Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Video Resumes: Does it make a difference?


Understanding a candidate is crucial in a recruitment process. People come from different geographical, cultural, psychological and educational backgrounds. Even the most sophisticated aptitude tests and psychological analysis may not bring out the person in his/her entirety. However, a video that demonstrates the communications ability, behavioral patterns and etiquettes can, to a great extent, help recruiters solve their dilemma regarding the soft skills of the applicants.

Video resumes are the cost-effective and convenient way of analyzing the candidates’ skills and persona. An employer can access the video resume anytime on his/her computer and analyze the candidate thoroughly. If required, they can show the video to career counselors and psychologists to get a second opinion about the candidate.

A personal interview, though a two-way interaction, is bound by limitations of time, space and individuality. In a personal interview, the members of the board decide the fate of the candidate on the spot, immediately after he/she leaves the room. If any difference in opinion arises among the members, there is hardly a way to re-evaluate the candidate or verify his/her caliber. In this regard, video resumes prove to be the most effective as
it gives the interviewers a chance to discuss the candidates in detail and playback their resumes again to clear the doubts.

A video resume is a powerful tool that can reveal a broad range of personal skills including leadership qualities, presentation skills, communications skills and mannerism. In certain cases, it can also be used to assess candidates’ creative abilities like acting, singing or dancing.

Video portfolios are also gaining popularity among professionals from different backgrounds. Candidates from management, legal, healthcare, travel & tourism, or education fields can make the best use of the video to present their skills directly on to the recruiter without any barrier. The short, crisp video of 2-3 minutes is sufficient to
contain the entire caliber of the candidate.

Video resume is also being used in the most conventional IT jobs available today. For IT professionals, video resume is the best tool to showcase not only their soft skills but also their technical skills like graphic design, animation or a specific programming skill. The impressive video clip is self explanatory, and it gives IT recruiters a clear picture of “what really the candidate is.”

No doubt, video resumes are transforming the recruitment scenario all over the world. To make the best use of this technology, one should first analyze the requirement of the industry and present the video in a tailor-made format. Professional video resume services can be of great help in this regard. Depending on the field of interest, the
candidate can create the videos to include the relevant attributes of their personality, professional experience, extra curricular activities, etc. An important highlight of the video resume is the visual impact it creates on the viewer. Flooded with the responses from prospective candidates, recruiters go through the paper resumes one by one, not showing interest in any particular one because they all look almost the same for them. If a video resume props up in front of them, it’s sure to hook their attention because it gives them what they want – a complete overview of the candidate.

It’s not just the novelty of video resume that creates the buzz about them in the job market, but it’s their usefulness as a cost-effective and powerful assessment tool that makes them popular today. When technology is helping us move forward, why should we still stick to old methodologies?

No comments:

Post a Comment