Increasing numbers of employers are posting virtual job ads featuring ‘behind the scenes’ tours of their business in an attempt to woo a new generation of jobseekers, according to new research by Gumtree.com.

The research reveals a wide range of companies, from banks to florists and pub chains, have gone ‘virtual’ by producing online film previews. 
It found that clips are on average three minutes in length, range from high budget professionally-shot films to more cost-effective handy-cam footage.

Gumtree.com says in the past three months it has recorded a staggering increase in the number of companies using their new classified ‘dual tool’, where employers can attach YouTube footage to their job ad. It says on average, more than 90 video ads are being posted each month. 
Sophy Silver of Gumtree says: “A three minute video can give an applicant more of an insight into what a boss and the company are really like than a half-hour formal interview when the focus is on the jobseeker, not the employer.

“Britain’s emerging young workforce is extremely tech literate and responds well to online media channels and social networking sites where they can meet their friends, view films and photos and get to know new people in a shared virtual space.”