“Video Resume” is a Dirty Word
Video is taking over the internet. It isn’t easy to find an area where a video hasn’t impacted businesses’ online presence and branding. In recruiting, however, the jury is still out on whether a “video resume” is a good idea or not. A cursory Google search for “video resume” illustrates this point, with stakeholders on all sides of the recruiting process weighing in with severe warnings or uplifting advice for candidates seeking to stand out by presenting themselves with video. Neither side is wrong. In my opinion, both sides are expressing views indicating a clear problem: A slowly evolving process (recruiting) is struggling to harness or implement a rapidly evolving medium of communication (candidate-produced video). This problem culminates in the phrase “video resume.”
Let me explain.
Video is exploding on the internet because everyone and their dog has a smartphone with a fantastic built-in video camera. While the ability to create and share video files has skyrocketed, the skill of communicating effectively on video hasn’t advanced at all. This problem becomes painfully clear when John or Joan Doe has to produce a video for a specific purpose (i.e., a “video resume”). If a picture is worth a thousand words, then the value of a video is worth a bazillion words – which is where the problem recruiter’s problem starts.
While video-producing advice for candidates is everywhere on the net, there are no formal requirements or standards candidates can follow to make “video resumes” palatable, receivable, and usable by recruiters efficiently. So a poorly produced candidate video is like a bazillion pieces of random information a recruiter would prefer avoiding.
Connexion Pointe®️ addresses this and other related issues in several ways:
- Everything starts with the resume, so no one has to change their approach to creating and accepting this device. Candidates provide a link to their video content in the resume. Following the link is entirely optional to the recruiter.
- Candidate videos are in the format of an interview called “Bring Your Own Interview.” The questions are job-related, based on soft skills, each response is 2 minutes or less, and they’re all in a nice convenient playlist. These standards make the interview relevant, efficient, and valuable to recruiters – even if the candidate chose the questions.
- Optional – Candidates can assemble other video content in support of their resumes. This content is available on different convenient playlists, and recruiter indulgence is entirely optional. No special software is required to access or play the video – just a web browser.
The term “video resume” is a dirty word because it prejudiciously implies a monolithic blob of information requiring substantial (and potentially wasted) effort to create, maintain, and ingest. “Video resume” invokes a wisp of cynicism towards any candidate daring to think outside of the box in their approach to personal branding. Most of all, the term indicates a needlessly crude merging of old (resume) and new (video) technology that, on its merits, will never be accepted by the masses.
Connexion Pointe®️ does not facilitate the exchange of “video resumes.” With our service, the information exchanged in a first interview is instead available at first contact. Recruiters can indulge at their discretion and are not forced or obligated in any way to engage in that content. Every candidate has an opportunity to use video to their advantage, with a good collection of actionable standards, tools, and guidelines. We call our candidate’s data a Pointe Profile®️. You can call it a “resume with benefits.” Regardless of what you decide to call it, I recommend ditching the term “video resume.” It’s such a dirty word!
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