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Permalink Reply by Michael Krug on November 26, 2007 at 1:57pm

Hi Mike,

I'm an internal recruiter for a Digital Media company and I've found that videos, rss feeds, financial news and product demos work very well for the type of candidates that I'm looking for. When I cold/warm call candidates or email blast, I typically attach several links to an email with the information above. I feel that by sending out this information to a "potential hire" truly paints a clear picture on your company and what products/services you represent.

The attached link is something I put together with a value meal budget. Please KIM that I'm by no means a Spielberg or Michael Bay! Its simple, truthful and most importantly paints a picture of the company vision and culture. This has been succesful for me, but I can't guarantee it will be for everyone.

http://stage6.divx.com/user/DivXHR

http://stage6.divx.com/TechVideoBlog-com/video/1611143/DivX-Connect...(Dan-Salmonsen,-Product-Manager)

Hopefully this helps and I didn't misread the email.

Cheers,

Mike Krug
Corporate Recruiter
DivX, Inc.

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Permalink Reply by Michael Hennessy on November 26, 2007 at 2:57pm

Hi Mike, thanks for the reply. This is exactly the kind of thing that i'm looking to learn more about from recruiters...so your reply was right on topic. I took a look at the website and the link you provided...some quick feedback.

First, DIVX looks like a great place to work!
in terms of the video....some friendly feedback. The content was great, but the length was a bit long, and more importantly, it took me over 10 minutes to get the video to download and start playing. If i was really looking for a job, i would not have waited more than a minute, if that before moving on. It would have been too bad, becuase the video adds a lot to your story.

As a company in the digital media space, i'm curious if you've done anything more specific to a job? I found a new start-up company focused on that aspect...looks like they haven't launched yet, but they seem to be in the business of creating job specific videos. http://www.standoutjobs.com/

What we are focused on is providing the technolog to create job specific multi-media job "commercials" in such a way that recruiters don't need to know the technology. Clearly in your case, you had to shoot the video, edit it together, etc...that can be time consuming. We are thinking about simpler, shorter, multi-media presentations that highlight core aspects of the specific job. more like a 30 second, "what's great about this job" type of presentation, rather than "what's great about our company". I think both of them are valuable, but often, a candidate will want to know specicially what THEY will be doing, who they will be working for, etc.

I'm curious to get your opinion on whether you think it's possible to put together a 30 second presentation, think high-end customized powerpoint with graphics, animation of key skills, etc , potentially with audio, all converted to a single 30 sec - 1 minute flash video. That's the concept we are working on....

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Permalink Reply by Michael Hennessy on November 26, 2007 at 3:59pm

Hi Susan, you are absolutely correct if you are thinking about having a "professionally done" video for each job...that would be unrealistic and much too costly. What we are talking about is the ability to create a custom flash presentation for about $5-10/commercial. The concept is realitivley simple. It allows companies to create "templates" of presentations which they upload to our system. For example, they could create a "sales focused" template for any of their sales positions, and create a "developer" focused template for developer type presentations. These templates can have embedded audio , video , and graphics components. For example, the opening could be a 15 sec video of the CEO before it switches to the specific job details.

The difference is that our technology then combines the specific job attributes you are hiring and merges them into the final flash presentatoin dynamically, so that each job has a "customized" flash video, tailored just for that job. Other "custom" attributes can be associating specific audio with the final flash video. For example, we are working on a solution that allows a hiring manager to call a 1800 number, punch in their specific jobcode/jobid and record a narration that describes the speicifc job details, why it's great/challening etc. This audio will then be automatically merged at the right point in the flash presenation where the job details are displayed. Recruiters will not need to know ANY specific technologies...once the templates are uploaded, our wizard walk them through the process of asking the questions which drives the final flash presentation.

I realize this is tough to visualize, but i think when you see the final results, it will make sense. I will provide some links to some "showcase" job commercials which will demonstrate various ways companies can take advantage of the technology.

But our bet is that, at $5-$10/job commercial...the economics become much more attractive ...especially when you consider companies pay hundreds of dollars for a given job posting!

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Permalink Reply by Michael Krug on November 26, 2007 at 4:00pm

Thanks for the feedback Mike. Yeah, I know the video is pretty lengthy and sometimes difficult to open, but i'm hoping it will target the, "good things come to those who wait" type persons :)

I've played around with several variations of the video by trying to keep it under 5 minutes and it's tough. I just put a beta version together just to get the ball rolling. To seek out more creative ideas, I actually started a contest internally to see who could create the best video under 5 minutes. We'll judge all entries at our next quarterly meeting.

