Video is being used in Employment Applications in basically two categories:

1. Employer Branding Videos, wherein the employer company and its hiring managers are video taped evangelizing the company and/or the job and those videos are either placed on the company’s home page, or their career page (where their job listings appear) or are sent out in email campaigns or pushed out to YouTube and that YouTube link is used in email campaigns for hiring purposes.

2. Candidate Videos, which actually fall into two sub-categories:

a. VIDEO RESUMES which are canned, pre-taped videos of the job seeker basically speaking their resume… talking through the chronology of what they have done and why they are a good employee. Examples are InterviewClips and VideoResume.  Neither of these are a Total Candidate Profile™ containing rich content data representing all aspects of a candidate’s asset value.

b. VIDEO INTERVIEWS which are either canned or live/interactive, but include one or more formal interview questions chosen by the employer, and answered on video tape (either via webcam or family video camera or by a professional videographer). One example is HireVue.  Another is GreenJobInterview.

Video technology for the employment market is in its “first phase”, just as the written resume had a first phase and evolved to a digitized form. In the very near future, video will become just a part of a Total Candidate Profile™   that will be submitted for employment purposes rather than just a resume. These profiles will include readily available due diligence (data and media) about job candidates that can be grabbed from the web or input directly by the candidate themselves. For instance, InterviewStudio allows a job candidate to build a total online profile of himself that combines the traditional resume, his endorsements by former managers or co-workers, the results of a professional assessment test he has taken online, his LinkedIn or other social network links, his portfolio documents, and links to whatever Google or Yahoo or Zoominfo might present about him.

Gartner and other analysts call these new profiling software tools “mashups” since they mash together a lot of leading edge technology in one product or tool so that huge strides in time-and-dollar savings can be made with these combinations.

We call this a Total Candidate Profile™ and we believe they will become the standard in hiring and recruiting since they provide the employer or recruiting agency much more due diligence about a job candidate upfront, without the long drawn out iterative process that usually takes up to 90 days to seek this information online or schedule the job seeker to provide. In fact, a professional comprehensive profile can save recruiting departments from 2 to 6 weeks in the hiring process since they actually change the process that needs to happen: you may no longer need a phone screen or even a first face-to-face interview by a recruiter.

Technorati Tags: candidate, candidate profile, Candidate Profiles, Candidate Videos, email campaigns, employer, employer branding, JOB, job candidate, portfolio documents, professional videographer, profiling software, Résumé, Total, Total Candidate Profile, video, written resume

http://www.onrec.com/conferences/031109/default.html

Onrec.com is the world’s leading information resource for Human Resource professionals and recruiters using the Internet to recruit. Onrec EXPO 2009 is the only global gathering of online recruiting leaders and game-changing technologies.

Colleen’s industry knowledge and overall unique approach to recruiting will provide a great opportunity to those who attend Onrec EXPO 2009, in which he will be among over 40 expert speakers in attendance.

Session Topic:

Applicant Videos. Are they a Risk or the Next Advancement in Effective Screening with the Capability to Limit Discrimination?

Session Description:

From the muddy playing field of the video controversy in today’s applicant screening market, there arises a glimmer of hope that technology has indeed afforded us another game-winning opportunity in accessing rich, necessary applicant data and yet limit the potential for “hidden” discrimination in the process.

The first onslaught of stand-alone candidate videos brought “boo”s from the stands in the recruiting world, with applicants at first, second, and third base all  tagged out for poor quality, or irrelevance.  Add to that the double play of discrimination fears regarding the visual appeal of the candidate, and not one video made it to home plate.

Enter the next phase of technology tools for intertwining the EEOC and OFCCP guidelines with the screening process.   There really is a way to start merging all data about your potential players and viewing it in relevant order.  There is a way to narrow down the candidate pool legally using video as it should be used by recruiters and hiring managers.

Don’t strike out with applicant videos just because you’re not sure how to play.  Come join us for this lively interactive session to learn how they can be used correctly, legally, and within compliance standards.

Leave this session with the latest White Paper containing information about all the video product vendors on the market today and the 15 Best Practices Paper about the Use of Video in Applicant Screening.

