Why Recruiters Hate the Video Resume

...or vidumé, as my pal Gerry would coin it. (I would have thought of that, if I were good with words.) During my research for this article on the rise of vidumés (okay, Ger, it's mine now), I came across some fiery blog postings on the subject. Mostly they argued against 'em. Here's one on MagicPotofJobs, a blog written by Tiffany Bridge, an IT recruiter in Washington, D.C. It's titled "The video resume ISN'T HAPPENING, people":

Please tell me that I'm not the only person who understands that the “video resume” isn't going to take off anytime soon. There are several important reasons for this:

1. Most people read faster than people can talk. So while it might take me a minute to give your two page resume a good once-over, it will take me at least 5-10 to listen to you drone on about your qualifications. (This is also why I don't listen to podcasts or watch video blogs.)

2. You know how most people aren't that great at public speaking? Being good in front of the camera is even harder. The idea of having to sit through even 10 video resumes to fill a job fills me with enough dread to give up the idea of being a recruiter if they ever become that commonplace.

3. Um, hi, discrimination laws? Companies aren't allowed to ask for photographs of applicants (except in the performing arts), and conscientious HR departments are really careful about avoiding anything that could be perceived as discriminatory. I think a lot of those HR departments don't want to see what you look like until you've walked in the door for your interview. Video resumes represent a lot of hassle that HR people don't want to deal with.

For all its shortcomings and faults, there's a reason we've had the paper resume for as long as we have. It's fast, it's generally not filled with a bunch of dorky “ums” and “ahs”, and it's hard to discriminate against text on a page.

When I called Bridge, she remained negative on the whole vidumé concept, but even she concedes it's probably an inevitable jobhunting trend. "Video is going to have a role in a lot of job processes," she says. "But nobody is really talking about how to do it well, or under what circumstances you ought to attempt one." Her tips:

* DON'T PRESUME YOU NEED ONE: People in sales, say, or public speakers, trainers--those with specific skills best displayed visually--might sensibly forward a link to a potential hiring agent.

* DON'T PRESUME VIDEO CAN REPLACE PAPER: "Dear God, I can't imagine wanting to sit through a pile of them," groans Bridge. "I can read faster than you can talk. I receive 10 to 20 résumés a day, and I'll evaluate every one." But videos? "I might watch it just for the novelty value. But if everybody was doing it, it would become tiresome pretty quickly."

* DON'T PRESUME VIDEO IS BETTER THAN PAPER: "I can tell in the first 15 seconds of glancing at a paper résumé if the candidate is right," says Bridge. But after five minutes of sitting through a video, she might still be scratching her head.