As the fall hiring season begins, the CEO of Job Search Television Network (JSTN), Roger Stanton reported that the nation’s leading video and social media based recruiting company is seeing a significant uptick in hiring interest among clients, but that companies are drastically changing the way they do recruiting.

“Coming into the fourth quarter is when clients traditionally set their recruiting budgets. We’re definitely seeing more plans for new hires, which fits with reports of increased employment in the private sector¹,” Stanton said. “What’s different now, however, is that because recruiting staffs and budgets were cut drastically and are slowly being replaced, human resource professionals are turning to low cost, high return technology such as social media and video to find prospective hires.”

Stanton noted that the use of social media has taken off dramatically in 2010. “LinkedIn and Facebook with links to video has been hot for a while, but now we’re seeing clients ‘micro-target’ employees using niche blogs and LinkedIn groups,” Stanton said.“For example, one of our clients successfully uses niche blogs to locate workers with very specific types of financial service backgrounds. They started doing this when a new blog showed up on JSTN’s client metric report. When they posted a video to the blog, it quickly became a ‘home run’. Clients are finding sites they weren’t aware of because JSTN’s video provides highly detailed traffic metrics and they can make changes on the fly.”

With respect to candidate’s viewership converting to actual applications, Stanton noted, “We will usually see an enormous spike in viewership for a position right after a video is placed on websites and social media. With clients hitting average conversion rates of viewers to applicants around 18.8%, the video is far exceeding other sources. In some cases, the conversion rate is as high 45%! That can mean thousands of people have seen the video for a job, at very little cost to the employer and it provides very powerful employment branding. The candidates who do apply are more likely to be a more qualified fit for the job, since they’ve seen the video and have responded based on the compelling information they have viewed,” Stanton said.

Another change is the re-emergence of Employment Referral Programs (ERP), but with a twist. “The idea of ERP programs is coming back in a big way, because it is so much faster and cheaper if you can get a referral from your current employees,” Stanton said. “The difference this time is that since e-mail readership is going down, particularly among younger employees who prefer social media, companies are using video messaging. The video can be placed on a company’s Facebook page, blogs, etc. and is far more likely to get watched and sent to friends via mobile phones. And again, the traffic results can be closely tracked for ROI purposes,” Stanton noted.

Mobile phones are the third major trend in hiring for 2010. “We knew when payment systems started being developed for cell phones that mobile would replace computers as the center of our digital lives,” Stanton said. “This is why JSTN was created with the ability to TEXT ID videos to mobile phones. Now with smart phones penetrating the market at exponential rates, we’re seeing this really take off.,” Stanton said. “Looking forward, research states that by 2014, over 66% of all mobile data traffic will be video.² One of our clients regularly sends job videos to prospects on cell phones with amazing results. Not only does the receiver actually view the video, they also usually forward it to numerous contacts in their network. The video quickly goes viral.”

“What these trends point to is that we are truly becoming a video-centric society, with much of that centering on mobile phones. Companies are recognizing that if they want to reach prospective hires, this is where they need to be. And with tight budgets, its not surprising they would turn to these technologies now to reach new candidate pools at low cost while maintaining professional identity,” Stanton said. “As we come into the fall hiring season, which will ramp up in earnest right after Labor Day, you’ll really see these trends as play out in the workplace.”

Job Search Television Network

Job Search Television Network (JSTN), located in Geneva, IL, is the leading producer of job openings, company profiles, and expert career advice in a video centric multi-media format. Working with leading employers such as Allstate Insurance, McDonalds Corporation, State Farm Insurance, US Cellular, Fannie Mae, Cleveland Clinic, Electric Insurance Company and more. JSTN revolutionizes the way job seekers identify and connect with new career opportunities and the employers behind the jobs. JSTN began in 2008 in the Chicago area and is rapidly expanding into new markets. JSTN reaches jobseekers through the most accessible mediums; television, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Justin.TV and mobile phones, providing all of the critical information they need to find and obtain the new opportunity they desire. (http://www.myjstn.com) or 630-402-0946

¹ U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Data Update, News Release of August 6, 2010

² Cisco Visual Networking Index: Forecast and Methodology, 2009 – 2014, Released June 2, 2010

VIDEO AVAILABLE FOR BROADCAST AND ONLINE PLACEMENT