Speaking for the second time at an Onrec conference on the use of Video in the Employment marketplace, Ms Aylward takes on the controversial discussion of legal liability on the part of the Employer, and outlines the latest “best practices” guidelines for the use of video for applicant screening.

“New methodologies and technologies are always met with skepticism, resistance, and even fear in the beginning because they represent change which can be disruptive,” says Aylward, author of the industry White Paper on this subject untitled Unmuddying the Waters of Video as an Employment Tool. “In the HR world, the hesitancy can also come from fear of discrimination litigation due to “too much data” about a candidate.”

“In fact,” says Aylward, “The proper use of new technologies such as Video and Multimedia in the candidate screening process can actually assist employers in avoiding potential discrimination in their hiring practices — and can offer job candidates who may be in protected classes a richer set of tools to use in providing a complete profile of themselves — rather than just the standard resume which could include a name, a neighborhood address, a member organization, graduation dates, or even a photo – all data which can lead to immediate discriminatory conclusions.  Using best practices in incorporating these new tools into the corporate hiring process will not only help ensure compliance and fair recruiting, but will shorten the hiring timeline and reduce interviewing travel and accommodation expenses as well.”

Speaker Bio:

With a business degree from University of Washington, followed by 24 years of high tech sales and management experience in large and small companies, including NCSS, Dun & Bradstreet Computing, Comshare, Carlyle Systems, and GEAC, Colleen Aylward came to the Recruiting industry in 1990 on a soapbox of Change.

Drawing on twelve years “on the other side” in Tech Support, Sales, and Regional Management, she transitioned to high tech recruiting in 1990 in the Seattle area. She founded Devon James Associates, Inc., one of the country’s first RPOs, to answer the progressive demands of local software vendors seeking MORE/BETTER/NOW. Her small firm has compiled an impressive repeat-client list simply by word-of-mouth (Visio, SPRY/CompuServe, Amazon, Alias/WaveFront, Cranium, InfoSpace, Rhapsody Networks and others). High energy, funny and slightly irreverent, Colleen and her unique approach have been mentioned in publications such as Barron’s, Forbes, Fast Company, Washington CEO, Smart Money, Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, Puget Sound Business Journal, and others.

From her work in the recruiting industry, Colleen’s passion has come to focus on technology solutions to solve the angst of those hiring managers she deals with on a daily basis: How to save time and money on recruiting and HR processes without sacrificing quality hiring results.

Now, launching her 3rd small company, InterviewStudio.com, Colleen Aylward can be reached at Devon James Associates, Inc. at colleen@devonjames.com or at InterviewStudio.com at colleen@interviewstudio.com

About InterviewStudio

Launched in 2007, InterviewStudio offers a SaaS model portal for employers and recruiters to quickly view complete Candidate Showcases before bringing the candidate in for the first round of interviews.   InterviewStudio is driving a new paradigm shift in the hiring and job-seeking marketplace, bringing the total view of a candidate to the very beginning of the screening process. Visit InterviewStudio at www.interviewstudio.com or contact us at 425-466-7887.

The Onrec.com Online Recruitment Conference & Expo 2009, will be hosted by both recruiting powerhouses Kennedy Information and Onrec – for more information visit:
Two Recruiting Conference Powerhouses Join Forces

For more information on The Onrec.com Online Recruitment Conference & Expo 2009, contact RD Whitney at rd@onrec.com or go to www.onrec.com/Expo2009

InterviewStudio

14150 NE 20^th St, Suite F1-518   Bellevue, WA  98007
www.InterviewStudio.com
Phone – 425-466-7887
Fax – 425-378-1683
Info@interviewstudio.com

Contact: Kevin Scott, kevin@interviewstudio.com
Office: 425.466.7887

Technorati Tags: Applicant, applicant screening, Barron, CHICAGO, Colleen, Colleen Aylward, Discrimination, discrimination litigation, Don, Donald E Stephens, glimmer of hope, hidden discrimination, human resource professionals, Ill., Ms Aylward, Onrec, recruitment conference, recruitment event, screening, Seattle, Speaker Bio, video, Washington

Imagine the time you could save by cutting out the phone screens and first interview rounds using a tool like InterviewStudio for your candidate screening.

