New job for online video: recruitment

If a picture is worth a thousand words, imagine how many a video goes for. Now add audio, the web and the power of social networking, and you may just be CareerTours, an online recruiting site that brings all of the above to the task of matching employers with job candidates. Launched earlier this year, CareerTours goes well beyond the traditional text-based job database to allow job candidates to experience potential employers through online profiles, video and audio clips that tell each company’s story and show why it’s a great place to work. The service is free for job seekers; employers pay a monthly fee starting at USD 199. In exchange, companies gain a way to give potential employees an online “tour” of the job, workplace and culture, thereby increasing the odds of a good match. A built-in assessment tool provides candidates with instant feedback on whether their application will be considered, while giving employers a way to prioritize them. A word-of-mouth tool, meanwhile, allows employers to take advantage of the connections in their social networks with tailored e-mails and invitations. All postings made on CareerTours are also cross-posted to Google Base, Indeed, Simply Hired, MySpace, Oodle, WorkBlast, the National Association of Sales Professionals and JobTarget, among others, reaching an audience of more than 20 million visitors a month, CareerTours says. CareerTours is a good illustration of why it’s important to keep innovating. By taking a traditionally text-based service and bringing it into the YouTube age, CareerTours not only gains an edge in matching jobs with today’s web-minded candidates, it also begins to serve as a career guide for the undecided. The Arizona-based company surpassed 375,000 candidates in July, and is planning to launch a sister business called ResumeTours soon. We’ll keep you posted… Spotted by: Susanna Haynie