Adoption, Benefits and Challenges of Video-enabled Talent Acquisition
The whitepaper, “Using Video to Win the War for Talent: Faster, Better, Cost-Effective Hiring with Video-Enabled Talent Acquisition,” says:
Video-enabled talent acquisition combines collaborative video and mobile technologies, embedded analytics, and contextual social learning—all in a branded environment that mirrors the consumer technology experience—to turn traditional recruiting and candidate processes on their head.
With the rise in popularity of video, it’s a no-brainer that this tool is a mega addition to any recruitment arsenal. In fact, ComScore’s most recent online video rankings revealed that more than 187 million Americans watched 46.6 billion online videos in March 2014, while video ad views totaled 28.7 billion. The influence and impact of incorporating video is huge.
The whitepaper went on to highlight how companies are adopting this new technique, how much it is anticipated to grow in the future, and the benefits and challenges of using video-enabled talent acquisition. Let’s further explore its content:
Adoption
Recruiting Trends research, the paper explains, revealed that 27 percent of organizations are currently using video-enabled talent acquisition, while another 22 percent of surveyed companies said they plan to deploy video-enabled talent acquisition by spring 2016.
And among those currently using the new technique, 47 percent use two-way video interviews; 37 percent use instructional or informational videos about a specific job or job type; and 15 percent use a video questionnaire (recorded video).
Anticipated Growth
During the next 12 months, nearly one-third (30 percent) of respondents of the Recruiting Trends survey plan to invest in video for their organization’s recruitment or branding efforts.
And 55 percent of surveyed companies have plans to increase their use of video-enabled talent acquisition over the next two years. The survey also discovered that 24 percent of organizations expect to “significantly” increase usage of video-enabled talent acquisition; 31 percent expect to “slightly” increase using the technology; and 40 percent do not anticipate any changes in how they’re currently using video-enabled talent acquisition.
Benefits of Implementation
The whitepaper says that a key reason recruiters and hiring managers are adopting video-enabled talent acquisition is because it improves the candidate experience. For example, video questionnaires allow candidates to take multiple recordings of their answers to ensure they demonstrate business experience, skills, personality, and communication skills, the paper explains. This improves the candidate’s overall experience with a company’s recruitment process because he or she “can convey their strengths and interests in a highly personalized format before they commit to the time and cost of traveling to an in person interview.”
Other key benefits noted by the whitepaper include:
- Enables companies to add engaging personalized content to the recruiting process and deliver cultural and brand messaging in new ways
- Encourages better engagement with job candidates, many of whom are accustomed to learning and delivering content through video
- Expedites the hiring process through improved collaboration, communication, live chat, and recorded feedback during the interview and assessment process
- Helps recruiters quickly address repetitive questions that hiring managers and candidates often ask—a common pain point that takes time away from finding and hiring the best talent
Primary Obstacles to Adoption
If video-enabled talent acquisition is so beneficial, why don’t more organizations use the technology? Well, the whitepaper points out, that as with most new technologies, there are many obstacles to adoption.
It highlights that Recruiting Trends research shows that cost is the biggest obstacle to deploying the technology for 43 percent of organizations. Another 38 percent of survey respondents said that video-enabled talent acquisition is “slightly” or “significantly” more expensive than other recruiting efforts (and most recruiting professionals understand the importance of cost-saving sourcing tools ). Only 9 percent of surveyed companies said video-enabled talent acquisition is “slightly” or “significantly” less expensive than other recruiting methods, while 17 percent said the costs were the same.
Behind cost comes hiring team reluctance, with 35 percent of survey respondents saying this is the top obstacle to deploying video-enabled talent acquisition. Other adoption obstacles include poor technology and compliance and/or security concerns (both identified by 28 percent of respondents); ease of use (20%), creative challenges (20%), and candidate reluctance.