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Of Trojan Horses and DVDs

Columnist

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Brandon R. Blevans
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It was bound to happen. First, there was fire. Then came the wheel, followed shortly by sliced bread. Now we have Google, YouTube and MySpace. What else could we possibly invent? Well, in this era of immediate information, low attention span and “affirmation coaching” for our workforces, the ultimate development has finally arrived: video résumés. Employers throughout the country are now being inundated with self-promoting videos delivered by email link or, for the technologically challenged, postal delivery of home-burned DVDs.¹

As if reading résumés wasn’t bad enough, now instead of reading grammatically incorrect, hyperbole-ridden trifles of self-promotion, employers can lean back, grab a box of Jujy Fruits (quite possibly the best movie candy of all time) and watch would-be employees inflate their educational background and employment experiences. It’s so much better to be lied to on video than on paper, don’t you think?

All cynicism aside (for now), the phenomenon of video résumés is upon us. A single Internet search reveals dozens of sites dedicated to them, such as theedgevideoresumes.com, v-resume.com and virtualcareeragents.com.² And with them, we resurrect a permutation of the age-old debate over whether employers should accept résumés in lieu of “applications.” The original argument went something like this: Employer-created applications let employers narrow the amount of information they received to that believed relevant to the position. Unsolicited résumés, on the other hand, could provide information an employer didn’t need and, in some instances, didn’t want. This could include information about a legally protected status such as age, marital status, race, sexual orientation, and so on—all of which a disgruntled applicant could claim had been relied upon in making the decision not to hire him or her.3

Proponents of résumés have long argued that they give better insight into an employee’s experience than would a one-line rendition in an employment application. They claim the narrative found in résumés are better than applications for discriminating (legally) among employees on paper. They also argue that the risks of learning about protected information from a résumé are more theoretical than practical. They add that the risks are over-inflated by employment lawyers to create the “gloom and doom” necessary to justify our existence.

Regardless of which side you fell on in the old debate, there’s no denying that video résumés create employment law risk that employers need to be cognizant of before letting voyeuristic tendencies override better judgment. With video résumés the filter provided by the paper applications and résumés is gone; the characteristics employers hope to avoid knowing about are immediately apparent. They will have seen and heard the applicant from the outset, including race, gender, and national origin. Employers will be able to speculate about other protected statuses, such as religion and sexual orientation, based on each applicant’s presentation. The video résumé is a Trojan horse of information that employers don’t want to have initially.

What’s that written in italics? That’s right, the word “initially,” meaning (according to dictionary.com) “occurring at the beginning, first.” By necessary implication, it means that later in the hiring process, such a résumé could be worthwhile. In other words, employers might very well want to invite the Trojan horse into Troy. The critical question is: “When?”

Certainly not at the outset of a hiring process. There’s no reason for an employer who’s collecting dozens of applications for a single job position to collect video résumés from every applicant. Put down the popcorn and throw out the DVDs (or recycle them). Don’t open those links to resumevideo.com—not yet anyway. It entails too great an employment law risk. But once the candidates have been narrowed down to the few who might be interviewed, the video résumé can be a useful and time-saving tool.

Why? Because once you’re at the interview stage, unless you’re going to conduct an interview through a wall (some types of interviews are actually conducted this way, particularly in the music industry. It results in a closing of the gender gap in orchestras when auditions are conducted behind screens) you’re going to learn some information about the individual’s race, age, gender, and so forth. It’s at this point in the process that a video résumé can be a time-saving tool. Short clips from the three or four people you’ve decided to interview may save hours. You may decide to pass on the guy with bad hygiene, without having to sit through a prolonged interview wishing for a box of sanitary wipes. Or you may decide that the applicant with 48 facial piercings really does look better on paper than in person—at least for that customer service job.⁴ In such circumstances (as well as less dramatic ones), your company may find video résumés an efficient hiring tool.

¹ “Home-burned DVDs” just doesn’t have the same ring as “homemade fresh bread.” Ahh, to be back in the days when sliced bread ruled supreme.

² That name threw me for a loop, until I realized that “virtual” modified “agent” and not “career.”

³ Which must of course, be true, because the employee’s lack of experience or qualification could not possibly have been the true reason.

⁴ The TSA must love those folks in airports!