Make a Video, Get a Job
by Adam Leipzig
“That’s creepy,” my daughter said. “It’s just an internship. But to apply I have to post a video on You Tube.”
Creepy or not, that’s the future. Two generations ago, you sent a letter of inquiry. One generation ago you sent an email. Today you send a video.
With good reason. We get so much more information with a visual. I prefer to video-chat instead of just talk on the phone – facial expression and nuance convey volumes. With free services like Skype and Google video, I can communicate more clearly and less expensively than by phone.
The iPhone and other smart phones come with rudimentary editing software built-in, so you can shoot a video, edit it and upload it all with the same device.
Video is today’s killer app, in the same way that email was the killer app of Internet Generation One.
Which brings us back to job applications. Our parents had to take a typing test to be considered for work. Today’s generation will have to take a video test.
Video literacy is the fast becoming the fundamental literacy for our workforce and our lives. With this shift, will we begin to move from a culture of written traditions back to a culture of oral traditions?
We’ll explore that question more in upcoming posts this year.
Image from someone applying for a Sierra Club internship.
Send to KindleFiled Under: FILM + VIDEO, TECHNOLOGIES
Comments (6)
Patricia Rae Freed
February 14th, 2011 at 4:32 PM
As a 69 year old woman who has been "saved" by great writing (and made a few, futile attempts myself at the written word), I reserve judgement. Let me think about this, take some time; another old fashioned idea.
David Cay Johnston
February 14th, 2011 at 6:13 PM
The video requirement may also be illegal.
Years ago employers routinely warned people with hiring authority not to take Polaroids (chemical instant pictures) of applicants because they could be identified by race (and for ambiguous names by gender) and this could become an issue if a pattern of discrimination were alleged.
jack grapes
February 15th, 2011 at 5:52 PM
I think this whole video idea a good one. My pet turtle was kidnapped a few weeks ago and the ransom note was illiterate and illegible, but the video demanding $100 in quarters to be put in a Chase & Sanborn coffee canister and placed next to the giant sloth sculpture in the park at LACMA was perfect. The kidnapper spoke with a French accent, had a patch over one eye, a scar down his left cheek, and in the background, by chance, we could see a bill from the phone company (we had to call in CSI to enhance it) with his name and address clearly visible. We could also see my pet turtle next to his arm in a bowl with water and a rock, being well cared for. Police arrived within minutes and my turtle was rescued. The page is dead; Long live video!
ps., I'd send this via Skype, but I'm having trouble removing the turban from my head.
Jordan Ancel
February 22nd, 2011 at 10:13 PM
Resumé-writing services will soon be gone, only to be be replaced with video resumé production services. For the right job, I could imagine someone hiring Michael Bay to do the video resume, or maybe Weta Workshop to do some killer, Avatar-like effects. Maybe have some voice over:BLACKV.O.In a world where jobs a scarce and money has become the new money, one man seeks a position in…TITLE CARD: The Mail RoomV.O. (cont'd)A mail room!SMASH CUTINT. MAILROOM — DAYA flurry of envelopes sail through the air in slow-mo as a MAIL CART careers off the side of a desk…
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You get the idea.
Jordan Ancel
February 22nd, 2011 at 10:14 PM
Hm…so much for using html for formatting…
Norman Allen
July 1st, 2012 at 1:23 PM
What a great piece, Adam. It made me proud to be an occasional Cultural Weekly contributor. Many thanks.
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