Job hunters go into action
Leveraging one of the Web’s most popular new formats, job hunters and corporate recruiters are adding online video resumes to their arsenals.
More startups make these high-tech resumes possible. WorkBlast near Phoenix and MyPersonalBroadcast in Atlanta just launched services. HireVue in Salt Lake City lets candidates record themselves answering questions to get a regular interview. Job candidates turn the camera on themselves to talk about their skills and show work they’ve done.
Employment site Vault says 17 percent of 310 employers surveyed last month had watched video resumes. An additional 89 percent said they’d watch them if offered.
Videos better capture personalities of job hunters and companies looking for workers, says Allen Weiner, research director for media at Gartner Research. “It’s more than text. You can show a lot,” Weiner says.
Job-seekers started adding video resumes to YouTube about a year ago. There are now as many as 4,000, including Allen Ulbricht’s. The Atlanta resident created his to get a job last fall as a senior project manager at EarthLink.
Ulbricht, 30, wanted to show the hiring manager his Web 2.0 skills, such as creating online video, rather than just write about them in a regular resume. “Action speaks louder than words,” he says.
He also wanted to show he has a sense of humor. In the opening shot, he introduces himself as if he’s confessing to a self-help group: “Hi, my name is Allen Ulbricht. And I am a job applicant.”
Ulbricht says he and EarthLink decided they weren’t a good fit for each other. He’s now developing for a small software firm in Georgia.
The forces driving employment videos are the same ones spurring the online video industry’s explosive growth overall: cheap technology and high-speed Web access. Ulbricht spent $70 for a Web camera. He edited the video with the Microsoft Movie Maker program.
“It’s just become accessible for a lot of folks,” says Christian Anderson, a spokesman for Jobster, the Seattle-based career site.
Monster, one of the largest Web job sites, is considering matching suit.
YouTube’s success has spawned dozens of rivals targeting narrower niches, such as the lucrative employment field. Among them:
“WorkBlast lets job seekers create a free profile page where they upload videos, a resume and photo. They can then send a link to the page to as many e-mail contacts as they choose.
Employers pay $349 to post a job opening for 60 days. That price includes uploading a video showcasing their company, co-founder Nick Murphy says.
“MyPersonalBroadcast offers a similar service but with a twist: A tool lets customers track who downloads and watches their video.
Customers upload their e-mail contacts. Next, they write a message and attach a video, resume or other documents. Then they schedule when the e-mail is to be delivered. The company sends them daily e-mail alerts showing whether anyone watched.
“ HireVue works with employers trying to save money on recruiting by screening job candidates through video interviews before deciding on a formal interview.
Co-founder Mark Newman says video interviews save U.S. employers money on travel costs, especially in the tech industry where job candidates often live overseas.
Applicants go to HireVue’s site to see questions from employers. They get a moment to read each one before videotaping themselves providing answers.
More employment video sites and services are likely to be launched as startup investors look for the next YouTube, researcher Weiner says.
Venture capitalists invested more than $600 million in video startups last year, 50 percent more than in 2005, says the MoneyTree report by PricewaterhouseCoopers and other researchers.