Discrimination and Video CVs

Lisa Scales of Talent on View has sent me a link to an article she has written about Discrimination and Video CVs.  Now, Talent on View have a video CV offering so she's obviously quite keen to promote the concept of Video CVs.  However, I like that she still manages to look at both sides of the argument.

Her basic thought is that discrimination either occurs in the recruitment process or it doesn't.  Watching a video CV allows the recruiter to discriminate earlier in the process, however, if they are that type of recruiter they will discriminate further down the line anyway.

To be honest discrimination isn't my biggest issue. For me it's more about whether recruiters have the actual time to sit down and view a Video CV rather than just quickly scan CVs at the rate of 10 a minute. Maybe Lisa will write about that next...

Comments

[Alan Whitford]

Hi Louise

I have had some long and interesting discussions with Lisa, who really does present all sides of the discussion. Many of us will remember when TalkingCV first hit the scene - a great app but no UK broadband was a real barrier.

I agree that the real issue may actually be the amount of time that recruiters will allocate to reviewing video. Perhaps we can use this more as a comms tool between recruiter and client.

Best regards

Alan

[Lisa Scales]

I totally agree with Louise & Alan's comments about Video CV's - Talent on View has taken the "view"(!) that video isnt a useful tool at the beginning of the selection process when filtering is in progress - this I agree would just add time to an already tedious task however we feel it has a place further down the selection process when the final 3-5 candidates are submitted to a client adding some value to the recruiters proposition. I also think that "video interviews" are far better placed in the market than video CV's which are effectively like a candidate reading out their resume details (how boring!!) - this again is a waste of time - far more value is added when the candidate is asked some relevant interview questions or gives a 2 minute summary/personal profile of themselves to give the client a more informed decision making viewpoint of the candidate.

[karl gregory]

I support the view that recruiters do not have the time to sit down and view Video CVs. This may not be common knowledge to job seekers, but when a CV is sent to most recruitment agencies, the document is processed before anyone in a decision-making role even sees it. The key information contained in the CV is extracted, reformatted and placed in a database so it can more easily searched and accessed by recruiters and hirers. Everything but the raw information is discarded, the CV template so carefully crafted, such as headings, subheadings, video, images, formatting and design layout... everything but text is removed during extraction and reformatting. In addition to not having the time to review the video CV, in many instances, recruiters do not even have access to it.

[Rob C]

It's definitely an interesting issue, particularly in this YouTube savvy age.

With the launch of recruitment sites specifically promoting video CVs, such as http://www.jobplant.co.uk , are these really going to catch on with employers, or will they be more popular with the jobseekers, looking to raise their own profile in the professional world in the same way as they do posting clips of themselves on YouTube?