From an recruitment industry point of view, it seems that whilst everyone can appreciate the benefits of a multimedia CV, and there are even some enterprises out there promoting the practice, it didn’t seem to me to be gaining a lot of steam over 2008.
Post-financial crisis however and suddenly "talent" is a buyers market again and job-seekers will need to impress if they want to get a foot in the door.
Are we going to see more video CV’s in 2009 from applicants wanting to differentiate themselves? And if you are a recruiter…are you ready and willing to receive them? See what these recruiters think...
Article:
Multimedia CV: Put your best face forward
By Lia Timson
The Sydney Morning Herald
Published: 07 February 2009
Get in front of potential employers with your own video.
When Matt Niedzwiedz wanted a job in event management, he prepared a multimedia CV package to showcase his talents.
The party organiser had spent many years working on the music scene in Warsaw and London and wanted to demonstrate his skills to potential employers. So he produced a 30-minute presentation, burnt it to mini-CD and mailed it away. He also produced a shorter version that he posted on video-sharing website YouTube.
"I was quite known in Europe but here I would be nobody," he says. "I wanted to show potential employers my way of working."
Niedzwiedz is not alone. An increasing number of tech-savvy jobseekers, particularly generation Ys, are using webcams, camera phones, editing software and online video-sharing sites to promote their talents and stand out from a long line of hopefuls. While there are subtleties to the technique, it can pay off.
The human resources manager at accounting firm Pitcher Partners, Melissa Banek, says she likes to see CVs on video.
"It provides a great snapshot of the candidate's profile, experience and education in [their] words," she says. "I find it an efficient use of time. The employer can work out which questions they would like to
further probe in an interview and not waste time going over old ground."
However, Banek warns some employers could immediately exclude you from a face-to-face interview if they are unimpressed with your video CV.
A browse of YouTube, where many jobseekers post their CVs as a supplement to targeted mail-outs, shows the diverse range of video resumes being produced.
Some have very poor production values and feature applicants giving lacklustre performances. Others dazzle the viewer with their high quality and confident presentation.
The director of non-profit placement agency NGO Recruitment, Richard Green, says he is yet to receive a video CV but expects that day is not far off. He believes a video CV could work well for jobs where media skills and unconventional thinking are an advantage, such as head of communications at an organisation like Greenpeace.
The talent manager for advertising specialist recruiter The Ladder, James Greet, says job applicants considering a video CV should make sure it is primarily focused on their experience and capacity to do the job.
"It may be a very creative way of building excitement around [you], as far as it's well directed, informed and entertaining," he says. "Done badly, it could ruin your chances."
Mature-aged workers can also take advantage of the technology, according to Sam Leon, the principal of XMSolutions, an over-45s recruiting firm. He favours web conferencing and video CVs over phone chats and preliminary person-to-person meetings with jobseekers. He says employers also appreciate avoiding travel expenses for first interviews of interstate candidates.
"It gives a feeling for the candidate's personality and whether they are genuine," Leon says. "You can pick up body language, watch their eyes and get them to hold up things like diplomas.
"Over the next five years, video CVs will be as normal as printed or emailed CVs, without question."
When Tourism Queensland recently sought applications for a dream job on Hamilton Island, it insisted on video CVs in the first round to get a feel for the applicants. The role pays $150,000 for six months of work, living on the island and promoting it to the world. More than 8000 applications have been received.
The area manager for recruiter Drake International, Zipporah Szalay, says video CVs should be carefully prepared. Drake has a professionally staffed production studio to help candidates properly represent themselves. It regularly produces 30-second videos for candidates, especially those looking to work overseas.
"We've done it for Asian students going back to their countries to work, even doctors and nurses," Szalay says.
"You can demonstrate a cultural fit [with the company] by the way you communicate your passion and charisma and they can click on a link to your CV. But it doesn't work for everything. Professionalism is the key. You need to really take care because you only get one shot at it."
Niedzwiedz has learned valuable lessons from his video CV. He received just one response from 60 CVs sent out. He now believes his 30-minute presentation was too much of a demand on a company's time.
He hopes to make another assault on the job market soon, using the insights he has gained.
Showing posts with label applicant. Show all posts
Showing posts with label applicant. Show all posts
Monday, February 23, 2009
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Whats in a Job Ad?
For a long time now we’ve been worried about the habit we see in China of posting a job description in the space normally reserved for recruitment advertising copy. Over the past few months we’ve seen some absolute classics including one for a Financial Controller who listed in their requirements “must be able to use a calculator.”
As I come across more, I plan to post some of them to this blog. Here’s one that sets the tone quite well…a major industrial multinational seeking applicants online:
First, lets check out this position (right-click image to enlarge in a new window). Admin role, needs 5-10 years experience and offers somewhere between RMB1 and 50K per month. Not an awful lot to go on yet, so we read on…
By now everything is crystal-clear. I am confident that I can assume responsibility for “release SWS/JIS to operation” but not so sure that I am suited to “following up engineering change notice and owns reaction plan for execution”. What the..?
We believe that a job ad, (as opposed to a job description), should inspire the applicants to:
a) Read it
b) Consider it
c) Act on it (when appropriate)
And in order to achieve this, it must be:
a) Catchy – both visually and verbally
b) Informative and interesting (to the right person)
c) Include, and be linked to, a clear response procedure
There is far too much to say on how a good piece of recruitment copy should be written and we will soon be launching a short course on this exact theme but the fact remains that the majority of companies recruiting in China are not focusing as well as they should on this critical aspect of their recruitment process.
