Video Resumes Discriminating The Facts.

Pull up a seat. Let’s have a chat about video resumes. There’s a lot of talk about how this phenomenon could be a vehicle for discrimination. And I think we all agree that discrimination sucks and I know I do my darnedest to avoid it. But if you do harbor discriminatory views, let’s say you’re more partial to folks of Vietnamese origin to those who are of Chinese heritage, or if you prefer women than men, if you are going to think within this framework, the only thing that a video will do is enable you to call upon these biases one step in the process earlier. Point is, ultimately a candidate has to make some sort of physical appearance and if they’re up against a bigot, or misogynist, there ain’t much they can do to shield themselves from these sorts of prejudices.

For those of us in the industry who are not lame-brained enough to let any personal feelings against certain groups in our society ameliorate our abilities to find the best candidates for the jobs, video resumes will allow an increased sense of the candidate; their manner, grooming, level of charisma. None of these factors alone would be the determining factor for whether or not they make it to the next stage, they assist in the task of putting together a well-informed conception of the candidate.

Anyway, video resumes are more-than-likely going to take the form of a video-interview. These will be clips put together by companies like Hirevue where candidates, via a web-cam, will be asked a series of predetermined questions and allocated a certain amount of time in which to answer. How they answer the questions will enhance enormously the recruiter or employer’s sense of the candidate, cut out a lot of wasted time and be of great assistance to inter-nation hiring. This is a good thing.