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4 Reasons Job Seekers Should Submit Video Profiles

Reasons Job Seekers Should Create a Video ProfileA great resume definitely helps, and arguably dictates the success of your job search, however, it’s being suggested that a great resume alone no longer guarantees employment.

While it may be true, job seekers have options where they can enhance their resume, many of the 8.2 percent of unemployed Americans are continuing to resort to ignored methods. While no one method is a one-size-fits-all, job seekers can demonstrate the skills and attributes that employers are looking for – such as communication and professionalism – with a video profile.

An infographic on jeffbullas.com shows YouTube is the third most visited website. It exceeds two billion views per day, and users upload 24 hours of video every minute. We live in a world where video is quickly becoming the best way to get in front of an employer, and for them to measure an applicant’s professional attributes.

To stand out in an inundated job market, job seekers should create compelling video profiles. Here’s why:

It Gets Your Foot In The Door
Many job seekers believe that if they could just make it through the initial screening process that leads to a face-to-face interview, they’d land the job in a heartbeat. Most companies won’t hire candidates without first interviewing them, but with nearly 13 million Americans unemployed, getting that foot in the door is becoming increasingly difficult.

A video profile serves much of the same purpose of the first few minutes of a face-to-face interview. It demonstrates a candidate’s professionalism and communication skills, but, more importantly, it demonstrates passion.

You Can Provide More Information
On average, we speak at a rate of approximately 100-150 words per minute. More importantly, a video profile can keep a person’s attention longer than a printed cover letter or resume alone. In fact, a 2009 survey of more than 2,000 hiring managers, HR representatives and recruiters showed that 90 percent of those interviewed never even glanced at cover letters.

While not everyone has thrown cover letters away, sending a 30-60 second video along with your brief cover letter, provides more information in a much more efficient method than sending a full page cover letter that will potentially be ignored.

You Can Show Your Personality
Written communication is often cold, not to mention misunderstood. As PR Daily reported, senders believe their tone will be properly interpreted 80 percent of the time when, in actuality, online messages are misinterpreted nearly 50 percent of the time. Some job seekers attempting to incorporate their personalities into outdated forms of written communication have felt the cold, harsh sting of reality.

While I don’t suggest being overly elaborate when creating a video profile or boring HR to tears with long, drawn-out answers, I do believe you can successfully integrate your personality more easily in a video profile than what you can in print alone. Video highlights your enthusiasm and, if the hiring manager looks very closely, they can see it in your eyes, too!

It Demonstrates Forward Thinking
There’s no denying the strong hold technology has in business. (If you really insist on denying it, count how many of your friends use their smartphone to check work email.) Companies want to bring aboard forward thinking job seekers who embrace and understand technology in business.

A video profile demonstrates to potential employers that you possess multimedia skills that may benefit the company in the future. It also shows that you understand technology’s ever-increasing role in business.

What do you think? Are video profiles a great way job seekers can showcase their professional attributes?

Heather Huhman

Heather R. Huhman is the Career & Recruiting Advisor for Spark Hire. She writers career and recruiting advice for numerous outlets, and is the author of Lies, Damned Lies & Internships: The Truth About Getting from Classroom to Cubicle (2011), and #ENTRYLEVELtweet: Taking Your Career from Classroom to Cubicle (2010). Connect with Heather and Spark Hire on Facebook and Twitter.

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