Video Killed The Resume Star!??

Well not exactly killed them, in fact nowhere near that, and Video CV's are not a new online recruitment concept either. To date, video as a format for the CV has not really taken off in the recruitment industry and arguably never will, but as technology marches ever onwards, the traditional barriers for this CV format may start to disappear. Very few recruiters or jobboards actually use video, and candidates, perhaps except for the Youtube generation would probably find them a tad distasteful or even embarrassing too. Technology has always been lagging behind this format, so sending large video files via email is often impossible or even blocked by corporate firewalls. Coupled with other technical difficulties and traditionally a lack of digital recording devices, it is not surprising that the recruitment industry take up for Video CV's has been very slow.

The first video CV was probably sent in a VHS or perhaps Betamax format, possibly in a very large brown envelope with a paper CV included to boot. I wonder how many of these actually caught the attention of a HR person? Not many I would think! In many ways, these were probably similar to the Yale University student Aleksey Vayner's attempt to secure a Wall Street job with UBS AG. Aleksey produced a six minute Video CV titled impossible is nothing, which showed him doing embarrassing feats of strength and athleticism which made him an unlikely star across Wall Street, and then became a worldwide hit on Youtube.

There are a few firms producing video CV technology now, some have a model of charging the candidate a small fee, around 10 seems to be the norm for a webcam type recording, to 500 for a full blown studio production. Many of these firms have been in the media, especially the morning news interviews like Fox News in the USA, often showing some very good looking models making their Video CV and then the owners of the various websites pontificating about how the CV has evolved from a piece of A4 paper, then to faxes, then to emailed Microsoft word docs to now possibly to include one or two minute video clips.

So what is next for the Video CV? Alistair Lee, a recruitment industry investor and shareholder in CV2Video thinks he has part of the answer. Video CV's will take a lot more time to become mainstream, if ever, but slowly they are gaining some traction with some employers, and where the employers go the recruiters will likely follow. A one minute video clip of a good candidate when used in conjunction with the normal emailed CV, adds a new dimension to the selection process. The best example I have seen of the Video CV was the Client not agreeing to the interview based on a Microsoft word CV, yet she agreed to the interview when she saw the Video CV. Bits of paper or emails don't always sell a good person very well, and sometimes it takes a lot more, including a skilled and determined recruiter.

He also comments CV2Video is using a recruiter paid model, so that the technology becomes the brand of the recruitment agency with hyperlinks that show who has seen the video CV and when. This allows a skilled recruiter to perhaps have a short term USP and open new clients with this technology. We are also producing a CV2Video brand which people can use themselves to create a deeper digital profile of themselves in social networks like LinkedIn. We have been Beta testing this with three employers and have found feedback to be excellent. The CV2Video playing superimposed over the Microsoft word doc CV brings the real persons CV to life with their personality and soft skills demonstrated far earlier in the recruitment process, in a way e-mailed CV's just can't do. We hope to go live very shortly, perhaps testing it with three major recruitment groups first in the same way we did with employers.

So, Video CV as an online recruitment concept? Unlikely I would think in the near term, but watch this space, or should I say Video?