to you prototype with your own team, on an open job at your company.

2| Phone accessories to turn it into a camera. You can film right on your smart phone, with a couple of pieces of hardware to be successful. Here’s what goes in our DIY Video kit, but you can also source a tripod and a microphone on amazon. Those are the 2 non-negotiables for taking quality footage. Sassy t-shirt encouraged, but optional.

3| A plan to edit...or not to edit. Full disclosure, this is what my team at Skill Scout does. However, you can absolutely start using video in its most basic form without any editing. Here’s how to get out of heavy editing:

• Film someone talking about the job for 10 seconds. Post that clip on the job post.
• Film the work in action for 20-30 seconds, use slow pans of the workplace. Post that clip.
• USE INSTAGRAM! Instagram stories are a super cool way to prototype the type of content you want to share in a job posting. Stories are meant to be unedited, behind-the-scenes glimpses. Before you ever spend money on a more formal piece of content, try your hand at creating a 5-6 segment instagram story of a particular job.
• iMovie is your friend. If you’re ready to take the leap and do some lightweight editing, import your clips into iMovie. Pull in the company logo to create a title slide. Use their super simple templates.
• PRO TIP - your marketing department may have “video bumpers” available as part of your brand book. Ask for these, and pull them into iMovie if you can. This will make sure your videos follow guidelines and someone else has already done the hard work.

4| A plan for sharing your video. The format of how you share may help you decide how to approach editing (or not editing). As I mentioned, Instagram stories are a great way for you to storyboard and practice filming before you ever spend money on an edited video. Other ways you can/should be sharing video content about your jobs:

• On the job post itself. If your ATS doesn’t support video, I’m sorry. Call me. We’ll put the pressure on.
• All the social channels, and get permission to tag people who appear in the video. It will exponentially increase viewership. And featured employees tend to want to share on their personal channels too.
• On your careers page.
• Wherever your jobs typically get the most traffic. You know your company best, and you may have a ton of organic traffic to your careers page similar to brands like Nike. Or you might drive all of your traffic through paid GoogleAds. Anyone getting lots of applicants from Facebook yet? (We are!). Wherever you are sharing jobs, your video should go right along with any text description.

Thank you for reading!  When a candidate reads your job post, that is only the beginning of how you communicate with them. But, It doesn’t stop there. Then there’s the hiring process, onboarding, training and the list goes on!

Have questions? Send me a note! I’ll be sure to address all your burning questions in my #EBrandCon workshop!

Here’s that job video recipe:

Abby Cheesman is a workplace storyteller, #HRAgainstLame movement builder, and I/O Psychologist. Abby spends her days leading the team at Skill Scout to bring jobs to life on video. Every workplace has a story to tell about the team, skills, environment, and output. Abby helps tell those stories to attract the right candidates for the job, and showcase candidates' skills. As a founder, Abby wears many hats, but really geeks out on: new media (360, VR, POV videos, silent storytelling), data & analytics, product development for Skill Scout's DIY Video app and client happiness.

Check her out at EBrandCon this May 22nd, as she co-presents a pre-conference workshop on Content Development for Branding Success with Crystal Miller of Branded Strategies.