Don't Stand in the Doorways Don't Block up the Halls

Morgan Stanley's contest to choose an Intern (part of the "Ultimate Internship Contest") brings home just how much Youtube and sites like it have the potential to change job search.

Let's face it, a resume is a highly imperfect way for a company to choose whether you are the right candidate. A resume tells the employer more about your writing skills and ability to sell yourself than it does about your ability to do the job. So it's not surprising that companies and job seekers would explore other means of making a match.

Now Morgan Stanley, along with other major companies such as The Gap, Yahoo! and NBC, is running a contest to select an intern based on videos they submit. You can watch the videos here.

Now, I hate being filmed. I hate the way I look. I hate the way my voice sounds. I avoid cameras like the plague, sometimes trampling women and children to avoid having my picture taken, so my initial reaction to the idea of using videos for job applications goes something like this:

"It'll never work because video resumes will favor people who look and sound good on video, not necessarily people who are best for the job."

Sound familiar?

The Internet is changing everything (my mantra these days!) and video resumes are just an example of that. And there's never any point of standing in the way of change - it's inevitable that people will start to use video to communicate with potential employers.

That said, I think the question for you as a job seeker is whether video will work for you. Are you comfortable on camera? Can you be engaging or funny or thought-provoking? Can you impress other people with your presence? If so, why not incorporate video into your job search now? Sites like Youtube and Gofish make it possible for anyone to create a video message for potential employers.

If you're like me, and you're pretty sure that a video would be hurtful to your job search, don't go there! But take the video idea and run with it. How else can you leverage the new web 2.0 sites to improve your job search? Perhaps you could do something with Squidoo? Or MySpace? Perhaps you could use a photo site like Fickr to create an impressive slideshow that tells a story of your career.

The times they are definitely a' changin' and you can win if you figure out a way to capitalize on that change.

Comments

[Sandi Hubert]

Times are changing and we all need to get on board with the virtual future. I agree - online resumes can be considered innovative or jobseeker suicide. There are some interesting articles about Online Resumes that Forbes.com did last month and this month. See my Online Resumes blog http://blog.eliteitservices.com/2006/11/online_resumes.html#more
I'm becoming an avid fan of your blog - great information for our prospective candidates.