Use of video résumés is on the upswing
By Laura Casey for Mercury News
lcasey@bayareanewsgroup.com
Posted: 05/01/2010 12:00:00 AM PDT
For a sales associate job opening at Orbit Baby, the maker of strollers, car seats and toddler accessories in Newark, president and co-founder Joseph Hei wants something from applicants no one else on Craigslist is requesting: a video résumé.
The reason: Orbit Baby needs someone who is confident, outgoing and, perhaps most important, technology-savvy. Hei says a traditional Microsoft Word document wouldn't necessarily show him the skills he's looking for. The person hired will have to be comfortable leading demonstrations in groups and using video communication programs like Skype to talk with clients.
Hei explains, "There are two broader objectives here: First, are you comfortable enough with media and technology to be able to meet these requirements; and ... can you upload a five-minute video? ... We want to see if people are relatively comfortable with the way things work these days."
The company has received responses from applicants living as far away as Africa.
Around the workplace, a variety of employers say they are seeing more video résumés from job candidates, and in academia, an increasing number of institutions are accepting video résumés with applications for admission.
Among the latter is Pitzer College, a private liberal arts school in Claremont. Admissions director Angel Pérez says the videos they've received are "fascinating to watch. One of the reasons we think this is a good idea for us is we are a bit of a niche school. We want to make sure we are admitting the right students, and fit is really important to us. One of the things the videos have done is allow us to put a face to the name and a personality to the application. We will actually pull up the video in front of the admission committee and let it play."
Video technology has come into wider use partly because cameras are inexpensive, with some costing less than $100, and video editing software is standard on many computers, says University of San Francisco professor Ryan Wright, who teaches classes in technology management and strategy. He predicts a video component will become more common for hiring in years to come.
Video résumés give potential employers "a greater degree of understanding of the person ... (including) how they speak, how they tell a story," Wright adds.
He required students in his Internet Business Applications class to create such a résumé. Christian Hernandez, a senior, chose to highlight his travel experiences and sports prowess.
"It's a pretty neat experience, because we were basically doing it to see how easy it is to upload a video and embed it into our Web sites," Hernandez says. "A video résumé can show you a person is more creative, and it can give you a better insight on the person."
Though Hernandez was making his résumé just for the practice, Edwina DiSilvestre of San Jose created one at the San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce to attract customers to her business as a personal assistant, named 28 in 24.
She was coached during the process by SanJose Stock.com founder Kymberli Brady. The result was a commercial-like video recorded in front of a photo backdrop highlighting DiSilvestre's skills, including writing personal notes for busy businesspeople.
"A video gives another view or picture of my business, which is really a presentation of my personality," DiSilvestre says. "It will give potential employers a sense of who I am."
SanJoseStock.com's Brady says she jumped into the video résumé business after losing her job as a videographer for the San Jose Chamber of Commerce. She says, "If you do a bad one, it can knock you off the potential list for a job, and if you do a good one, it can put you at the top of that list." Her company offers video résumé services starting at $100.
There are also video résumés online from which job seekers can learn, whether it's what to do or what not to do. Some people use goofy graphics or make hyperbolic claims about their skills.
San Francisco resident Dina Boyer, a video professional, avoids such pitfalls. In her simple, self-made, one-minute video on YouTube, she shares her skills.
"My video résumé has gotten me work," Boyer says, "nothing permanent — just a few music video and photography gigs. I don't think video résumés are appropriate for all careers, but I believe it was very necessary for me. I am a broadcaster, videographer and photographer, and showing the work on video is proof of my accomplishments and automatically gives me more credibility."
