CareerBuilder Ends Video Resume Experiment, but that doesn't mean video resumes don't work.  Video resumes DO work they are called "reels"!!  Here's a sample one at http://www.ralphieaversa.com/

If your job requires you to be on "air" or speak publicly then a "video resume/reel" will work today.  In the "future" candidate generated video resumes might work too.   I tried user-generated video resumes in 2000 when I was at JobRiot and the video did not work then.  Now, 8 years later there is more take in HR, but more need to be acheived, who will find the right formula to make it work?? 

Who has TiVo?  For those that do, you cannot imagine TV without it.  I believe those that have on-demand video interviewing may feel the same way.  The process of interviewing and selecting candidates can be challenging, costly and inefficient.  Scheduling and time zone differences can make initial phone and live interviews challenging and not the best ways to use the valuable time of your recruiters and managers. 

 One solution that is catching on with employers like Google, Adecco and Rio-Tinto is video interviewing, I’m not talking about live video conferencing, but instead on-demand pc –based and web-based webcam interviewing at the candidates convenience.  HireVue video interviews are taken by you candidates on their own time but within the employer’s time parameters.

HireVue is all employer driven, the employer selects the questions they want candidate to answer.  This is not video resumes, which at generally scripted, produced, and marketed by candidates.  Using HireVue, employers can view recorded video clips of candidates responding to their interview questions before face-to-face interviews.  Video interviewing allows for standardization across each position as well as across candidates since they are asked same questions. HireVue increased consistency in evaluation through their rating and comment section. Since interviews taken by candidates are recorded, recruiters and hiring managers and other colleagues can evaluate a candidate anytime, anywhere and share comments and candidate ratings.

 HireVue video interviews are recorded and stored by HireVue, a hiring manager or recruiter can evaluate an interview at any time, go back for up to one year and re-visit an interview, or review previous candidates for future positions.

 The HireVue video interview  can be conducted in two ways: 1) on-site (candidate comes onsite, employers could use support staff and allow busy recruiter and hiring manager and review later), 2) off-site – if needed HireVue sends a webcam to the candidate, and the candidate completes the video interview in the comfort of their own Internet-enabled location.   During the video interview, candidates have 30 seconds to read each question and up to 2 minutes to respond to each question. Candidates do not have the opportunity to re-record or modify their responses, to mirror a real-world interview.  The results are sent to the hiring manager.  

On a “regular� basis it’s important to evaluate the results we are getting from our processes and actions, video interviewing should be considered in your interviewing process improvement analysis.

"Utilizing video. While it may be hard for some to fathom, 1:1 and 1:many video has become a very popular communication medium, surpassing all other forms of Internet traffic. Second only to employee referrals, the most impactful tool for effectively demonstrating the excitement and passion at a firm is online video. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then moving pictures demonstrating what it’s like to work at your firm would have to be “priceless.� Focus areas include posting on video-sharing sites such as YouTube (global), Youku.com (China), and sharing employee-generated “unscripted� videos on your corporate site. Firms to watch: Deloitte, Microsoft, and Google. "

The 2008 CareerXroads Mystery Job Seeker study (available here), systematically compared the jobseeker experience on the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For websites.  Now 18% percent of these companies are using video is some way to engage jobseekers.  Here is an excerpt for the study:

“Special features that companies provide to enhance their job application experience. This year 18% of the companies are using video to illustrate “a day in the life� of an employee. In our 2007 Fortune 500 study, only 13% of the companies provided this feature. Video usage in corporate sites has dramatically increased and it offers enormous advantages (when done well) in providing realistic expectations, realistic previews, virtual job shadowing, enhanced job descriptions, richer case studies, simulations and even improving the face validity of assessments.�

Even some of these “bestâ€� companies have room for improvement.  Here’s part of the study’s conclusion.

“Corporate recruiters need to periodically apply to their own firm. Links break, videos don’t always work as well as planned and tools that seem to be time-saving are anything but when put into practice. Staffing professionals need to re-examine their corporate job pages as if they were seeing themselves in a mirror. ‘Why would I work for this firm’ and ‘why would I stay’ are questions that need to be answered when reviewing corporate job pages.�

The published findings didn’t specify some of the issues with the video on these sites.  From my experience some the issues that sometimes arise are:

·         Video does not play: Video is only formatted with Real or QuickTime codecs to play on your computer, these formats are available a lot less than Windows Media Video or Flash.

·         Video automatically plays: Users prefer to click the play button; some sites intrude the experience with video that automatically plays.

·         Video blocked by pop blocker: Some video players that are created by the web developer or video producers are blocked by pop-up blockers.  Pop up video players can be programmed to be considered safe by blockers or better yet embed the video on the career page.

