Larger companies and popular employers receive, on average, a whopping 85 applications for every vacancy advertised. Going through the pile to discard any applications with spelling mistakes or terrible grammar is a good way to start the candidate screening process. Yet even after that, there will be plenty of applications left to sift through.
A good way to identify candidates with a little more innovation and imagination than the rest is to look out for video CVs. Sent as an addition, or even alternative to a traditional paper-based CV, video recruitment tools are growing in popularity in the UK and beyond. Candidates film themselves talking about their skills, qualifications, experience and values and employers get to see and hear them present their case in a more compelling way than just the written word.
Here are four more reasons, recommended by recruitment specialists, Meet The Real Me, why employers should watch out for video CVs in their next recruitment round.
Screen chemistry
Hearing someone talk and seeing how they present themselves will give an employer valuable insight into their character, confidence levels and personality traits. The viewer can see how the candidate might fit into their team and how they come across to an audience. This is crucial for a customer-facing roles, or sales positions. Usually, a charismatic video CV will translate into a popular, effective team member.
Body language
Exaggerating, or even falsifying qualifications and experience is very easy to do on paper. On camera, it is far harder, as nine times out of ten, a person’s body language will give them away. Employers can identify falsehoods through tone of voice and gestures (looking down, touching the nose or mouth and fidgeting). Of course, these could be down to other issues, but it at least it could might flag up a potential issues.
Repeat viewings
Video CVs allow the viewer to watch the application more than once, and to share with colleagues to solicit their opinions. A candidate’s strengths and weaknesses can be discussed at the same time as the video is running to see if everyone in the room thinks the same about them. Additionally, written CVs sometimes include ambiguous statements or confusing syntax. When a person is explaining their skills and presenting their case for employment verbally, there is far less opportunity for misunderstandings.
Keeping up with the times
Good candidates are drawn to forward-thinking companies. If you can show that you embrace up-to-date technology, including use video as part of your recruitment campaigns, you will attract high calibre of candidates. Video CVs reduce interview times too, by cutting out the short-listing stage and going straight to interview with a better idea how a person will present themselves, so you’ll know what to expect right from the start.
More and more UK universities are using video technology to showcase their students and help them look for jobs. It also helps ease the process for applicants from abroad, who can submit the video clips in place of a first-round interview and so cut down on travel time and costs. It’s definitely something employers should be signing up to, to avoid missing out on some of the best candidates out there.