Yes, it takes a few minutes to screen a candidate this way instead of just looking for keywords on a resume, but what a rich set of due diligence data you now have at your fingertips with which to make quality decisions!

And taking a few more minutes of a recruiter’s time is well worth the weeks’  or even months’ worth of time and money savings to the employer.

The ultimate tool in Candidate Screening .  InterviewStudio.

Technorati Tags: candidate, candidate screening, due diligence, few more minutes, InterviewStudio, money savings, phone screens, quality decisions, time, tool, video

However, there is hope.  Like all cycles in new “progressive” technology, there already have been several iterations of this type of candidate presentation tool, and the industry is moving toward a hybrid model of resume-plus-video interview-plus-references-plus-social network all in one digital representation of a job candidate.

Here is what is Good and Useful about tools in the future that will include Video Interviews with other pieces of candidate due diligence:

• • • Videos are only one piece of the total candidate due diligence in these new combination products, so the emphasis on the visual is downplayed a bit.
    • Video Interviews are quite easy to produce now and too widespread in marketing and media to ignore.
    • The younger generations are growing up on video, so the video CV is a logical extension for them.
    • The technology is easy to use, and the equipment is inexpensive.
    • It saves time to look at a 2-minute video interview rather than do a 20-minute phone screen
    • It saves time to look at a 5-minute all-inclusive candidate presentation rather than spend hours scheduling a first interview round to find out the fit.
    • It saves money to watch a 20-minute Interview rather than fly a candidate in and put him/her up in a hotel.
    • Having access to on-demand all-inclusive showcases of candidates allows hiring managers to choose when to interview, instead of tying them down to disruptive schedules during the work day.
    • More and more Employers are creating branding videos of their own on their own Career Pages to attract Candidates. It just follows that soon Employers will be accepting branding videos from candidates as well.
    • The industry needs some collaborative rules or accepted behaviors for Video Interviews. This can be easily accomplished by blogs such as this.
    • Technically, most corporations are now pretty savvy in regards to rich media viewing software, and Flash is an accepted program that is widely installed. Flash is cross-platform, meaning if it works on one computer, it will work on any other with Flash installed. Flash is small and lightweight, but carries a robust video control platform. You never have to leave your webpage to view the video. Flash can be embedded right into the page. http://blogs.zdnet.com/Stewart/?p=344
    • As technology marches on, rich media viewing will become cleaner and quicker.

The bottom line is that currently, yes, there are downsides to the tools out there labeled “Video Resumes” (or Video CVs), as discussed in a previous blog post. However, the Good News is that vendors such as InterviewStudio have now worked through the technology challenges to aggregate all of these disparate (but important) pieces into a single robust, time-saving information platform for screening, due diligence and selection.

Technorati Tags: candidate, digital representation, discrimination litigation, due diligence, Flash, job candidate, minute, progressive technology, Resumes, technology, video, video control, Video CV, video interview, video resume, Video resumes

These are all instances of “live” video or “real-time” video – coming to you as it happens.

There are several vendors in the employment market jumping into this product/service category, basically repackaging a video conferencing tool like Webex or copying the  newer Skype tool:  LiveHire, CareerCam, GreenJobInterview, to name a few.  You can use these services over your computer to talk with a remote person and/or see them on your screen with the use of a webcam in realtime.

By now, most everyone in the employment marketplace has heard the phrase “interview videos” or “video interviews”.   These are canned videos (or stored videos) that contain a job interview, wherein a candidate is usually answering questions they received earlier from an employer, and then the employer can go watch them anytime via online password.  These videos are available to view (securely) at any time since they are stored on a server that is available 24 hours a day.   A job seeker simply needs access to a computer with a webcam on it (or plugged into it).  Usually the built-in microphone on any computer will suffice for audio quality, but many people plug in a stand-alone microphone to enhance the sound when they are recording their videos for their interview.

In some instances, the potential employer will send their preferred interview questions to candidates via email ahead of time, or they will post their questions on their employment website.  In these cases, the job seeker simply uses his/her own computer/webcam  to videotape themselves answering these questions, and then “uploads” their video clips to YouTube or to a place on the employers website, so the employer can watch it later.   Job seekers have to know a bit about technology to do this all themselves.

