Seek Video A Big Tick
January 18, 2008 by Geoff Jennings
Candidates have given a big tick to the idea of adding video to job ads. Whether the videos are humorous or a genuine description of an employer’s work environment, they add another dimension to the public image of a company. Online Recruitment’s Charles Young says;
‘It helps break the ice and form a connection between us. I have been asked to ring the bell.
We have since recorded a series of videos providing the candidates with a better idea about who we are looking for and resasuring them we will be in touch if they apply. Based on the positive feedback so far this will be a standard part of our job ads on Seek.’”
Employers and recruiters should both see the benefits of video job ads/profiles. Xpand Group.If this has got you thinking, check out some good examples of career videos at CareerOne.
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Good to see Seek out of the box early with the media releases.
MEDIA RELEASE
22 January, 2008
YouTube Video Ads a Welcome
Addition to the SEEK Line-Up
Progressive employers are about to discover a competitive edge online, with SEEK Ltd, the leading online employment website, now enabling the integration of YouTube video in job adverts and company profiles on their site.
According to Product Director Carey Eaton, employers are searching for creative ways to differentiate themselves from their competitors and entice potential candidates, whilst jobseekers are increasingly hungry for more information about the roles and companies they apply for.
“SEEK Video Ads give advertisers more scope to showcase things that appeal to jobseekers such as lifestyle and workplace culture, and massively increase the volume of information they impart to jobseekers about the opportunity on offer.
“The increase in information in these ads helps attract better matched candidates and potentially provides a way of engaging with Gen Y jobseekers, positioning the advertising organisation as being as up to date as their audience.”
Using the new feature is free of charge and simply involves advertisers providing the address of their YouTube video either directly on the site or in their job feeds.
“Since introducing video, we’ve already seen a number of highly creative advertisers experiment with forms of job ad content that are really quite different to the traditional content people write in job ads. Examples include filming a ‘day in the ‘life’ of the advertised role, a personal chat to the potential employee from the hiring manager, and some highly entertaining depictions of company and team cultures.
“We want to stress that video ads don’t need to be polished, corporate-style, expensive productions. In fact our prediction is that honest realistic portrayals of the organisation and role are likely to work better than an over-produced sales pitch. Even a small employer can easily grab a handy-cam and inspire jobseekers to work for them which is what some enthusiastic team members at SEEK have done. We’re really excited about introducing this innovation and have started producing a range of different YouTube videos to attract new employees to SEEK.
“With the range of content options available we’re not sure exactly which style of YouTube ad will be most effective but we will communicate our findings with advertisers as trends emerge,” he said.
Thanks for the mention Geoff. Three team members here at SEEK put this one together as an example of what can be achieved on a shoestring budget:
http://www.seek.com.au/users/apply/index.ascx?JobID=11325728
We’ll be experimenting with a number of our own and client videos to see what works and what doesn’t!
A couple of questions we have are whether this content will increase or decrease application volumes, relevance or quality amongst other things.
In response to your question Carey, advertisers treat their jobs as a window into their business and any business that is surrounded by many competitors would like for an opportunity to keep their customers looking at their window longer (known as stickiness, in industry terms). Video provides the opportunity to be more sticky.
Another aspect of the benefits of video that some folks have not considered, is that the longer applicants spend at your site browsing through the jobs, the more information they can acquire about the positions available.
The corollary of this is a more knowledgeable, better quality applicant.