Stand Out From The Resume Crowd With Video

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Stand Out From The Resume Crowd With Video by Madison Lockwood

Video Resume : Talk to an executive recruiter - or better yet, a professional "we'll get you hired for a price" recruiter - and they'll tell you that these days, resumes sent to large firms are first scanned for keywords and format and that only the appropriate survive. Digital vetting has come to the human resources profession; moreover, the notion of creating a single page resume that will jump out of a pile of similar documents and generate an interview has become a frightful challenge.

Some enterprising individuals have decided to harness digital technology themselves and create video resumes. At present this is a fledgling professional function - more a popular notion than anything else - but like all things Internet, it is likely to grow rapidly provided enough HR professionals find them useful and not too time consuming.

A video resume is usually the creation of its subject. Certainly there are digital graphics designers who work with video and who will prepare a video resume for a fee. But the enterprising individuals who are attempting to use them currently are, for the most part, creating their own. Like a good YouTube piece, a video resume can make use of limited and short video bites interspersed with stills. That format allows the resume creator to provide the usual information in print and reinforce it with video and voice over that reinforce the image he or she wishes to portray.

Like a good cover letter, a good video resume is designed to leave an impression. For that reason, the best of the lot - and there are not yet many - use humor to catch the eye, and ear, of the reviewer. Some are parodies of the profession - one applicant for a Washington lobbyist profession worked up a video resume about himself that was a take-off on campaign commercial clichés. An example: "Valeria Vegas. The job needs Valeria and Valeria needs the job!"

There have also been examples of video resumes that were overly self-complimentary and that have become tremendous embarrassments to the person(s) who created them because they have been put into wide circulation on the Internet. Those that are standard, personal introductions simply add dimension to what has traditionally been a single sheet of paper.

At least one company has emerged touting itself as a site for the posting of video resumes and posting of video materials from companies who are recruiting. This organization has, to date, a few hundred participants. There are a number of firms that will create a website for the job seeker and turn it into a job-seeking site that incorporates both video and text - and, presumably, graphics - in order to create a complete presentation.

If you are going to put a video presentation of yourself into circulation that you wish to be taken seriously, it is important to remember that the Internet is still heavily populated with anarchists and cynics. A video that is meant to demonstrate intellectual superiority or enthusiasm can be looked on by many online as rampant puffery, worthy of a good laugh. If that's the case, your video resume may go much wider circulation than you'd like and become a subject of ridicule.

Use of a personal website for this purpose would seem to be the best choice. You can garner the help of professionals to assemble it and you can send it out in the form of a URL. In the direct mail business, the trick is to get the recipient to open the envelope. With a video resume, a dedicated URL (as opposed to a confusing YouTube page with all the sidebars) puts you one click away from a personal presentation - half an interview, so to speak.