I really like the direction your heading with the quick down-n-dirty job descriptions via videoblogs or other multimedia avenues. In my opinion 30 seconds seems way too short. My advice is play around with a couple versions and do some creative editing. What would really make your head spin is if you could text message your 30-60 second video to a potential candidate. Now that would take take job postings to another level!

Here is another site I found that could be of assistance. It definitley got my creative juices flowing.

http://blog.fastcompany.com/experts/rweston/2007/07/careers_if_only...

Cheers,

Mike

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Permalink Reply by Michael Hennessy on November 26, 2007 at 5:10pm

Hi Susan, again appreciate the feedback...it's very helpfull to look at a problem from multiple perspectives. One thing i am certain of is that this solution will NOT work for every (or maybe most) types of job positions. However, the good news is that we measure everything in our platform, and that means you will be able to have quantifiable data on whether it works or not.

For example, you could run a standard developer job description on Monster for $200(or whatever your fee is)...and then measure the response. Our platform tells you the visits, the number of "apply clicks", and then it will tell you what your CTR is (Click through rate). Let's say on average you have 7% of those applicants who view the job, actually apply.

Now, you can post the same job later, but this time embed a link to your new job commercial specific to that job...and measure the difference. Did it increase your views? Did you get more applicants? Did you increase your CTR from 7% to maybe 15%? Those numbers are significant...and can definitely mean more qualified candidates applied becuase of how you marketed your job. It could be that it makes no difference, or you find it makes a difference for different families of jobs (works for developers, not sales people, etc)

Although it's true some companies have an issue with too many applicants...often, they do not have enough quality applicants..and so anything you can do to increase that number is only a good thing.

Still, it's an unknown how adding a job commercial to your jobs will or will not work. That's why i'm curious to see what recruiters are trying today and what is working/not working. My sense is that this type of custom flash presentation will work with specific types of companies in specific areas...and not so well in others. The numbers will tell the story.

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Permalink Reply by Michael Krug on November 26, 2007 at 5:53pm

Susan,

When referring to "participants", this means people participating in the video. Subsequently, as an internal recruiter, i would never want to put my front line managers info out there for the public to see. They would be recieving calls from agencies or other company's about jobs.

Secondly, why wouldn't I want to have a team create an 'approved' hiring video? This would be a prime example of 'authenticity' where our employees can truly show off their creative side. We want people to visualize working here, not just talk the talk but walk the walk. I feel it's important to be funny and silly about the video. I think we might be in different industries and look for different talent. As I mentioned earlier, this works for me and might not work for others.

Am i missing something here?

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Permalink Reply by Michael Hennessy on November 26, 2007 at 6:11pm

This video is awesome! I almost want to work for this company! :)
It's a great example of using multi-media video to really market a company, why they are unique, fun and creative. Anyone who is in their 20's or 30's (or older!) would have a very positive impression of this company and go outside of their normal routine to potentially apply. Based on the reading, that's exactly what happened.

Companies need to do more of this type of stuff to break through the noise that is every job description today...and to be honest, it would seem to me to apply at every level of a company....who wouldn't want to work with a group of young, energenic, creative, fun people?? Thanks for the link!

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Permalink Reply by Michael Krug on November 26, 2007 at 6:33pm

Thanks for the clarfication Susan. As you can tell, i'm kinda of a big picture person.

This is the precise reason why I love recruiting versus being a generalist. I have a great HR Manager AKA Corporate Censorship that looks over my work and pulls me back from virtual reality :)


Let's just hope Mike puts us on the Beta version for free 99 .

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Permalink Reply by Michael Hennessy on November 26, 2007 at 10:55pm

Hi Sue, we already work with Seek...and yes they allow embedded HTML links for view and apply stats. For the the apply link, they have a feature called "link out" which allows companies to provide a distinct URL to the job on their career site. We are able to track this, as well as the number of views per job.

In regards to careerone.com.au, we have not yet worked with them, but if they allow HTML in the job description, we can capture view stats. And for "applies", we can capture this via direct Apply URL links(if they allow this) or even via email submissions, where we replace the actual email submission with a specific email address such as J232@applytracking.com . The candidate applies to the applytracking.com email address, we register the submission and then the email is sent in it's original form, from the original sender to your email address.

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