Okay, why not? We have video dating. And college hopefuls have been known to send videos as part of their application package. So why shouldn’t candidates submit a video resume in order to secure employment?

Well, according to the just-released survey by Vault.com 89 percent of respondents indicated they would watch a video resume if it was submitted. Keep in mind that 76 percent suggested the play time be under two minutes and 46 percent said to make it under one.

Unfortunately, though, the idea of viewing video resumes is still too foreign to most employers. According to the survey, 58 percent of responding companies said they would view the video “out of sheer curiosity” while 48% have never even seen one. Add to this the fact that 56 percent don’t think a video resume will ever replace a paper resume, and it would seem there is not a very strong interest in utilizing this as a recruiting tool.

Part of this may be the lack of familiarity with this process. Part of it may be the fact that according to Dice.com,  there are at least three notable concerns.

The first has to do with the lack of specific content guidelines. But, picture this: you post a job on-line and request that interested AND qualified candidates submit their one to two minute video stream to you in which they address specific questions outlined in the posted ad. How better to determine if a candidate understands a concept or idea and can succinctly communicate information

Or if you prefer, you can receive “paper” resumes via e-mail, give them the ten-second review and then respond to those of interest by requesting a video resume responding to your specific questions.

Sure, the same process can be handled now via a paper resume and pre-screening phone call. But that means the recruiter has to sift through a stack of resumes and then sit on the phone for five to ten minutes with prospective candidates.

The second problem noted has to do with the legal ramifications of discrimination should a company decide not to hire a candidate after seeing how the person appears in their video. But, quite frankly, how is this any bigger of a problem than not hiring someone after a face-to-face interview?

However, that still leaves the biggest issue facing video resumes: the lack of readily available technology both for recruiters and candidates. And there is the real crux of the matter.

So while the concept is still in its infancy, it doesn’t seem inconceivable that in the not-to-distant future, applicants will be streaming video resumes to their employer’s of choice and maybe just as quickly receiving a video response back. Of course, as with many new ideas, it will likely take a while for video resume streams to become main stream.

This entry was posted on Friday, May 18th, 2007 at 10:30 am and is filed under Recruiting, Hiring. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site. Your comments will appear immediately, but I reserve the right to delete innapropriate comments.