Job hunters post video resumes on Web

THE WASHINGTON TIMES This isn’t your father’s resume.

A growing number of job candidates are swapping parchment for camcorders in an effort to set themselves apart from the competition.

Job hunters are sending their videos to companies and recruiters and are posting the videos online in hopes of attracting a potential employer. A quick search of “video resume” brings up more than 1,500 responses on YouTube.com and more than 15,000 on Myspace.com.

The videos range from goofy to boring to polished and professional, but they all have one goal in mind: to find work.

Independent marketing consultant Mark Mountan created a video resume in February to showcase his qualifications to potential clients or recruiters. In his polished three-minute segment, Mr. Mountan speaks clearly and concisely about why he thinks he is an ideal candidate.

“It is imperative I think for people to immediately see the competency level of someone they might bring into their office for consulting,” the Richmond resident said of why he thinks video resumes are useful. “Doing that on paper exclusively is difficult.”

Recruiters say that while video resumes can act as valuable complements to traditional resumes and recruiting tools, simply posting a video resume online usually leads nowhere. And even with the large amount of video resumes posted on the Web, only 17 percent of U.S. employers have seen one, according to career-networking Web site Vault Inc.

Human resource professional Gerry Crispin noted an increase in video resume popularity among job hunters during the past six months.

“It’s become very popular for job seekers, but I would seriously question whether you would see a lot of increased traffic in terms of employers,” said Mr. Crispin, principal of Career XRoads, an international staffing strategy company in Kendall Park, N.J. “Recruiters just don’t have time to spend hours and hours watching video resumes. It isn’t happening.”

Some human resource managers are wary of the growing trend, saying the videos could lead to discrimination.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission wrote in its February E-RACE report that an employer using video resumes when hiring could discriminate or exclude job candidates without the resources to create a video resume.

Both Mr. Morales and Mr. Crispin said if a company wants to discriminate, it will find a way.

“My perspective is any organization that is practicing illegal hiring practices will continue to do so until corrected,” Mr. Morales said. “They execute those illegal practices today without the video and they will continue to do so with the video.”

Despite the concerns, established job-networking Web sites are beginning to add video-resume capability to their sites. Vault.com even hosts a monthly contest for the best video resume.

Some Web sites have popped up with the main purpose of showcasing video resumes.

Former football player Nicky Murphy’s personal frustration with a lackluster career search after a short stint in the National Football League led him and fellow former Arizona State University football player Travis Cloyd to create Workblast.com, a video-resume site that has been online for two months.

“It just kind of dawned on me how many people this might affect. How many people just can’t put down on paper what they’re worth?” said Mr. Murphy, the chief operating officer for Workblast, which offers job seekers a place to post video resumes, with additional text information and a biography.

The site is free to job seekers. It charges employers to look through the database or post job opportunities. More than 10,000 job seekers have posted video resumes on Workblast since it started.

Though their popularity has recently exploded, video resumes have been used in various capacities for about 20 to 30 years, said Mr. Crispin, who sits on an expert panel for the Society for Human Resource Management, an Alexandria trade association that represents more than 210,000 human resources professionals.

But improved technology and a tech-friendly generation entering the work force are pushing video resumes into the mainstream, said David Morales, vice president of new product development for Chandler Hill, a national company that counsels professionals for career transitioning.

Mr. Morales predicted the trend will continue to grow.

“I think that as technology and speeds of the Internet and capabilities of desktop machines increase, we will start to see organizations embracing these types of technologies more and more,” Mr. Morales said.

Mr. Mountan expressed skepticism about finding a job exclusively by means of a video on the Web.

“Some people seem to be putting these videos up as if hiring managers are scouring YouTube,” he said, chuckling. “I know my target client is not using YouTube.”

Similar to any interview material, job candidates who make video resumes must put in the time and effort to create a polished product, the human resources professionals said. A poorly produced video will do more damage than good, especially if it can be pulled up with the click of a mouse.

“Just because the technology exists doesn’t mean the individual has the skills or abilities to produce one of these videos,” Mr. Morales said. “It needs to present their professional skills in a professional manner.”