I read an article on the BBC website the other day which I felt nicely summed up the increasing move away from the traditional job hunt, namely:
- Flick through the jobs section of the newspaper
- Circle the jobs that interest you
- Fire of a CV
- Wait and, maybe, hope
Now job seekers are able to be much more proactive in how they court prospective employers.
New, technically elaborate CVs utilising images, video and sound are becoming more and more common. A casual search on You Tube or Google Videos will turn up dozens if not hundreds of so called VCVs or ‘Video Curriculum Vitaes’.
Many job seekers find this to be a much better way of presenting themselves as it allows them to project their character and personality in a way that the traditional print CV does not. It’s also an excellent way to demonstrate technical skills and a willingness to embrace modern technology and techniques, something very desirable in today’s constantly changing world.
I wonder where this trend will go, in five years time will HR be buying in special glasses to experience a candidate’s 3d CV?
The other thing the BBC touched on was the increase in professional social networking, the prevalence of sites like LinkedIn in helping job seekers identify companies they believe match their skills and personalities as well as vice versa. Integrated profile information and references allow for a very powerful tool, both for presenting yourself to an employer and for identifying potential recruits for your own business.
Given the horror stories you sometimes hear about candidates having their job prospects torpedoed by inadvisable Facebook photos i can only think the increasing development of the professional social network is a good thing.
Given how profoundly the changing world is effecting recruitment at the moment I can only watch the future with great interest.
Great post Bill, food for thought.
The question is, are we prepared as an industry to cope with rapid change?
I currently work at a recruitment agency and it is amazing how in the last year alone how much the industry has changed. The credit crunch forced people to re-think how they market themselves and though I’d never use my Facebook profile to find work if done with some thought it could be very lucrative.
Personally I prefer Linkedin for my professional online profile.
I think the VCV’s are a great way for candidates to put forward their skills in certain industries, however, it’s going to be a while until the masses can grasp how to put together such elaborate examples – or even be able to afford such luxuries.
From the employers side, a VCV is much more time consuming than scan reading a traditional CV, as you are unable to zoom in on the sections you’re particularly interested in in video format.
For these reasons, I feel that although VCV’s have their place – it isn’t in mainstream recruitment.