There are other sites, like our own InterviewStudio.com site, which walk job seekers through this “videos for interview” process in an easy step-by-step tutorial.  Candidates get to choose their own interview questions from a list of 20 that are appropriate for their job function. When each question is answered, that video clip gets uploaded automatically to our site where all clips are stored securely behind passwords.  Job candidates who choose to do their video interviews this way are being proactive, and have a “marketing tool” to then email out to any employer or recruiter of their choice.  In this case, the job seeker owns his/her own showcase including the video interview, and can choose who can view it.   Candidates obtain a URL address for their InterviewStudio “showcase” from their account online and they can type this into an email they are sending or can even upload this URL into an applicant tracking system text field to be stored along with their other candidate information.

Videos for interview purposes are becoming more popular with employers, since it saves them several days or even weeks in the screening process.   The key is to make sure the videos they are viewing are professional, and useful as a compliant screening tool—meaning that videos for interview purposes will soon have rules and governing guidelines for both job seekers and employers to conform to – whether the video interviews are live or canned for viewing later.

Technorati Tags: computer, employer, employment market, employment marketplace, Europe, interview, interview videos, JOB, Job Interview Video, Job Interview Videos, traveling in europe, video, video conferencing facility, video conferencing tool, Videos Interview

Paul Anderson wants you to forget just about everything you think you know about finding a job.

“Many changes have happened in the job market since 20 years ago, since 10 years ago – since last October,” said Anderson, a former hiring manager for Microsoft and Expedia.

Even since March. Three months ago, roughly 100 résumés an hour got posted on job-search Web sites. Now that number exceeds 400 resumes an hour, Anderson said.

You want a job?    Join the club.

Some 13.7 million Americans want jobs but can’t find one – up by 6 million in the last 12 months. The private sector dumped 611,000 jobs in April, according to the latest report from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“You have so many people out there looking. Revenues are down at companies in most industries. Needs are becoming very specific. Fewer jobs are available. Some companies are trying to hire people at bargain prices. There’s fierce competition and overqualified candidates willing to take anything,” Anderson told a congregation of job seekers in Tacoma recently.

Anderson, principal at Kirkland-based ProLango Consulting, says job hunting these days has morphed into a new industry he calls Career Search 2.0. With his background in psychology, he doesn’t call himself a career consultant. No, he’s a behavioral specialist, because job hunters need to understand human behavior and outfox the system.

He offered five ways to tackle a job search in the new world.

First, scrap the elevator pitch – your 30-second soundbite that describes what you do so you can sell yourself in a flash, Anderson said.

“Why the elevator pitch doesn’t work,” Anderson said, “is that nobody cares about you. They care about themselves. You have to change your mindset from self-serving to serving others.”

That means finding out what need you can fill for the recruiters and other hiring authorities you meet.

Second, at job fairs, don’t bring a sheaf of résumés and hand them out to recruiters like Halloween candy. They’ll wind up in the garbage.

Instead, get business cards from the recruiters. Ask them what kinds of jobs they need to fill and what kind of candidates they like. Note that on the back of the business card. If you know a lot of people in town, tell them so and say you’ll steer qualified candidates their way. Then follow up when you get home. Ask the recruiter to meet for 15 minutes over coffee.

“People buy from people they like and trust,” Anderson said. “You can’t build a relationship at a job fair. Instead of being a desperate jobless person looking for work, turn yourself from a stranger into a contact. When you contribute first, reciprocity will kick in.”

Recruiters have extensive networks of contacts. If you help a recruiter fill a job, you have just tapped into that recruiter’s vast network. Even if they don’t recruit for your expertise, Anderson guarantees they know someone who does.

Third, leverage online social networks, primarily LinkedIn.com, the No. 1 online business network, to connect with as many people as possible.

Online networks allow you to find and seek advice from contacts who work for the companies you have targeted for your job search, it allows others to endorse you, and it allows you to post specific information about the job you want, Anderson said.

Other online social networks, such as Facebook, focus more on users’ personal lives – where you should “show yourself as a stable family person who’s serving the community. If you have a dog, put up a picture,” Anderson said.

