Ok, now I might have opened up pandora's here but this is a HUGE wave however there can be both good and bad to using this video resume technology. I just thought I would put together some pros and cons based on people I have spoken with and read about. A huge issue seems to be the legality of it all.

On the flip side video resumes of a company may seem to be more appropriate to selling a company but again, is a company REALLY going to show you their bad side if they are trying to attract top talent especially in the New Media world and age?

Are we taking the digital age of this new medium too far? Why not just take the time to set up a quick screen via a web cam so you can get real time interviewing? Are companies going to start to eliminate those w/o a video resume? I think this will be begin to leave some of the great candidates on the table because there are so many that still view these as tacky and how many people are really going to take the time if they have some real talent to do this. REALLY!

Pros:

* You can get a sense of a persons personality (if they are not camera shy)

* May be a plus in the acting community or where legally you need to see a person or submit a picture to qualify for a job

* In some instances can be used to supplement skills

Cons:

* You are literally putting more trust into someone than you ought to way too soon just based on a snippet of video.

* If you truly are looking for the best and the brightest, you could discriminate just based on a video piece and be held liable. Why trust a video plug that has be rehearsed a million times?

* Not everyone is comfortable on camera so you could be eliminating someone who is worth their weight in gold just because their likeness on video was not up to par.

* By the time it downloaded or you viewed it, one could have scanned 5-10 resumes. If someone is good they are good.

* Someone else could have written a script for them to say. You might not even get what you are thinking you are.

Robin Owens-Wright
New Media Hire
www.NewMediaHire.com