Flip YouTube to a Recruiting Channel

It’s time to take a second look at YouTube as a potential hiring channel. It’s been around for a while and is used by many of the major corporates as part of their employer branding program, but perhaps it’s time for smaller and medium sized employers to really take stock of what YouTube has to offer them as a hiring channel. So, why now? What’s changed?

Well, there are massive, irresistible changes sweeping through the on-line video consumption ecosystem. For example:

• 4G is being rolled out across the world. In the US ATT is planning to deliver 4G to 300 million Americans in the next 18 months.
• Smart-phone usage is approaching 50% in many developed economies,
• Experts predict that 5 inch smart-phone screens are to become standard in 2013

This basically means that thanks to massive increases in smartphone ownership and capability, job seekers are more prepared than ever to engage with employer brands via corporate branding videos.

So, I think it is time for those, who haven’t already, to begin to take their YouTube hiring to the next level, which means not simply seeing it as a secondary hiring tool, it should be a primary source of talent, which means job seekers come directly to your YouTube channel for jobs and are not simply referred to it, after having seen a vacancy elsewhere.

So, how does an employer begin to turn YouTube into a Primary Recruiting Channel?

In order to make your YouTube Career Channel into a primary recruiting channel you need to start developingprimary recruiting content that draws talent to your Career Channel as a first point of contact, in addition to the secondary recruiting content, e.g.day in the life, what’s it like to work here type video, which candidates are referred to after seeing a job description elsewhere.

There are three types of primary recruiting content you should focus on.

1. Why not create SEO optimized video vacancies and use those in place of or in association with a written JD?  (According to the statistics presented here, job related web pages with video as opposed to just text are now 53 times more likely  to show up on the first page of text results.) Talent will now be able to go directly to your video channel job vacancies making it a clear primary recruitment channel. Interviews with hiring managers make great content for this type of job video.
2. Create some advice and training videos relating to applying for jobs and interviewing for jobs at your company and for specific positions within your company. By using these company specific or at least position/industry specific videos, you can attract qualified potential talent directly to your YouTube career channel. Consider these “how-to” videos, making it easy for candidates to understand your hiring process and practices.
3. Include High Profile Content. If you have any high profile products, services, employees or anything which stands out, then build an employer branding video around this and once again this could attract qualified talent directly to your YouTube Channel. Focus on matching content to the audience for which you want to engage. For example, if your company is building a mobile app, have a Product Manager discuss the last mobile app they built and focus on the success and lessons learned.

Finally, I believe that making the transition from YouTube as asecondary recruitment channel to a primary recruitment channel is one of the key ways that recruiters can gain competitive advantage in 2013 and beyond.