“When you submit a résumé, three things happen,” he said. “The hiring manager will look for you on LinkedIn to see what kind of endorsements you have. They’ll look on Facebook for pictures of you at drunken parties. And they’ll ‘Zillow’ your address to see where you live, the value of your property, how long you’ve lived there and if you can reasonably commute to a job.”

Fourth, get your résumé off of all job-search Web sites such as Monster.com and Dice.com, Anderson said.

“They’re too expensive. Plus 85 percent of jobs are filled from word of mouth,” he said. “Use LinkedIn instead for targeting people at companies you want to work for … and get into conversations.”

Try to secure informational interviews, informal conversations where you seek advice from someone at your target company.

“Many times open positions don’t make it to online job boards,” Anderson said. “You want to build rapport with those hiring managers you met informally” so they remember you later.

Finally, Anderson said, stay off the recruiters’ blacklists.

You didn’t know they had them? Anderson told his class of job seekers that recruiters have begged him to delete this tip from his seminars. He hasn’t.

Every major company has a computerized database to manage its applicants, their résumés and notes about all interactions. Those companies also have a separate database – the blacklist – where they kick out all the problem applicants who have no chance to get hired, he said.

How do you kill your chances? Multiple ways. Visit a company’s Web site, put 80 jobs in your job cart and click “Apply All.” Anderson said it shows you as desperate rather than focused. If you come across as rude to a recruiter screening you by phone, you’ll get kicked onto the blacklist. If, during a meeting, you complain, have bad body language or appear depressed, it’s the blacklist for you.

“Every time you show up, you have the opportunity to become one of the good ones,” Anderson said. “Take it.”

Dan Voelpel:

dan.voelpel@thenewstribune.com

http://www.thenewstribune.com/voelpel/story/770211.html

Technorati Tags: Anderson, behavioral specialist, bureau of labor statistics, business, elevator pitch, expedia, halloween candy, JOB, job seekers, online, Paul Anderson, recruiter, Search, Tacoma

Well.  There is a lot to say regarding this theory in today’s hiring climate.   Yes, it used to be true that executives could network their way onto the CEO’s schedule – a golf foursome, a chance meeting at the local Starbuck’s on Saturday, comp tickets to a Mariner’s game, a coincidental airport introduction – all schemes that used to work.   That was before CEOs were saddled with the long, iterative “best practices” for hiring that now include reams of due diligence, behavioral interviewing processes, corporate culture match screening, background checks, and all sorts of rules for the actual executive job interview that will take place after all candidates have been properly vetted.

So, as an out-of-work candidate seeking that executive job interview in today’s market, what are your options for jumping right into that face-to-face meeting?

1. Ignore the new hiring realities and keep trying the old ways to get in the chair across the desk from the CEO.
2. Seek out a Recruiter who will market you into the CEOs
3. Be proactive and provide the CEOs with all that best practices data they need upfront in order to qualify you for an executive job interview sooner.

Selection 1. is simply an approach that is no longer effective in today’s hiring market.

Selection 2. has its problems since professional recruiters don’t market candidates out to CEOs.  They make their money by obtaining a specific assignment from a company to fill a specific job within that company.  The company pays the Recruiter for presenting only the exact matches for that position.  However, on occasion, you will find a Recruiter who offers to “market you” to several companies, but beware of this.   If a Recruiter sends your resume to several companies hoping for some interest, and any of those companies have a policy not to pay recruiter fees, then you will be ignored for the next 6 months as a candidate for any position within those companies – since your hiring would now be associated with a headhunter fee.  IF you choose to use a recruiter, make sure they will only “market you” to companies with whom they have a written fee agreement.   And even then, you’ll have to consider that companies in this economy may prefer non-fee-bearing candidates.

