How Startups Recruit with YouTube

How Startups Recruit with YouTube In the startup ecosystem, company culture can be a young teams greatest asset, but amongst the mix of investment funding, cash flow, pivoting, product dev, it is often underutilized.  As a startup, it is key to optimize any opportunity to generate buzz while accomplishing objective goals for your companys growth. In todays job market and startup craze, the recruitment process is a great opportunity to develop your organizations company culture while having fun hiring. I  QUIT! The  most  viral  HR  YouTube  video  from  last  year  came  not  from  the  recruiting  side,  but  rather,  via  the  self ­-termination  process,  in  this  hilariously ­creative  job  resignation  video: With over 17 million views, Marina Shifrin has proven, with some surprisingly ­good dance moves, that YouTube can be an effective tool for generating buzz and accomplishing an objective goal: quitting your job. How  to recruit  with  YouTube  as  a startup: Eventstagram, a London-based social media startup, is leveraging their development teams growth by creating a YouTube video to outline the job description of their ideal Sysadmin/back ­end developer. Dan, CEO of Eventstagram said: We  are  always  looking  for  creative  ways  to  take  normal  business  processes,  like  recruiting  and  marketing,  but  with  a  keen  eye  on  building  our  corporate  culture  and  having  fun  doing  it.  Our  marketing  manager  developed  this  concept  and  lyrics  with  local  London  music  artist  to  create  this  track.  Our  sales  team  took  the  song  and  put  it  to  some  footage  of  some  of  our  work  over  the  past  12  months. During a young companys high ­growth stage, it is the executives role to look for an effective balance of skill ­ set and the ability to grow the company with the right kind of people. Startups need to capitalize on the mobility and agile nature of small teams to push the envelop and get noticed. Rather than going through traditional methods of dividing PR roles and HR roles, the lean CEO aims to accomplish maximum output with minimum input. HR processes can become rigid for large organizations with much liability to mitigate, so it is the startups opportunity to capitalize on this creative vacuum left by corporations with larger pockets. Eventstagram created this video with consumer ­ level software, no budget, and a bit of creativity think outside of the box. How to leverage your exciting social presence to social recruiting: In 2013, contests to win the most awesome, most ­coveted job fathomable was a popular trend in viral HR campaigns. These win the best job in the world campaigns resonated with millions of people with promises of working from paradise locations. Both of these offers utilized video submissions to generate sharable content and magnify the excitement of the candidates amongst their peers. The application of rich media in the HR process proved to be a huge success for the following two companies. Mindvalley, Malaysian ­based online publisher, ran their second recruitment campaign for their Event Management team. Hundreds of video submissions were posted to Youtube seeking offers to jet ­set to exotic island resorts and rubbing elbows with the most inspirational leaders in lifestyle, meditation, and business. Mindvalley also emphasizes the companys corporate culture and encouraged candidates to show their personality in the submission of their 3 ­ minute video. Jauntaroo,  online  travel  destination matchmaker,  made  huge  waves  with  claims  of  the  The  Best  Job  Around  the  World when  recruiting  for  their  Chief  World  Explorer.  Jauntaroo  did  an  excellent  job  of  utilizing the  existing  Youtube  platform  while  continually  re ­directing  viewers  back  to  their  website. The  voting  process  was  handled  through  an  internal  voting  process  hosted  on  the companys  website.  This  is  an  important  lesson  for  engaging  your  audience  while  creating value  to  the  company  through  increased  site  traffic. What are the 5 goals of using YouTube in recruitment and hiring? 1) Understand  the candidates  personality: The typical application packet (CV, cover letter, and LinkedIn profile) can tell you a great deal about a candidate objectively, but nothing conveys someones personality and fit for a company better then seeing them directly. In a world of increasing non ­verbal communication (email, tweets, status updates), YouTube can be the perfect bridge between goals of HR efficiency and creating company culture. 2) Screen candidates  through video interviews: The companies listed above received tens of thousands of video applications, which marked the campaign as a huge success. This successful marketing campaign now lies in the hands of HR to filter and find the ideal applicant. Each of these videos had a good, consumable time limit, all videos had to be 1 ­3 minutes long. The process of creating a video is itself a good screening tool because of the time commitment involved. READ MORE:  The Benefits of Using  Video Interviews  for  Recruitment 3) Enhance  company  value  to  the  public: Organizations  that  succeed  with  their  initiatives,  always  add  value  to  the  consumer.  The  increase  of  video  content  (Instagram  video,  Vine,  Youtube  proliferation)  all  point  to  the  consumers  taste  for  entertaining  but  valuable  content.  The  company  that  finds  new  ways  to  get  noticed  becomes  valuable  and  more  attractive  for  top  quality  applicants. 4) Use  shareable  content  to  drive  marketing  goals: Aside from the HR goals of recruitment, job posts, like Eventstagr.ams, are easily shareable and can go viral because of their short, easily ­consumable format. These short-form videos should make special effort to write a good video title. No matter the quality of the content, the videos title has to be enticing to motivate a click through. 5) Capitalize  on  creative  skill  sets  and  ability  to  create Especially in small, young organizations, cross ­functional skills like media production and social media savviness translate to dynamic and productive teams. The ability to produce rich media shows creative and non ­linear thinking. In todays recruiting and hiring process, companies should branch out from tried and true networks like LinkedIn to create qualified applicant leads and have fun doing it. Its time for your HR team to realize Youtubes dynamic ability to recruit, hire, and create buzz. Author: Russ Garcia is the Head of U.S. Growth for Crowd Reactive. He enjoys writing on marketing strategy, content creation, and social media. A self-admitted domain hoarder and couchsurfer, he loves the ability of the internet to bring people together under common goals. He currently resides in Austin, TX with his dog, Chi.