Online video is growing fast and “everyone” is getting into it.  Newspapers, radio stations, magazines, job boards, individuals, candidates with video resumes, and employers too are just a few.  Online video is the new “killer app,” so in this first “Video 2.0 for Recruitment” posting I will highlight some options and opportunities that human capital professionals can consider to source, attract, and retain talent.  I cannot cover every detail of all the opportunities so, I’ll take a 50,000 foot approach to each concept. 

Online video is bursting at the seams.  57% of internet users watch some online video each month, and 76% of Gen Y/Millennials (the tech savvy, highly individualistic and advertising averse group that they are) watch online video more frequently than the average online video user and for longer periods.  According to Bear Stearns (who was bailed out), the overall online video business will be $1.75 billion in 2008, while growing to $4.3 billion by 2011. In December 2007, research from Comscore showed that online viewers watched an average of 3.4 hours (203 minutes) of online video in that month.

Ways to use video:

There are several ways you can use video online to help you with your recruitment goals.  You can add video to you career site, build content channels on video sharing sites (like, MyspaceTV. YouTube, metacafe, blip.tv, revver and so on), and you can buy online video ads.

Adding video to your site:

On your career site, a common use of video is for employer profiles and specific job profiles (i.e. Business Analyst position).  Video can also be used to create “scrapbooks” of summer intern programs and documentaries.  www.PwC.tv is example of a progressive use of online video for talent acquisition.  Video messages from company leadership and “regular employees” about your people, culture, and talent management help show candidates why they should desire/choose to work at the company.   Once the video is produced, you’ll need to host the video on a CDN (content delivery network), format the video into Flash or Windows Media Video (the two most popular formats), and lastly display the video is a video player that in embedded on your site or is a link to a pop-up video player.  I’ll write about detailed instructions on future blog posts.

Build a channel on video sharing sites:

You can repurpose the video from your site and post those videos on sites like MyspaceTV. YouTube, metacafe, revver, Yahoo video and so on.  YouTube “only” gets one-third of the total online video traffic, so go beyond YouTube and select several video sharing sites. Most video sharing sites are free (well you just need to invest your time).  Since audio and text is not generally searchable, you will need to think video optimization.  Select the title, description and metadata carefully so candidates find your video.  When done well, the video search engines, like blinkx and regular search engines will find your video.  The NYPD has done this well for police officer recruitment and Bright Horizon for child care teachers.

Advertise: 

You can buy ad units that play before (“pre-roll ads”), in the middle (“mid-stream”), or end (“post-roll”) of video on many sites offering video.  Most ads are sold on a CPM basis and these ad units CPM costs can range from $10-$50+.  There are variations of this too, like overlays (ad over the video).  In-stream banner ads are similar to traditional banner ads, but the major difference is that the banners play video.   Companies like Pointroll, iBlaster and EyeWonder specialize in creating these types of ad units.  The advantages of in-stream video combine the “lean back” experience of a television-like format with an engaged, “leaning forward” user, delivering a unique and desirable audience that allows advertisers to leverage the advanced targeting capabilities of the Web to deliver a powerful, measurable employment brand experience.

If you have done AdSense, you can now also do Google-YouTube "video units," which are simply search engine marketing (SEM) video ad units instead of just text.   Yahoo/Hotjobs also offers video ads.

Go ahead and become a recruitment video star….