Selection 3. brings us to a definitive market advantage that executive candidates can possess.  If you put yourself in the shoes of the hiring authority, you’ll realize that they may give preference to a candidate who does most of the due diligence work for them.  This is a world of full disclosure now.  No longer do you play cat and mouse in the interview process.  Hiring companies want to know, and have ways to find out, EVERYTHING about you.   For instance, candidates who provide not only a resume, but the results of recent skills tests, assessment tests, or annual reviews will be put in the pile that is further down the line in the process and closer to the actual executive job interview stage than those with only a resume submitted.  Providing written references or endorsements pushes your candidacy further, and a professional video interview can actually put you over the top of the uphill climb for position, since it can eliminate the entire first interview phase of the executive job interview process.

In this candidate-rich market, competition is tough enough for those few executive positions that open up.  And internal HR and Recruiting departments are swamped with applications, making the hiring process that much longer.

Just get yourself in front of the CEO.  Get a jump on the competition.  Be first in line.  What this means in today’s market is to take the initiative to do the upfront work for the hiring company.  Provide a complete package of yourself as a candidate including most of the due diligence that they will need to collect in order to make a  decision.  Increase your chances of getting that executive job interview.  And by that point, you’re practically hired.

…

Technorati Tags: assessment tests, behavioral interviewing, CEO. Seek, CEO.  Get, CEO.   Provide, Endorsements, executive, executive candidates, executive job, Executive Job Interview, executive job search, golf foursome, hiring process, interview, interview selection, JOB, job interview, Josh, Josh Furman, market, market candidates, professional recruiters, recruiter, references

InterviewStudio platform to power special section of WTIA website devoted to tech visionaries and entrepreneurs

SEATTLE, WASH. – July 15, 2009 – The Washington Technology Industry Association (WTIA) <www.washingtontechnology.org> and InterviewStudio <http://www.interviewstudio.com/> have partnered to offer a special site to showcase Washington state technology executives who have contributed to the success of the local technology community over the last 10 years. Launched today, the “Profiles in Technology” project kicks off by spotlighting local technology innovators such as Ben Elowitz (CEO of Wetpaint and founder of Fatbrain and Blue Nile), Jonathan Sposato (CEO of Picnik), Jeremy Jaech (CEO of Verdiem, formerly with Adobe, Visio and Trumba) and Bill Baxter (CTO of Cozi.com, co-founder of Bsquare). The first profile can be seen on WTIA’s Web site at: <http://www.washingtontechnology.org/pages/resources/resources_profilesintechnology.asp>.

The Washington Technology Industry Association chose InterviewStudio for this project for several reasons, including its relationship with long-standing WTIA member Colleen Aylward, founder of InterviewStudio and the recruiting firm, Devon James Associates. Creator of one of the country’s first vendor recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) services, Aylward has assisted many WTIA member start-up companies with progressive solutions for their recruitment needs over the last 15 years, utilizing her “Onsite Recruiting War Room” methodology, that is still in use today.

“We chose InterviewStudio because its combination of video and other information brings subjects to life like no other platform,” said Ken Myer, president and CEO of the Washington Technology Industry Association. “We see this as a great way to highlight some of the technology and business people who are so important to the success of not only the WTIA, but to the entire technology industry in the Northwest. InterviewStudio is a terrific example of the creativity and innovation that our members are known for.”

Originally designed to create a comprehensive showcase of Devon James’ executive candidates to send to employers, the InterviewStudio showcase can combine any mixture of data, media, text, icons and links in an elegant presentation format displayed all on one screen, in one place and can be emailed via URL link.  In an employment application, a showcase may display a candidate’s resume, video interview, reference checks, professional assessment test results, Web page and portfolio, colleague endorsements and other data from Internet search engines and social networking sites like LinkedIn. This process allows hiring managers to view all pertinent data about a candidate in one place on one screen at one time – saving weeks of time and money in the initial candidate screening process.

For the Washington Technology Industry Association project, InterviewStudio combines executive bios, video interviews, company overviews, press releases and other links in one presentation format that can be easily displayed and viewed in a Web 2.0-type “showcase.”

“InterviewStudio is really a mash-up that combines several of the most advanced technologies in multi-media and presentation tools with your product or service highlight info,” Aylward said.  “As video technology and man-on-the-street interviewing becomes the more popular way to present bios, we’ll see more of this type of media combined with clickable icons for product and service information that replace the paper brochure. As the globe shrinks, large and small vendors alike need to get their story out, and an InterviewStudio showcase is a faster, easier way to create a marketing deliverable than a traditional Web site or brochure. Additionally, you’re able to simply email your showcase link around the world immediately to promote yourself or your product and or company.”

