Think about it…why did CareerBuilder.com begin promoting video resumes? (July07) Being the largest job board in the US…they probably did some homework and realized this is reality, and it is coming fast.

You cannot read the interviewer on-the-fly, and adjust yourself as needed, thus a canned video gives you one shot to put on a good show. The audience however may not like your shirt, your manner of speaking, you - who knows. It’s risky. But then isn’t life?

What about politicians? Comedians? CEO speeches & Sales pitches? They do it. Does that mean you should? Does it make it acceptable? Suggestible?

If you’re a poor presenter, then I see no reason to put yourself out there in video form. But if you’re good, then it may be worth the risk that comes with the potential reward.

I took the risk myself, and placed 2 video resumes out there. Now I think I present rather well. Every presentation I’ve ever done has been followed by positive comments - however, no matter how well one presents, you cannot make up for the fact that you cannot read the audience in the real-time. Feel free to give me your feedback.

Is putting a video resume out there a good idea? It’s a risky idea.

Nathaniel Adam Briggs, CIO Candidate
eGenerations.com/Resume/
nathaniel.briggs@gmail.com

15 seconds… No wonder I have never landed a real job!

Thank you HR people… who have the insight of a soothsayer and can determine someones career in as little as 15 seconds.

I truly mean thank you; because if you would have hired me I would probably be locked into a dead end job going nowhere. And as a 53 year old geek, I saw the writing on the board before most of you were born; which provided me an opportunity to build my own business (not get rich quick) to be able to retire in three more years.

That’s right… 56 and retired!!! A high school drop out that was a total underachiever (I am not proud of that part) point is, it takes more than that 15 seconds to get what you are looking for.

Just to clarify, my business was a service to home owners and small businesses. That’s all you need to know.

Even as a high school drop out I had better writing skills than most people with a four year college degree. Now that is something for you grads to be proud of, when writing your resume today.

To get off my tangent rant…

Video resumes is something everyone one of you college grads should be considering, since many of you don’t even use spell check as if that would even help knowing your grammar stinks “ya no”.

For the rest of the story… My little service business was bought by a national company because they found me through a Web site I set up about ten years ago; that many of my “educated friends” said was a waist of time.

Imagine that… me, a high school drop out, sitting in with the CEO, Vise President of business development and other managers that do not know my educational level; asking me advise. I guarantee you if I had applied for the job as a consultant with a written resume… they would have laughed! Now it is me laughing all the way to the bank!!!

I am not laughing at the national company that bought my little service business; but the naysayers who told me that I was wasting my time with the Web site.

If you are reading this and are looking for a job… don’t listen to the naysayers. If you really want the job; learn everything you can about it! Then if you want to add a video resume… go for it!

If you are reading this and you are an employer or HR manager… I suggest taking a little more than 15 seconds to screen your applicants! Imagine what you might end up with if you just dig a little deeper and watch one of those video resumes. Don’t look at their resume for qualifications of what many think will make a good employee; look at the resume (written or video) and look for motivation and desire.

Of course experience helps!!! But if you find that needle in a hay stack with the motivation and desire, you may want to consider them, anyone can be trained.

And for my sarcastic friends out there… I am not talking about professions that “REQUIRE” a higher education like a doctor, and as it pains me “lawyers” or any other professions of the like.

Additionally if you are an individual that thinks the way someone looks, what their religion beliefs are, whether they are man or woman, white or black and use anything of the like to make a determination of who you hire, you don’t deserve them.

The video’s reviewed are selected from a whittled down select group of candidates. Hard qualifications are still left nicely summed on a resume. The video is reserved for softskills hardly tangible in ink.

I’m working on my first Video Cover letter, I’m doing it myself and, its currently filled with umms and ahhs, and i’m camera shy but, its a ROUGH DRAFT! retake retake retake. Reason not to use a proffesional service. Every video can be unique to the position and polished til perfect.

The lighting excentuates my facial features, i’m in front of a neutral backround. I remove any humming from the microphone in edditing and normalize the sound level.

Descrimination liability is no differnt than what is liable at interview.

Those 15 second scans are exactly why HR is so ineffective at staffing. Your judging people on their writing skills not the skills applicable to the job.

Those 15 second scans punish independant learning.
If someone can’t learn on their own. if they need to be taught or shown everything first. You put them in HR finding people who can. What a joke.

Also, I would appeal to both Tiffany’s and Jim’s position by recommending the video as an adjunct to the paper resume, and particularly as an eventual replacement of that last bastion of self-promotion know at the “cover letter”. As you both probably know, many cover letters are all over the map in that they attempt to convey certain intangibles (including enthusiasm, excitement, genuineness, and interest) that are supposed to somehow convince an employer to move forward with a personal interview. Paper is good, and the pen is still in many instances mightier than the sword. But what about candidates who may be otherwise marginalized by the static presentation inherent in the written word? Alas, these candidates may be the clear winners when it comes to making a practical case for the use of video resumes. Many candidates will of course, not have the inborn ability to make an effective video resume, no matter how sophisticated the production technologies available. But if we can consider that individuals looking for employment in fields such as advertising, marketing, sales, public relations, and other interpersonally dynamic vocations are probably more effective presenters in the first place, then the odds are for a greater yield of well-suited as a result of a video resume, than just paper alone.

Just imagine the day when an effective elevator speech can be easily produced and refined on the fly from a mobile device of one’s choosing. Imagine a 30 second self-made video that excites and motivates the HR team to action, when the resume and cover letter may have gotten a 30 second perusal before hitting the round file with mostly automatic and at least occasionally reckless aplomb. Sure, the paper way is good, but the video resume can make it that much better. In the end then, the video resume will become a potentially huge differentiator for those prospective employees that might otherwise be dismissed prematurely, thereby causing no small amount of lost opportunity and productivity on the part of both parties.

Cool.

If you can’t see how it would save time, then I don’t think your are evaluating it properly. JMO -Carl