I feel very on trend lately. Especially after last week, when writing about Facebook Graph Search and recruiting led to me waste countless hours using the new tool to stalk people. And now I’m writing about Vine, Twitter’s video sharing app, and I’ve also spent much too much time creating my first Vine video. I say “much too much”, because the end result is a mere six seconds of footage.

The six second limit is what makes Vine the Twitter equivalent of video sharing apps. Of course, when new social platforms come along, the first thing I think about is : how I will use them to creep on high school boyfriends? … I mean, what’s the relevance for social recruiting?! In last week’s article, we postulated that Facebook Graph Search will have a pretty big impact on recruiting as soon as it gains momentum and data. I’m a lot less sold on Vine.

Can you recruit in six seconds? Personally, I can’t do much of anything in six seconds. For evidence of this, check out my first Vine video! But, on the other hand, Twitter has turned out to be a pretty great medium for recruiting and that’s just 140 characters, so why not give a six second recruiting video a shot? In social, shorter is usually sweeter (blame it on my generation’s distinct lack of attention span, sorry). Like Twitter, Vine’s time limit does force users to be creative and direct with their message, which leads to succinct and effective content. Like a good elevator pitch. Or cartoon. Or the opposite of my blogging style.

Over the past few years, video has become one of the most important social recruiting tools. Assessing candidates via video submission, interviewing potential hires with Skype, and even video-based job-fairs have become commonplace. Recruitment advisers like Jim Stroud encourage the use of video tutorials to attract passive candidates, as well as the making of video-based job posts. At Jobcast, we encourage all of our clients to create simple recruitment videos with Youtube, and to embed those recruitment videos directly onto their Facebook Career Page. These recruiting videos are a highly effective way of showcasing company culture and brand. A recruiting video is the best way to show potential hires how awesome it is to work for your company through employee testimonials, footage of fun staff events and passionate descriptions of the cool stuff your company does.

Try doing all that in six seconds! Actually please don’t… It may lead you to throw your camera on the floor, pour the entire contents of your office coffee pot on top of it and yell: I hate you Sam Paaaaaaaaaaarker. Nobody likes spilt coffee.

Obviously, video interviewing is not going to happen on Vine. I also don’t think six seconds is enough time to relate the details of a particular job opening. A big nope to Vine job-fairs as well. But with Vine, there are still a few options left: Video tutorial, employer branding video, and recruitment video.

I’ve already seen Vine used for tutorials – not all that well – but these tutorials do get a lot of traffic. There’s one about making pecan nut brownies that, last time I checked, ranked third in popularity. So a short tutorial is a possibility. In Jim Stroud’s webinar about recruiting with video, he suggests creating a tutorial that would appeal to your desired talent pool. He recommends ending the video by suggesting that the viewer apply for a job with your company.

With Vine you can make a tutorial, but not in the same way you would with YouTube. The point of a tutorial on Vine is less education and more entertainment. You’ll want to focus on making your video cute, funny, and attention grabbing, rather than simply informative. Actually, it doesn’t even have to be informative, as long as it’s witty. You won’t have time to tell potential hires to apply within the video itself, but you can easily do so in your tutorial’s description, and don’t forget to link to your Career Page!

An employer branding video is a great option for Vine. Dove, Ritz and Trident are some early adopters. The Dove video is my fav – it’s super cute and silly. You can hear laughing and chatter in the background, which suggests a fun working environment. All three tightly focus on their product, don’t take themselves very seriously, and create an enjoyable user experience that encourages sharing. None of these videos took a lot of time to make.

The Ritz video, which is simply a stop-motion of a cracker disappearing bite by bite, would take less than a minute to film, requires nothing but a cracker as a prop and a smart phone to capture the action. Now that’s cost-effective brand marketing! To create a video like this, simply choose something cool about your company, film it with the Vine app (it’s really easy to use, just follow their tutorial), maybe say something or play some music in the background, and you’re ready to post it on your Twitter, Facebook Page, or blog.

Last but not least, Vine is a fun medium for a short recruiting video. A video starring the contents of your breakroom fridge (people love images of food, because it is tasty), a six second elevator pitch about your awesomeness, a cute animal wearing a shirt that says “come work with me!”, or get really crazy and capture six seconds worth of footage of a happy employee explaining why they love their job. I recorded Jobcast’s first Vine video today as an example for this blog post. It took all of ten minutes and now everyone can see my Jiu Jitsu skills in action!

Recruiting with video is great, and while Vine is not going to replace a good old-fashioned YouTube video anytime soon, it’s a quick, inexpensive way to incorporate video into your social recruiting strategy.

Give it a try and let us know what you think!