About InterviewStudio

InterviewStudio.com is a ground-breaking technology platform that can be used to display multiple forms of data all at once on one screen:  videos, data, text, images, icons, links – that appear instantly when clicked by the viewer.  This is the NEXT STEP in programs that allow anyone to showcase themselves and their accomplishments, products, services, to a vast market instantly and elegantly.  Visit http://www.interviewstudio.com. And follow their blog about this technology here: http://www.interviewstudioblog.co.

About the WTIA

Washington Technology Industry Association is the largest state-wide association of technology companies and executives in the world. With more than 1,000 member companies representing more than 100,000 technology sector employees in Washington State, Washington Technology Industry Association is a catalyst for setting new industry directions, sharing expertise, fostering collaboration, delivering key business services, and advancing the economic value and global impact of technology companies doing business in Washington: http://www.washingtontechnology.org

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Technorati Tags: Association, Ben Elowitz, Bill Baxter, candidate screening, Colleen Aylward, Devon, devon james, Endorsements, executive candidates, Industry, Interviews On Video, InterviewStudio, Jeremy Jaech, Jonathan Sposato, Ken Myer, mash-up, mashup, member colleen, Nile, Onsite Recruiting War Room, Press Release, Profiles in Technology, recruitment, room methodology, saving time and money, Seattle, Showcase, showcase washington, technology, technology executives, technology industry association, Video interviews, video technology, Washington, Washington Technology Industry Association, WTIA

Since then, the traditional resume hasn’t changed all that much, unfortunately:
Section 1:  Name and Address
Section 2:  Objective Statement
Section 3:  Chronological Work History
Section 4:  Education

The only significant addition in the last 20 years has been the introduction of KEYWORDS into the text of the resume, and that is only because computers are reading resumes now instead of people.  A “Section 5” has been added in many online resumes that is simply a long string of words and phrases such as “C++, SQL, project management, PMP, program management….”.

With the advent of MySpace, Facebook, and Linkedin, the physical appearance of job candidates came back into play along with previously taboo data like age, lists of friends and hobbies, and various substance intake preferences.

And then it was a short stretch from photos to video.  YouTube capitalized on this trend of ‘full disclose’ by the younger generations, and the first round of the YouTube Resume Video started to appear in 2006.

The Resume Video so far has no rules, no restrictions, and no governing standards board.  They range from a simple talking head (a head and shoulders view of a candidate reading their resume out loud)  to animated pleas for jobs and then more recently to professional productions that present many facets of a person’s work background, skill sets, and personality.

Early on, the human resources departments of many of the larger corporations balked at the viewing or use of any type of resume video out of fear of potential discrimination claims by those who were not selected based on something in their video.   Employment attorneys counseled companies to “just say no” to the resume video in an effort to avoid even the slightest possibility of discrimination claims.

“‘Just don’t even deal with them,’ said Dennis Brown, an attorney in the San Jose, Calif., office of Littler Mendelson whose firm recently advised employers about the dangers of video résumés at a seminar.”

But in the 2007 Video Resume Survey by Vault.com, “89% of employers revealed that they would watch a video resume if it were submitted to them”.

So, it is 2009, and bloggers are proclaiming that perhaps the initial paranoia was premature, since there has not been one discrimination case yet due to a resume video.  In addition, it appears as if companies may be saving money by not flying as many candidates in for interviews, and not having to put them up in hotels, or pay for cabs or parking.  Then too, their interview teams are not wasting as much time in group interviews only to find out in the first 5 minutes that the candidate was not a corporate culture match at all.

Like it or not, the resume video is not going away.  The good news is that they are morphing to include other pieces of due diligence –  the electronic resume, links to annual reviews or portfolios, shortcuts to their social media profiles, reference checks and endorsements – in order to provide a cross section of candidate assets.   In addition, the trend is away from the simple “resume video” and more towards “video interviews”, wherein the job seeker is not necessarily talking about his/her chronological history of jobs, but is answering behavioral and situational interview questions, much like those asked in a typical face-to-face interview.

