Video Resume/Cover Letter to Google

February 20, 2008 in Uncategorized with 17 Comments

I’m a fan of video Resumes – yeah, I know there are still people out there that are on the fence but I just can’t help myself. I’m so much more a fan of clicking ‘play’ and watching a job seeker interact with me than I am in shuffling through the 2 page resume they may have mailed me. Of course, I won’t give prefenece to one over the other – but the vids are certainly more engaging.

Granted, video resumes still make many legal departments nervous and tend to spark discussion about discrimination and adverse impact -

and those of us that are recruiting professionals know that as defined by the EEOC and OFCCP disparate adverse impact occurs when an employer uses an employment practices that has an unjustified adverse impact on members of a protected class. Of course – I’m just not seeing the hyoogh issue in the world of video resumes. Truth be told, if you’ve a hiring manager or recruiter that is racist then the candidate will simply be removed later in the process.

Does that make it right or less of a concern? No – but it certainly doesn’t mean that videos are more of a risk than interviews, it’s just another avenue to ensure is properly documented/tracked (a whole ‘nother discussion.)

What sparked this post today? In my morning YouTube surf I ran across a prime example of someone making an engaging resume video that is fun to watch. Check out this video by Chris Traeger where he gives his best shot at an opening at Google. Great stuff, Chris. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you – you’d definitely get my vote!

  • http://www.blogger.com Kay

    As someone just

    getting into blogging I think that your site is not only gorgeous but full of really great acontent. I have added your blogroll to my reader as

    you’ve suggested. Thank you so much, Chris.

  • Monica

    Love the new redesign and I resign to

    kick 2010′s ass too! (can you help me with 2010′s site, though?)

    Where will you be speaking this year? I’d love to see you in action,

    sir. :roll:

  • http://www.cincyrecruiter.com Jennifer McClure

    Love the new site design and I’m officially jealous of your design skillz. Now, if I can just convince you to change your RSS feed to a

    full feed, my work in 2010 will be done. I promise we’ll still visit your cool site to leave comments and see what’s news. Especially since you’ll

    be having more conversations with us! :-)

  • Javier aka:trouble

    FULL FEED! FULL FEED!

    FULL FEED!

  • http://wiresandtubes.com Joshua Kahn

    You’ve

    been busy.

    Overall, I like it.

    Questions;
    What percent did you do yourself?
    What percent was done by someone else?

    What percent was part of the theme itself?

    How long did it take you?

    How many comments or requests will it take to offer

    a full feed? (consider this my vote)

    U got skills man, fo sho.

    Lastly, I’m to understand that you are not a Cowboys fan? Was

    kind of looking forward to a bit of smack talking about the Vikings impending victory this sunday.

  • http://karlaporter.com Karla Porter

    Hot

    job Chris, it’s a model site and reflection of the new direction, an avant-garde convergence of recruiting, marketing and new media. I’m happy with

    getting update via networked blogs or just visiting, I’m not needy =)but you might want to please the masses…

  • Jeremy English

    I will be interested to

    see what you do with this blog over the course of a year. I did not know your previous site very well but I like that there is no marketing on this

    site and you seem to be big on social media. Unless your marketing items are hidden or embedded in the site?
    Jeremy

  • Christopher Book

    I just got an email

    from your blog with an update. I haven’t seen one of these in so long that I had totally forgotten about this site. When I checked it out I noticed

    that there are all of these posts that I’ve missed.
    It’s good to see you again even though you didn’t go anywhere, Recruiter Guy.
    Love

    the new look too.

  • http://www.therecruiterguy.net RecruiterGuy

    [b]@Monica[/b] – I’ll have a speaking calendar up soon. My next few gigs include
    [list][*]Social Media class in Dallas, TX in Feb.[*]SHRM SMA

    in Lake Buena Vista, FL in Apr[*]NACE Annual Conference in Orlando, FL in Jun[/list][b]@Jennifer & Javier[/b] – full feed this weekend… yes…

    FULL.

