William Arruda and Catharine Fennell recently penned an article about the “video resume” and its potential in your job search strategy on MarketingProfs. While certainly not a new topic, the idea of video in general, and how it can positively (or negatively) impact your job prospects is well worth further examination.
After reading the article, I replied:
As a hiring manager, I’m not sure how I would view a video bio. It may come across as not very genuine or perhaps rehearsed or contrived. Because it leaves the ability to perfect, it may demonstrate video savvy and product savvy versus actual personality… I do now focus beyond the resume considerably; looking at social media and blogs… so I may warm up to video; but until I meet and speak with someone, it’s difficult to judge how well they will fit on my team.
Erin Anne Beirne replied:
Dan, if you research a possible candidate’s online presence, would a variety of videos they prepare, especially if they are about a topic they know well as opposed to a “hire me” self-introduction, would that not help you glean a sense of who they are more than a few words on a resume? I think the idea is not to *replace* the face-to-face meeting but to enhance chances of getting one? I thought it was an interesting idea, actually!
Erin makes a good point. I would, in fact, value and evaluate video in the form of interviews, podcasts, webcasts, shorts, etc., if they were in fact related to the job description. These could potentially influence me (one way or another). However, so would a stupid video on YouTube. I believe its just another variable in the overall evaluation of the candidate. I now view Facebook and LinkedIn profiles, as well blogs, Twitter feeds, and so on. What I don’t want to see is a “Hi, my name is Debbie, and I have two years of search marketing experience…” yada, yada, yada…
So, I think there IS a place for video, after all.
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