·         Video takes too long to load.  Make sure your video is hosted by a tier 1 CDN (content delivery network); video should load instantly upon clicking play or buffer for less than 3 seconds.

·         Video style: Content should resonate with your target audience, scripted video and pitches can be a turn off.

Avoiding some of these pitfalls still doesn’t ensure that the enormous advantages the report mentioned about adding video to your website will be achieved.  I believe it’s important to add video that addresses your company’s particular recruitment goals and challenges.  Do you need an Employer Branding video or Job Branding video profile or both?  Videos of job profiles, employee stories and testimonials can provide a glimpse of what it’s like to work at the company.  Gen Y in particular, is advertising averse and they want to see authentic examples of what the job and lifestyle will really be like.  I think this is a best practice for all demographics. 

Companies that do this well will indeed enjoy enormous advantages differentiating themselves from there competitor and attract A-level talent.

Ernst & Young launched job-branding video profiles to bring careers at Ernst & Young to life, Pwc has video too, as does KPMG.  It's clear to me that "professional services" gets job-branding.  

Ernst & Young’s Insight (http://www.ey.com/eyinsight/index.html) interactive student careers site provide insight into various careers through employee stories and testimonials, same goal as PwC’s pwc.tv site.   Both sites are targeted to Gen Y a.k.a. Millennials.

PwC set up three section in there video microsite.  The first is “Ch. 1- Stories, features and profiles,â€� second “Ch. 2 - Surveillance cam: A look inside,â€� and the third is the PwC (described earlier).  Ch. 1 – Has stories about events, new hires, and philanthropic projects.  These features and profiles allow candidates to “meetâ€� PwC people and see what they’re up to, providing a glimpse of what life is like there. Ch. 2 - Surveillance cam: A look inside, is a series of previouslyâ€� unreleased tapesâ€� from inside PwC  films, programs and other stuff created for PwC staff that you can see for the “firstâ€� time.

Gen y is advertising averse and they want to see authentic examples of what the job and lifestyle will really be like.  This is a point that I too have learned over the years, from my experience with www.virtualjobshadow.com a subscription service used by high schools and middles for eight years; I have seen the authentic style resonate substantially better then scripted (advertising) messages.

Ernst & Young’s Insight careers site is also a set up in to three sections  1) “EY 360â€� provides  views of EY  employee profiles and culture at the EY 2) “Picture Yourselfâ€� is and extensive overview of Ernst & Young's business lines and job opportunities and 3) “Interview Insider “ provides information interviewing. 

Recently there was an article written on ERE about the use of video globally, you can find this article at: Monster Extends Video Branding To Its Sites Worldwide. It would be interesting to know if the video is in native languages, sub-titled, or just English.  I've learned that in global advertising (which an Employer Branding or Job-Branding video is), local cultural nuances may need to be considered.

I checked one of their international sites, jobkorea.co.kr, and did find some videos, not sure if these are Employer Branding Videos or other content, see: http://www.jobkorea.co.kr/List_Gi/GI_onair.asp.  But they were interesting to watch (it was kind of like the experience when you watch Telemundo and don't really understand but watch anyway).  These videos and product might have been their prior MNST acquiring that job board.  Broadband penetration in South Korea is higher than the U.S.

In General, video educates by providing insight into the company and job, allowing candidates to make be choices before just applying blindly.  I'm sure more job boards will be offering video branding.  Even if your job board doesn't offer custom video solutions you can usually work with a 3rd party vendor like Maddash, CareerCorner, CareerBuilder or other video producer to create the video and then just add a link in your job posting.  Like a hyperlink like this: "watch our job branding video" or the actual link like this: http://www.virtualjobshadow.com/clients/bh.htm, that then plays the video in a custom branded video player (Flash video or Windows Media video is best) you can also embed the video on your career site like at: http://www.aramarkcollegerelations.com/career-videos/intern-1.

In the video below Peter Young demonstrates to a couple conference attendees how Job Branding with video works. Instead of ineffective “traditional job descriptions” that have plain old requirements and duties, Peter recommends “Job Branding” comprehensive profiles instead, he often refers to these as “virtual job shadow” profiles. Job Branding is created by interviewing the people doing the job and learning from them what the job “is” and details of the day-to-day work. Interviewing employees and converting these responses into text and video testimonials / day-in-the-life comprehensive profiles is much more effective, says Peter. Much like employment branding that represents the employer value proposition; job branding delivers highly targeted messages at the job-specific level – that will provide an added boost to recruiting efforts.

The mix of text and video will bring your career opportunity to life for potential candidates, demonstrating real life look at the job, job branding allows companies to convey authentic messages to targeted candidate audiences while creating excitement and energy. Gen Y, especially is advertising averse and if the message is not authentic, then Gen Y will shy away.