CAREERS NOW 03-20-11

Video Resumes: Fad Or Future?

DEAR JOYCE: I belong to a job club. A fellow unemployed member presented a program showing how to use video resumes to apply for employment. His examples were triple A: awkward, amateurish and awful! What do you think about using video resumes? - B.C.

I emphasize that today's column discusses only video resumes; it does not discuss video interviews. The digital siblings are sometimes lumped together in discussions of video technology. But their purposes are not the same. Differences are based on four factors: (1) the stage at which video enters the hiring process, (2) the length of the video, (3) who controls the video's content and (4) who pays the costs.

A video resume is an employer's first look at a specific job seeker in a message of voice and motion (think YouTube video). The resume typically lasts between one and three minutes. The job seeker controls content. The job seeker pays for the video.

A video interview is an employer's second look at a specific job seeker, but ordinarily takes place only by invitation after the employer evaluates the applicant's fixed online or on-paper resume. A video interview may replace a phone screening interview prior to an invitation for an on-site interview. The duration of a video interview varies. The employer controls content. The employer pays for the video.

Blunt answer. Vendors are beating the drums to sell video resumes. So last month I asked 20 leading career management experts for their experience-based opinions about video value to job seekers. Eighteen - nearly all - said replacing fixed resumes with video resumes is a bad idea. Two experts were on the fence with a "tomorrow maybe" response. In short: The video resume is not an idea whose time has come.

Exceptions? Consider making a video resume only if (1) you're in an occupation that requires presentation skills, such as acting or sales, (2) you could be cast in an online-dating-service commercial, and (3) you don't spend a dime recording the video.

CareerXroads principal Gerry Crispin - who constantly interacts with hiring authorities across America - applauds the growth of video interviewing tools, but nixes the "Hello, here's who I am'" video resume.

What's wrong with video resumes? The two chief objections are issues of time and discrimination.

Time vampire. Barbara Safani, author and president of Career Solvers, observes that no one really wants to see your video resume because we want our information fast. "Everyone needs to be a master scanner just to keep up with today's incredible amount of information flying by," she says.

Safani adds that hiring systems take less than a minute to slice and dice data on fixed resumes to determine a match between a candidate and an open job. But, as she notes, there's currently no real way to parse a candidate's information and accomplishments on a video. "In today's fast-paced world, why would anyone want to look at video resumes from 500 applicants?" Safani understandably asks.

Discrimination concerns. Video resumes raise the bar on the possibility of even the best-trained managers practicing subtle discrimination. Author Donald Asher summarizes the risk of discrimination lawsuits: "Video resumes could so easily be used to discriminate against candidates on the basis of race, age, gender, 'looks' and sexual orientation."

Michael Forrest, retired president of a major job board, also foresees legal trouble for employers: "Pictures - motion or not - have been a great big 'NO!' in the HR world for decades, as the practice assures both discrimination and reverse discrimination. The attorneys will have a field day."

Cost issues. Crispin worries about candidates not only wasting money paying to record video resumes, but also losing job-search time while learning how to project themselves to an imaginary audience of recruiters.

"Not a single firm I know would spend time on a video resume of a prospect or candidate who has not already been previously evaluated. Not one."

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