Which Job Search Trends Help, and Which Ones Hurt?
A video helped Elle Woods get into Harvard, but could hurt your chance at a job.
Aug. 27, 2007 — -- A new trend standing out in the job hunting crowd is personalized resumes — everything from video recitals of your qualifications to business cards that will put your children's fanciest art projects to shame. Before you invest time and money, consider that many of these gimmicks may help and hurt your chances.
A fancy production helped the character Elle Woods get into Harvard in the movie "Legally Blonde," but the same luck isn't likely for most of the rest of us. There are 4,000 video resumes on YouTube, and several new job search sites are host to thousands more. Some video resumes are very professional; others are rough around the edges, and some use humor to grab attention.
Yet when I talked to about two dozen of these video resume makers, I learned that none had received job offers. Beyond that, many employers forbid their managers from viewing them, since there's a risk of basing a decision on appearance and theatrics, more so than qualifications.
This case of first impressions just came up with entrepreneur Sean Combs, also know as P. Diddy. He put out an ad for an assistant on YouTube, and within days, received more than 10,000 entries. He had to issue an update after the first enormous batch of video resumes he received. He indicated that applicants must be able to read, write, count and have some sort of skill. In other words, theatrics and bling, alone, wouldn't suffice.
The bottom line is that video resumes are a novelty whose time has not yet come in the recruitment process. If you're job searching now, creating a video resume that targets a broad audience is not worth your time.
These are great. They allow you to learn more about a company and its culture and needs before applying. The more you know about a company, the better armed you are in determining if it's the right place for you. You can find such videos on company Web sites or even on sites like YouTube. Home Depot's Web site features such videos, and the company's hiring managers say that applicants walk in the door more knowledgeable about the positions they're seeking due to the "real world" depicted in these videos.
