Job Hunting with Videos

This morning during my daily FeedGrazing (yay, I invented a new term ;-)), I came across an interesting job related video on Xobni’s blog. For those who don’t know, Xobni is a hot new start-up trying to address Email overload challenges (that topic is left alone for some other post).

They have created this video as a Job post to attract new talent to join their workforce. The video, created in a very fun and cute way does the job very well. It explains the work environment, the people and the overall culture of the company. Here is the video (more on their Jobs page):

Frankly this is a very unique way for companies to lure in the right talent. Most posts on any job sites are text based and inherently dry. Most of the time they are copied from other places. They almost never convey the culture and environment of the company. Few companies like Xobni and Google are starting to do better in this space to make sure that they attract like minded people. Xobni has leveraged StandOutJobs to help them with this video. StandOutJobs a start-up itself in the Jobs space is all about fixing the broken paradigms.They work with companies to create fun and detailed video profiles, which provide significant amount of insight to the potential candidates. This is whole lot better model than the plain vanilla careers pages or various job sites.

Elle Woods

Conversely this can be applied to the candidates as well. Instead of typing up long, detailed resumes, job seekers should be able to post video resumes. Candidates can describe themselves, their experiences and their likes and dislikes in the video. Video is such a dynamic environment where candidates can get as creative as they like. Remember Elle Woods from Legally Blonde (played by Reese Witherspoon) who had a video resume for her interview with Harvard (image courtesy ABC News). No I am not asking you to shoot a video of yourself in a Jacuzzi. No one wants to see that. ;-)

I seriously think personalization is key to the Job market and it has huge advantages. Here are some of them:

  • Inter-personal chemistry is very important in the candidate selection process. This can never be achieved while perusing resumes.
    • With a video this can easily be addressed as the candidates demeanor is clearly visible
  • With resumes a candidates verbal and presentation skills aren’t available. This is important for customer facing job positions
    • With video resume one can easily address that and companies can make the right choice
  • With video resume, candidates personality can be easily understood. This helps very much in team environments where getting along for the greater good is really critical.

LinkedIn Profile

Job sites like Monster and HotJobs should really consider this option. Given the advent of video technologies this should easily be possible. I would even go to the extent that services like LinkedIn should also provide this option to their users. LinkedIn recently started playing with some personalization by offering to put pictures on profiles. I think they can go to the next level by allowing people to post videos of themselves, which will result in a much more creative and dynamic environment.

Having said that, I do believe that this environment is somewhat green. There could be negative repercussions as a result of using videos, such as appearance based decisions and other unfair practices. Tory Johnson from ABC news has a great write-up on this. So the jury is still out on this.

However in conclusion I feel this is a very interesting approach to this space and should be given its fair chance. Who knows it may really add the magic touch to the relatively dry market. Send in your comments, would love to hear your views.

October 2nd, 2007 in Web 2.0

Viewing 7 Comments

 

Trackbacks

(Trackback URL)

close Reblog this comment
Powered by Disqus · Learn more
blog comments powered by Disqus