Posts Tagged ‘Video resumes’

Video Resumes or “video CVs” tend to be short video clips of a job seeker speaking his/her background and skills — we call them “outloud resumes” — and they are really just a front-runner to complete platforms such as InterviewStudio. There is little value for a stand-alone video resume (or video CV) since, on its own, it hasn’t been proven to SAVE TIME AND MONEY in the hiring process AND it brings with it the paranoia of discrimination litigation.

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

Traditional screening technology has created some obstacles for the Job Seeker that the  video job interview  just might relieve. Currently candidates with an electronic resume can shoot it off to an electronic job description with an electronic screening set of rules and take their chances that they included the right KEYWORDS.

Job Seekers also gamble that the human who is looking through the “screened” resumes will understand all the jobs on the resume and what that experience could mean to a new employer.

For the infrastructure employee, or those who will perform specific repeatable tasks, this is not a bad way to save time in screening. But a search for anyone who can think outside the box, bring new and interesting solutions to old problems, create new revenue streams by discovering new channels, cut product development time by 50% by revamping the architecture, or structure inventive alliance partnerships to get around old commerce rules… this KEYWORD recognition thing just doesn’t cut the mustard.

Employers are still struggling to find and hire the right candidates… and have been doing so for the past 20+ years.

Let’s look at the real problems in the market. Employers are still struggling to find and hire the right candidates… and have been doing so for the past 20+ years.  “No keyword searching tool has solved the iterative process that is inherent in a thorough due diligence process.”  A partial answer to this problem that has huge value could be the video job interview.

Whereas Keyword searching provides a good “first pass” at a stack of 200 applicants by narrowing the pool according to “the 3 S’s”:

• Skills (which keyword skills are on the resume, e.g. C++, sales, project management)
• School (which college, degree, and date of graduation)
• Status (employed, unemployed, recently laid off, re-entering the workforce)

…the Video Job Interview can provide tremendous value-add in “the 3 C’s” to a recruiter or hiring manager.

• Composure/Poise
• Communication Skills
• Corporate Culture Match

Granted, the traditional first in-person interview would provide these 3 C’s, but at what cost?  Business moves too fast in today’s world to wait days to reach a candidate, and to coordinate the interview team’s schedules for that first meet — or even for that first video job interview conference.   And how many times has a candidate been brought in for a day’s worth of team interviews, only to find in the first 10 minutes of the day that the 3 C’s are lacking

There really is a 4th “C” on this list: Convenience.

There really is a 4^th “C” on this list:  Convenience.  Schedules don’t always match up nicely in order to coordinate an in-person interview, or even a Live Video Job Interview.   A stored “on-demand” video interview that can be viewed at any time along with the other due diligence (resume, endorsements, etc) can save weeks of time, particularly for executives who travel often.

The convenience afforded to all interview team members by offering a stored video job interview for screening at any time, day or night, (and repeated visits to the same video job interview) offers the freedom of screening at a time when the team member can focus and concentrate on all the factors that may affect a critical quality hire — especially for the executive job interview.  Imagine being able to choose “finalist candidates” in a matter of 2 weeks instead of 3 months.  And calculate the savings:

-          Fewer airline tickets for candidates

-          Fewer hotel rooms for interview travel

-          Fewer workday hours spent on first interviews by productive team members

-          Fewer hours spent on phone screens by recruiting staff

In the spirit of progressive technology solving difficult problems, the video job interview has lots going for it, provided it’s done correctly.

Stay tuned for the next blog installment on this subject…

Technorati Tags: alliance partnerships, Candidate Screening, digital profile, due diligence process, Executive Job Interview, graduation status, HR News, interview, InterviewStudio, JOB, Job Interview Video, Job Interview Videos, keyword recognition, product development time, Resume Videos, screening, time, video, Video Conference Interview, Video job interview, Video resumes