As you can see in the History of the Resume chart, the pace of change has gone from centuries to months in the last few years.  Technology integration has reached a point where multi-media is not just an entertaining YouTube video any more, but a true collection of multiple electronic data pieces all in one place at one time.

Just had to mention that, in a funny turn of events, YouTube videos are now teaching people how to write paper resumes.     Technology marches on.

Technorati Tags: Calif., Dennis Brown, discrimination claims, employment attorneys, history, human resources departments, Leonardo DaVinci, objective statement, online resumes, Résumé, San Jose, Section, video, YouTube

Video resumes were the first attempt by job seekers to break out of the keyword trap and get around the computer screening programs.  So how did the candidate screening market get to this frustration point for the job seeker, AND for the recruiter?

LIKE IT OR NOT, TIME MARCHES ON… Technology marches on… Tools get more progressive and disruption happens. Change happens. For about 50 years, the paper resume has ruled within corporations seeking new employees. People are used to it… People are comfortable with it. We were taught to write resumes in black ink on white paper and mail them out using stamps.

And then resumes became “soft-copy” (Yes there was a time when that was not a real word). The online resume became accessible instantly to several viewers at a time, and storable and retrievable.

And then came text search capability and KEYWORDS along with that. So today the comfort zone is not paper resumes anymore. It is soft-copy keyword-searchable resumes.

Today, the industry has deemed this as standard, and many vendor products have been developed to help parse, and poke, and rank and rate these KEYWORDS and their relevance to matching KEYWORDS in job descriptions, for instance.

RECRUITER FRUSTRATION

And, as most every system can be “gamed”, job seekers can now populate the KEYWORD section in their resume to match a job description and submit it with a keystroke, whether or not they are qualified. It is then incumbent upon the Recruiter to read through that mass of electronically “qualified” resumes to identify the truly qualified.

So Recruiters don’t have much time on their hands to really read a resume thoroughly –

-          too much volume

-          too many resumes look the same, populated with keywords from the online job description

-          not enough time to do a thorough job — hiring managers need to hire NOW

CANDIDATE FRUSTRATION

Job Candidates were initially impressed when the Employer sent them immediate feedback after applying for a job.  “Finally”, they thought.  “This company cares.” Thoughtful “no thank-you” letters arrived minutes after an online resume submission.  But this again was simply a production letter generated by the company’s ATS (Applicant Tracking System) and sent to all candidates who did not populate their resume with the correct keywords.

Enter VIDEO RESUMES

What does anyone do when they want attention?  Yell louder.

The Video Resume is a louder yell:  “HEY!  Look at me!”  “See how I talk – I’m 3-dimensional.”

As a headhunter, I talk to dozens of executives each week whose only objective is to “get in front of the hiring manager”.   They don’t want tips about the newest keywords to use.   Job seekers are tired of playing the keyword game, knowing full well that every other candidate for the same job is using the same keywords.   And their patience is wearing thin with 22-year old internal corporate “recruiters” who call them up to ask simple questions – the answers to which are clearly on their resume.  And lastly, job seekers have figured out the “mass email” tools that come with every ATS, and realize that no one actually reads their resume enough to grasp their total value as a candidate.

The first ever YouTube video was put up in April 23, 2005 by some guy at the zoo talking about elephants.  And that was all it took.  Now, every minute, twenty hours of video is uploaded to YouTube.

So, naturally, video would be the new channel to use to get noticed.  And candidates looking for jobs are eager to find ways to stand out from the mass of keyword-laden resumes, and to virtually “get in front of the hiring manager”.   Armed with a PC or a Mac, and a $50 webcam, a job seeker can easily create a video as simple as a “talking head” – reading their resume in front of a camera.

Granted, there are issues galore with “video resumes”, many covered in our previous blog, but every new idea starts out a little rocky.

In time (and in the not so distant future), Video Resumes, as all other new products, will enter the professional realm and become more relevant to specific jobs, more polished as a tool, and have more industry-developed rules around them.

The first step is to change Video Resumes into Video Interviews.   Stay tuned for more on that.

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