    [b]@Joshua[/b] – It’s built on the Gantry framework in [url=http://www.joomla.org]Joomla[/url] (not popular for the faint of heart

    average bloggers – can have a steep learning curve) and is roughly 10% of an existing theme given that if you hack around enough code and add the

    right modules/widgets and swear enough you can get any of them to do this. The graphic work is my own. It took roughly a weekend to complete as I had

    a motivating issue behind the scenes to get it done ahead of schedule. There’s much more to go – but thanks for the compliment.

    [b]

    @Karla, Jeremy, and Christopher[/b] – thanks for the comments. I really hope more people post comments on this “friendlier” format.

  • http://www.recruiterguy.net ramya

    Thank

    you everyone to share the information’s,
    Really video resume/cover letter is useful for me,it is very easy way interact and more benefit for

    job seekers…
    =============
    Ramya
    cover letter ([url]http://www.resume–s.com/category/cover-letters[/url])

  • http://www.insightsadvertising.com ChrisTraeger

    Haha, my video is gaining popularity! Thanks for the exposure sir I really appreciate it. Unfortunately Google has yet to get back to me

    but am still hoping. After months of sending thousands of paper resumes out and not landing a job worthwhile I figured it was time to get creative.

    So if anybody else out there needs me ;-) shoot an email :-) .

    Thanks again Recruiter Guy!

    Chris Traeger

  • http://www.recruiterguy.net RecruiterGuy

    Definitely keep me posted, Chris!

  • http://fastolfe.net/ David Nesting

    Definitely

    creative, but it’s a bit long. It’s sort of a double-edged sword, right? You want to draw attention to yourself, but you’re also competing with

    paper (electronic) resumes that take a few seconds to scan through, and that’s assuming the first line isn’t automated. Video resumes are best when

    they’re on the verge of being viral; make recruiters and interviewers *want* to watch it.

    A non-trivial part of hiring at Google is

    identifying a good cultural fit. It’s very hard to see this from a resume, or even during the initial phone screens and interviews. Going out of

    your way like this won’t lose you any points.

  • Steve

    How will this compare I wonder to what

    others are doing? I’ve a question, though. What about:
    1. A job is posted for an accountant at a young start up.
    2. Two people apply for

    the job with video resumes.
    3. Both people are equally qualified but job seeker #2 has uber video editing skills.

    If the young start

    up hires candidate #2 will they need to justify why in an OFCCP audit? What will the reason be since skills were equal and the applicant’s video

    editing skills aren’t really relevant to the job?
    Food for thought.

  • http://www.insightsadvertising.com ChrisTraeger

    I just submitted a new video cover letter/resume for redbull. http://youtube.com/watch?v=yVY5_YdFa40 You’ll see a bunch of design cues

    from the google letter but figured why not post up. And Steve as far as that goes, the same could be said for somebody with uber writing skills. One

    may be better than the other but the one with writing skills will win, just due to the fact of their ability to sell themselves on a blank boring

    white piece of paper/email.

  • Steve

    Chris I agree. I’m only pointing out

    concerns. Both of your vids are great, it’s just something to consider from a hiring and company exposure perspective.

  • http://www.CustomizeResume.com hemen parekh

    Text resumes will be around for a long time. Because everyone can type.

    But everyone cannot write a story or a poem.

    So, there

    will also be a demand for expert / professional resume – writers, for a long time to come.

    But an ever-increasing number of recruiters

    feel that graphical / visual / audio resumes have an edge over plain text resumes – prompting emergence of job-portals such as

    ?

    http://www.VisualCV.com

    which inspired me to come-up with my own

    ? http://www.CustomizeResume.com

    ( it is easy to be inspired,

    but, at the age of 77, difficult to implement! )

    With regards

    hemen parekh
    hcp@RecruitGuru.com
    Mumbai — India

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