Pros and Cons of a Video Resume (Candidate Perspective)
By: Debra Wheatman
Debra Wheatman, CPRW, CPCC is president of Careers Done Write, a premier career-services provider focused on developing highly personalized career roadmaps for senior leaders and executives across all verticals and industries. Debra may be contacted directly at debra@careersdonewrite.com. Visit her site at: careersdonewrite.com. Follow Debra on Twitter.
Video resumes can be an advantage to certain candidates pursuing roles where professional presence, personal style, and body language can mean the difference between winning and losing business. Clearly, video resumes for job seekers interested in sales oriented roles are a perfect fit. From a candidate’s point of view, however, a video resume, even for that future sales rep can be burdensome and unnecessarily risky especially when an in-person interview is available as an option. If you are an employer and considering the possibility of adding a video resume to your list of application requirements, here is some insight on what candidates will be thinking to help in your own evaluation.
Pros:
- My personality will shine brighter on video compared to a traditional written resume.
- I have editorial control over the video before submission; lots of trial and error is a good thing.
- My performance on video, if captured correctly, can really distinguish me from my peers.
Cons:
- An amateur video resume production can tarnish my professional brand, is it worth it?
- Videos can be awkward; talking to a camera just isn’t the same as talking to a person.
- My resources are limited, what if other candidates go all out on the video and I can’t compete?
Indeed, for a job candidate, the requirement of submitting a video resume can be a daunting task. As an employer, it is considered a best practice to ensure that standards for video length, the use of external editorial resources, and what is acceptable in terms of what and how the candidate presents himself is highly recommended. The trend toward video resumes is upward-sloping so making sure the rules are fair for all of your candidates will go a long way toward avoiding an unnecessary arms race for jobs in an already hyper-competitive marketplace for good opportunities.
