ajcjobs > BlogBreak > Archives > 2007 > June > 22 > Entry
A picture is worth a thousand words
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
For years, the practice of putting a photo of yourself to accompany your resume has been considered passe, if not, downright tacky.
I’ll never forget a story a recruiter told me years ago about a job seeker who had submitted his resume for a pharmaceutical sales job. It wasn’t just that the jobseeker’s employment history as a milkman was unrelated to the medical profession, but that the candidate attached a picture of himself in his milkman uniform. He proudly explained in his cover letter that he felt qualified for the role because he delivered milk to numerous physicians’ houses. Although the candidate’s credentials and cover letter weren’t compelling enough to land him the job, the picture indicated he didn’t know the unspoken ‘rules’ of the job search, subjecting himself to the recruiter’s ridicule. What rules, you may ask?
Although I think the word ‘rules’ may be unfair because there is no governing body to clarify the ‘rights’ and ‘wrongs’ of job seeking, some form of punishment is experienced when you go against popular job search methods. The punishment is usually experienced in the form of rejection, and in the worst cases, can be experienced as humiliation. The reason including photographs became such a ‘no-no’ long ago was likely due to equal opportunity laws.
Human Resource professionals, who are obligated to prove they are not discriminating in their employment practices, became leery of having pictures attached to resumes since an individual’s race, age, or ethic background may be apparent in a picture. The internet, however, has begun reversing these trends. It seems that since YouTube is here to stay, video resumes may become a new ‘rule’ in successful job hunting. With Facebook and Jobster in the midst of launching video resumes on their site, you may be challenged now with the ominous task of writing your resume, as well as producing a video that is going to ‘speak volumes’ about you.
It’s one thing to claim you have ‘superior communication skills’ in your resume and it’s an entirely different challenge to prove it on a video. The bright side of this impending trend is that you can allow your personality to shine through in a video. On the flip side, a poorly produced video, or even worse, one that is produced in poor taste may allow you to humiliate yourself.
My advice is that if you’re going to be an early adopter of this multi-media job search strategy, make sure you produce a video that enhances your image and doesn’t seriously hinder you from getting a job. That means no bathing suits, beer cans, and behavior unbecoming of a future employee!
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