Video resumes

There’s plenty of buzz going around about how great video resumes are, and how you’re sure to land a great job if you use one. It takes only a little technology and know-how to create a short film and put it online. Despite the good press, though, video resumes are more likely to hurt your chances than to help you get a job.

One of the key issues is that the people in charge of hiring, usually members of the human resources department, find video resumes less helpful than traditional paper resumes. Many don’t have the time or inclination to learn how to operate each new video player that pops up on the Internet, and have no reason to go out of their way to help job applicants look good. Some hiring managers are starting to implement policies to simply refuse all video resumes, while others will accept them only under limited conditions.

For good reasons, human resources departments simply don’t like anything beyond a paper resume. There is a standard procedure for processing standard resumes — some human resources managers can tell if an applicant is inappropriate in less than 10 seconds. There are no ways to skim a video resume, and so, human resources personnel cannot see video resumes as anything but more work for them.

Video resumes can also make it harder for human resources personnel to protect themselves. With a paper resume, all applicants look the same — it is harder to tell gender, religion and other attributes. This lack of information is the best protection that hiring managers have against accusations of discrimination.

Another major problem with video resumes is that fact that to create a quality video is very expensive. Yes, you can make one for practically free, but, with video, you get what you pay for. If you put up a low quality video, the first impression a hiring manager might have of you is your amateur approach to your work. It’s not unheard of for videos with mistakes to get passed around, either. If your video isn’t high quality, you could get all sorts of negative attention, which will make it harder to get a job in the long run.

Video resumes are also subject to technical problems that a piece of paper will never face. Many online video players only work with certain computer platforms and Internet browsers. Some companies' computer networks also block major media players. If a hiring manager can’t access your video resume, he or she isn’t going to try to fix the problem. Your resume just went to the bottom of the pile, if it’s still in the pile at all.

Even if you do find a company willing to consider your video resume as part of your application, you should not consider it the whole thing. Instead, you should consider it a supplement to the rest of your application. You should still maintain a paper resume and, depending on your career, a portfolio to demonstrate your abilities.

We recommend---> You need a great resume to stand out from the crowd of applicants, but if you don't want to spend money on a resume writer or a lot of your time writing one, then the below software if perfect for you! Click here to read more about this easy to use software.