How HR can make the most of video content

If your HR applications aren’t yet incorporating video, it’s time to get started says Anthony J. James, global CMO at PageUp.

Okay, in the interest of honesty, let’s say there are just a few of us who get sucked into fun and interesting videos online, only to find that 45 minutes have suddenly been lost.

It turns out, we’re not alone. In fact, we have a heckuva lot of company – a report from Cisco shows that video traffic currently accounts for about 66% of all consumer internet traffic, and that number will grow to 79% in 2018.

And, we’re going to need to set aside a lot more time to watch those videos in the coming years – that same report estimates that it would take us more than 5 million years to watch the amount of video that will be crossing IP networks each month in 2018.

There’s no doubt videos have a special way of capturing our attention. The good news for businesses is that there’s a way to jump on the video wagon and grab a piece of that traffic and interest, especially for HR folks. Here are just a few examples of how HR can take advantage of this rise in video content:

Online job postings

Let’s take this standard job description: “This position offers the right candidate the opportunity to work with a dynamic, high-performing team who is focused on delivering on the strategic vision of our organisation.” Blah, blah, blah, blah.

Were you glazing over by the fifth word? You were, weren’t you? But what if the job description was bolstered by a video that showed you more about the company and the position? Got your attention now?

The beauty of video – and especially considering people’s increasing comfort level with the medium, thanks to easy-to-use sites like YouTube – is that companies can quickly and easily create an engaging video that adds more detail and life to a traditional job posting.

Depending on the industry and the type of position, a company could provide a brief “day in the life” video so that candidates get a glimpse into the type of company they might be working for and the real tasks associated with the job. By making the job description stand out from the crowd, organisations can more easily get the attention of the top talent they’re trying to reach.

Interviewing

Between Skype, GoToMeeting, specially designed video conferencing facilities and new video interviewing software, there are any number of ways to conduct face-to-face interviews without physically sitting across a table from a candidate. More recruiters are recognising the value of video interviews in making their jobs easier, too.

The recruiter can more easily vet a large number of candidates without the time, travel and expense of an in-person interview.The global talent marketplace also opens up further when you can easily interview qualified candidates from around the world. These benefits explain why 6 in 10 HR managers are relying on video for interviewing prospective candidates these days.

Conducted in real-time or pre-recorded, video technologies are enabling significant improvements in time to hire, cost per hire and hiring manager satisfaction, all of which are major advantages in today’s competitive hiring world.

Coaching

Anyone who has ever sat through what feels like an interminable conference call can appreciate this statistic – the average attention span for a telephone call is 23 minutes. The average attention span for a video conference call, on the other hand, is 35 minutes.

It turns out, when we can see the people we are talking to, we have a tendency to be much more engaged.

Executive coaches, who had embraced teleconferencing as a way to reach more leaders in less time, have been quick to take advantage of the increased attention span engendered by video conferencing capabilities. In 2010, only about 10% of coaches used webcams to conduct meetings with clients. Now, nearly 40% of coaches are using webcams to deliver their services and expertise.

With video, coaches can read the body language of their clients, see their furrowed brow or demonstrate their excitement about a particular break-through. For executive coaches, video is fast taking the place of face-to-face meetings.

Training

The flexibility of video – the ease with which you can record, pause, rewind and save for later consumption – means it is an ideal medium for training today’s on-the-go workers. Strapped for time already, employees need on-demand access to training and education.

The explosion in MOOCs (massive open online courses) and self-authored videos means that interested learners can access even more video content for continuous education on any number of topics from whatever device they have in their hand, whenever and wherever is convenient for them.What’s more, companies can foster a more collaborative learning environment when staff and managers can easily share training videos related to their common tasks and responsibilities.

As budgets get tightened, embracing video as a way to enhance learning opportunities can translate to a more cost-effective and efficient use of training dollars.

Video isn't promising to transform HR and business practices, but it is promising to inform the ways that business gets done today. If your HR applications aren’t yet incorporating video, it’s time to get started. But first, watch this. (You’re welcome.)