By failing to do so, they are generating superfluous applications from candidates who are not at all suited to the position simply because they haven’t understood it, as well as potentially turning away those most suited to the role as they felt no affinity with the position due to the same lack of clarity in the language used.
Two additional issues worthy of raising here that I will only touch on briefly today but you will see more about on this blog are:
1) The use of the English language….yes, they do require the incumbent to have good language skills but in order to better facilitate the “read, consider and act” response that we want, why not do it in their own native tongue?In their own language it is so much easier to paint a clear picture of not just “the role” but the opportunity that this job offers the right candidate.
The defensive stance of "we need our applicants to have good English so this screens out the others" doesn't hold water in my books. It is OK to assess their language ability based on their response (cover letter and resume) as well as telephone interviews and even by undergoing testing during screening at a later date.
Step one – find applicants, step two, from thosee applicants identify candidates. This is what “screening” is all about and its role lies not in the “attraction” phase of the recruitment process.
2) The use of a salary indication. Here, a salary of between RMB1,000 and 50,000 really is about as good as ignoring the issue altogether - the approach taken by the bulk of recruitment ads today in China. Proven time and again in the West to generate a higher volume of more targeted responses, Chinese recruiters still shy away from indicating salary levels in their job ads.
Candidates are not dumb. They know that if their previous role was Admin support at RMB 2,000 per month, they needn’t apply for the Admin Manager position elsewhere at RMB 15,000 per month. Likewise, but more important, is that with no indication of salary, the best candidates are left to guess as to whether their expectations can be met and more likely than not, being unsure about it, they will not bother apply. What is the harm in indicating a salary bracket? Is your negotiating power somehow diminished by doing so?
This role: RMB4,000-5,000 / month. Done! I can almost guarantee that in the organizational structure, this role has an even more narrow and clearly defined budget so why not put it out there!?
Recruitment copy is already one of my pet projects and at Oxus we ensure that our clients can write better copy for their job ads or we take on the task of writing it for them. It is the first major touch-point of the candidate journey and a vital part of employer communications that is currently being under-utilized to an extreme degree.
As I come across more, I plan to post some of them to this blog. Here’s one that sets the tone quite well…a major industrial multinational seeking applicants online:
First, lets check out this position (right-click image to enlarge in a new window). Admin role, needs 5-10 years experience and offers somewhere between RMB1 and 50K per month. Not an awful lot to go on yet, so we read on…
By now everything is crystal-clear. I am confident that I can assume responsibility for “release SWS/JIS to operation” but not so sure that I am suited to “following up engineering change notice and owns reaction plan for execution”. What the..?
We believe that a job ad, (as opposed to a job description), should inspire the applicants to:
a) Read it
b) Consider it
c) Act on it (when appropriate)
And in order to achieve this, it must be:
a) Catchy – both visually and verbally
b) Informative and interesting (to the right person)
c) Include, and be linked to, a clear response procedure
There is far too much to say on how a good piece of recruitment copy should be written and we will soon be launching a short course on this exact theme but the fact remains that the majority of companies recruiting in China are not focusing as well as they should on this critical aspect of their recruitment process.
By failing to do so, they are generating superfluous applications from candidates who are not at all suited to the position simply because they haven’t understood it, as well as potentially turning away those most suited to the role as they felt no affinity with the position due to the same lack of clarity in the language used.
Two additional issues worthy of raising here that I will only touch on briefly today but you will see more about on this blog are:
1) The use of the English language….yes, they do require the incumbent to have good language skills but in order to better facilitate the “read, consider and act” response that we want, why not do it in their own native tongue?In their own language it is so much easier to paint a clear picture of not just “the role” but the opportunity that this job offers the right candidate.
The defensive stance of "we need our applicants to have good English so this screens out the others" doesn't hold water in my books. It is OK to assess their language ability based on their response (cover letter and resume) as well as telephone interviews and even by undergoing testing during screening at a later date.
Step one – find applicants, step two, from thosee applicants identify candidates. This is what “screening” is all about and its role lies not in the “attraction” phase of the recruitment process.
2) The use of a salary indication. Here, a salary of between RMB1,000 and 50,000 really is about as good as ignoring the issue altogether - the approach taken by the bulk of recruitment ads today in China. Proven time and again in the West to generate a higher volume of more targeted responses, Chinese recruiters still shy away from indicating salary levels in their job ads.
Candidates are not dumb. They know that if their previous role was Admin support at RMB 2,000 per month, they needn’t apply for the Admin Manager position elsewhere at RMB 15,000 per month. Likewise, but more important, is that with no indication of salary, the best candidates are left to guess as to whether their expectations can be met and more likely than not, being unsure about it, they will not bother apply. What is the harm in indicating a salary bracket? Is your negotiating power somehow diminished by doing so?
This role: RMB4,000-5,000 / month. Done! I can almost guarantee that in the organizational structure, this role has an even more narrow and clearly defined budget so why not put it out there!?
Recruitment copy is already one of my pet projects and at Oxus we ensure that our clients can write better copy for their job ads or we take on the task of writing it for them. It is the first major touch-point of the candidate journey and a vital part of employer communications that is currently being under-utilized to an extreme degree.
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