Video killed every other star, so why not use it for job descriptions?

Writing job descriptions is already one of the most challenging parts of the recruitment process. You've got to pick an audience, a list of key competencies and - worst of all - try and be way too fun (those pesky millennials and their wafer-thin attention spans).

Here's where we'd normally say we've got a few tips and tricks to make it way easier, and guarantee perfect results every time. Plot twist, we're actually going to make it way harder: You need to film your job descriptions now. Here's why. 

No one wants to read anything anymore

One scroll through your Facebook news feed should be enough to make this point clear. Videos are engaging, and most platforms are now infinitely better at supporting them than they were a few years ago. They're only growing in popularity - telecommunications equipment provider Cisco revealed that video content will make up more than 80 per cent of all consumer internet traffic by 2020. 

The trick now is to find something useful to do with that mammoth amount of traffic. Consumers clearly like the medium, so businesses looking to engage with people have to meet these expectations. With a video job description, you not only break the endless chain of text content on some job websites, you gain a whole new language in which to address jobseekers. Have a look for yourself.

Employer brand is more important than a list of tasks

There are plenty of opportunities to be an accountant or a software developer or whatever else your advertising for. Your aim is to make being a software developer at your organisation seem enticing. That type of enthusiasm is hard to exude in a genuine way in text advertisements. Video lets people be themselves, and also gives you a chance to show off how cool your office is (there are still bonus points on offer for office dogs).

Recruitment networking site ERE media believes video descriptions - or anything that isn't text really - also increases your chances of snaring passive candidates. These people aren't really looking for new jobs, and are actually quite content in their current placements, so getting their attention is all about making yourself look better in comparison. It's a tough ask, but video is a becoming a more expressive medium than text. 

The potential of video when combined with specialist recruitment has even led The Recruitment Company to produce its own suite of video recruitment products, including the Job Dashboard which presents a video job description within a dashboard of visual media describing the job.

So, it's not easy, but video job descriptions are a worthy consideration if you want to make an impact on the candidate market, especially for competitive positions. 

By Geoff Millar