All resume guides with no exception remind applicants about the must- exclusiveness of any resume. However, it may seem hard to invent something new when imagination is limited by strict rules of formal style and all the relevant resume writing hints have been used and reused thousands of times. Some candidates then start considering a fresh, luring perspective of a video resume. But are video resumes as innocent as they try to look? Let’s investigate the case from all the existing points of view.
Hiring Managers Say…
The most essential for the candidate is the viewpoint of a recruiter on video resumes. Statistics claims that an average hiring manager spends no more than 30 seconds scanning a resume. The time spent on resume reading depends on a number of factors, like popularity of the vacancy and the corresponding quantity of resumes; urgency of the applicant’s search (if the vacancy is opened for some key position, it means that a hiring manager will make sure to find an employee to heal the work breach quickly and thus a recruiter will have to skim-read all the resumes in a record time). Even the hiring managers, who are not pushed to urgent applicants’ search, don’t like spending their free evening watching candidates’ home-videos. According to a number of surveys conducted among the hiring managers, only about 10-15% of recruiters find video applications worth watching, the rest of the surveyed thought creation of video presentations as an unnecessary waste of time and efforts. Most recruiters believe that there is nothing in the video resumes that would be impossible to be communicated by means of writing. So, if you apply for some usual job in an ordinary office, you don’t need to fuss about video resume creation; but if your position demands creativity, video resume may be useful, though it’d better to find out whether such a resume type is common for the company-employer.
Law Warns…
From the viewpoint of law, filmed resumes balance between being legal and illegal. Not all the hiring managers will risk choosing candidates according to their video presentation as employments law strictly bans employers to base their decisions on applicant’s qualities, which are not related to the job requirements. Plainly speaking, your race, sex, marital status, religion, and age can’t become a reason for the application rejection. Video resumes tell about a candidate much more that is actually needed. This extra information may become an evidence for a lawsuit. However, on the other hand many employers state the preferable age boundaries and sex on the vacancy ads. Moreover, during a personal interview candidate’s race, attractiveness or age can’t be hidden, and thus convey some additional information that might be a reason for rejection. Although in the latter case employer can explain rejection by other factors. Your assumptions about inappropriate age or race will be never confirmed by exact words of an employer. Video resume under these circumstances presents much bigger threat.
Video Resumes Advocate…
In spite of a number of obvious drawbacks, video resumes do have some positive features. Such a resume kind makes your self-presentation unique, broadening the brief, official resume procedure of talents’ and skills’ enumeration to the only limits of your fantasy. Video resumes often combine functions of a written resume and a cover letter. Moreover, the candidate is sure to get a really unique resume as there will be no clichéd phrases and orator or actor skills will be presented on enormous scale. Visual resumes turn on the mechanisms that remain inoperative when reading usual official documents. As all films, video resumes are more emotional and spectacular than their ordinary paper or electronic versions. Some candidates also use video resumes to apply for not yet opened vacancies. By means of vivid film presentations, candidates hint employer that it’s time to overview the necessity of some employees and substitute them by more creative workers.
The Verdict is…
As it can be concluded from this article, video resumes are still a ‘terra nova’ for employers and candidates should consider such way of application really carefully. However, if filming makes you notice and appreciate your own skills and accomplishments, no employer will object to your creation of a video presentation if he receives a standard resume while its original video version is kept safe at home.
