Auditioning in a Video Resume

In an article titled "Auditioning in a Video Resume", yesterday's New York Times discussed the increasing use of video resumes.  Our experience with lawyers and law students shows that the biggest challenge in the use of video stems from a person's discomfort in front of a camera.  With the cost of technology rapidly coming down, the primary cost of video resumes is for media training.  A video resume can show one's personality in a way that a written one never could.  This increases the chances that an in person interview will follow.  With regard to students, this is particularly important if their law school doesn't have a large number of firms coming to interview on campus.  But if the lawyer or law student doesn't "show" well, it's all for naught.

Comments

[Tom Schmidt]

A video resume does not integrate into present hiring processes especially at the top of the candidate selection funnel. Also, most candidates do not do well in front of a camera, and most of the video is a rehash of what's already on their resume. The reviewer's inherent bias starts immediately when the video begins as it does when someone shows up for an interview.

The interest in video resumes does suggest that candidates are looking for a better way to represent themselves. Video interviews on the other hand can be useful for candidates who are short-listed and not geographically close to the interview site.

A "next gen" resume must be in MS Word in order to seamlessly integrate into all past, present, and future hiring processes. What additional content to include in the "next gen" resume is not difficult to determine. You just have to review what a number of employers are requesting at their employment portals. For example, short-listed candidates are sometimes invited to complete a cognitive and/or skill assessment.

The big question is "next gen" resume delivery. If a candidate completes an assessment of some type, and includes that in their resume, the data would remain inherently untrustworthy since the candidate can simply edit / alter the MS Word document in any way they'd like. This is the primary reason why employers administer the assessments. It's the only way for them to insure that the results are not tampered with.

The potential solution is to apply a digital signature to the "next gen" resume in MS Word. Once the digital signature (asymmetric cryptography) is applied, the "next gen" resume can NOT be edited or altered without detection. No special hardware or software is necessary to open and read the "next gen" resume. Scientifically based cognitive and/or skill assessment data could be inserted, and the prospective employer could rely on the fact that the scientifically based data was not edited or altered.

A sample “next gen” resume in MS Word with a digital signature issued by VeriSign can be picked up and reviewed at www.resumefit.com.