March 19, 2015

By Dr. Roy Carriker

Newly released Hart Research Associates research found that, in surveying employers of recent college graduates, only 45 percent of the 400 employers surveyed characterized a student job candidate’s resume and college transcript as being between highly (9 percent) and fairly (36 percent) useful in evaluating the applicant’s potential for success in their company.

Overall, 80 percent of the employers felt an electronic portfolio of a student’s work that demonstrates a candidate’s accomplishments in key skill and knowledge areas would be helpful.

Why this matters:

Certainly, electronic portfolios are not very common today. However, in this Internet Age, a brief but well-scripted video resume can go a long way in differentiating you as a prospective job candidate. First, the company can see you and hear you speak. Second, you can make a concise pitch as to why you are an excellent fit to the position being offered. And finally, your video is going to be much more memorable than piles of paper from the competition. Today, many firms use word scanners to weed out that pile of resumes. A video resume can skip the pile and keep you in the game.

If you try a video resume, remember: dress appropriately, make sure the lighting and sound quality is adequate, and present yourself before a plain backdrop. Look into the camera and don’t appear to be reading (cue cards are OK). After all, you are talking about yourself and your fit for the job — something you should have down cold!

Get a friend to be your camera person and make your video about 3 minutes, tops. Any longer and you’re wasting the viewer’s time.

How hard can it be? You can practice doing video selfies with your smart phone. Have fun with it until you are comfortable!