The exploding video resume

I hope that someday we come to find out that Aleksey Varner (née Garber) has a wicked sense of humor. But based on what I have seen, he's totally serious. Aleksey gets an A+ in cheesy eighties business book metaphors and seems to have mastered the high art of taking himself too seriously. Luckily, we don't suffer from that here.

Now I would never condone the posting of someone's resume online without his/her consent (and I think that the person that did it should be punished...don't ever worry about sending a resume to me, even if it's this bad), but at the same time, I think the video underscores the importance of humility and a sense of humor if you are going to do an online resume. And also, alleged fraud is wrong too (follow the links, my friends). It's kind of like opening a restaurant. Most fail so you better be good and you better be different. Taking business advice from a fake-business person, faux professional athlete and a so-called practicing eastern healer? No thank you. I'll ask our human resources department to get back to you. Oh, I'm in the human resources department? Darn!

Follow the links to the IvyGateBlog and the story unwinds. I'm speechless.

Thanks to Dave for the tip.

Comments

• Anonymous
  October 18, 2006
  Did you checkout some of the comments people are leaving on youtube?  What are some of these people thinking? " I hate to break it to all of you, but he is just the sort of person who becomes wildly successful. He's so focused and determined. You think this is insufferable - wait 3-5 years until he has his own reality show or he appears on "The Bachelor." I'm guessing he's here to stay and our success-worshipping culture is going to pay a lot of attention to him!" "I agree with travelmom37 . In a few years, Alek is probably going to be a lot more successful than any of the people laughing at his video resume. It really wasn't his fault he got a bad director to do this! You go Aleksey!" "sorry to say it but this guy is going to make it big time, and he's gonna have the last laugh" I hope these individuals were just joking around!!  If not, expect to get quite a few 11-page false resumés with videos attached! -Erich

• Anonymous
  October 18, 2006
  You're right most video resumes today are cheesey, but make no mistake, they are the wave of the future.  Posting resumes online 15 years ago was seen as a pretty bad idea, but look the industry today.  Video is coming and when the right people get this in the right format it will rock the recruiting industry.   When it comes to video less is more but in a job market that is increasingly competitve getting an interview is often harder than landing the job.  As a professional recruiter I would rather see 10 to 15 seconds of video from candidates than wade through 100s or 1000s of resumes and 10s or 100s of interviews before I find an individual who has what it takes.  To many people flat-out lie on their resumes and video makes it much harder to lie.   Bank on video resumes for the future, it will work.

• Anonymous
  October 18, 2006
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  October 22, 2006
  When I saw the video a week ago, I thought it was someone making fun of Aleksey.  After watching it the second time, I realized that it wasn't a joke, but it sure was funny.

• Anonymous
  November 01, 2006
  There were plenty of resumes and job postings online in 1991 on USENET newsgroups though those were, of course, mostly computing-related jobs and job seekers.  It isn't like today where people from all walks of life are posting job openings and resumes online.

• Anonymous
  November 08, 2006
  video resume is great. this is the future man!

• Anonymous
  January 12, 2007
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  February 22, 2007
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  February 23, 2007
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  March 07, 2007
  Video Resumes won’t replace traditional application documents such as cover letters, transcripts, even CV. They will be an add-on. See this example here: http://www.gocvone.com/cvone_live.244.0.html

• Anonymous
  May 28, 2008
  To the person that posted their "advertisement" for their video resume service, you have got to be kidding me. I deleted it. This is my blog, not a place for you to post advertisements. And video resumes are many things, but the fact that you refer to them as "efficient" is making me giggle. That they are not!

• Anonymous
  June 03, 2008
  My apologies if you thought my previous comments were an advertisement.  I was simply trying to add to the "discussion" that is what Blogs are all about is it not? Video resumes are very effective and efficient, and that's not only my opinion!  There are many major businesses and corporations using video resumes as a precursor to the hiring process.  That is the reality of it. The other reality of it is that there are many people with a fear of some kind and negative opinions towards video resumes.  It can go either way. I did misunderstand the discussion part of this blog, it appears to be only for negative opinions!  so I will stop adding to the discussion now! Again, my apologies for that so called advertisement, it wasn't intended to be.

• Anonymous
  June 04, 2008
  It is, but when your comment came off like an advertisement, not anything that added to the disuccussion, plus your name linked to a video resume company, I have a problem with it. Don't you consider that a conflict of interest?  Or feel a little icky? I would.  You do work for a video resume company, right? And I don't know any "major" companies using video resumes. But if you want to "add to the discussion", you can educate us and tell us who they are. I'd love to know about it.