Two filmmakers took turns interviewing each other many years ago. A quote from that session is ringing in my ears. It was from French director François Truffaut, who was talking to Alfred Hitchcock. Truffaut cautioned against giving out too much information.
SmartMoney Magazine’s Anne Kadet sounded downright Truffaut-like in her article, Video Resumes Reveal Too Much, Too Soon. Her beef: Just because we can do something doesn’t mean we should. She has a point.
The quote from Truffaut was a defense of his selective use of black-and-white, in the days when brilliant Technicolor movies were everywhere. He said (and I’m paraphrasing slightly), “If I show a helicopter landing, you want to focus the viewer on that fact, and its passengers. Showing that the helicopter is red is not only unnecessary, it could be distracting.”
Hitchcock, making a reference to black-and-white virtuosos like Fritz Lang, agreed. (As an aside: See why by checking out Lang’s 1932 masterpiece, M.)
The SmartMoney article takes the argument for similar restraint where many of us live — recruitment. It talks about often disastrous video “interviews,” produced by people who attempt to sell themselves and their skills online. Here’s an excerpt:
Video résumés aren’t new, but as high unemployment drags on, they’re increasingly pitched to job hunters looking to stand out. Colleen Aylward, CEO of video service InterviewStudio.com, says she sees a new competitor launch just about every week. The services are popular with career counselors as well. Todd Lempicke, founder of OptimalResume.com, says more than 260 colleges, libraries and job centers will be offering his video services to their constituents, double the number in 2009.
… When done right, the results can be impressive: It’s a chance to flaunt engaging qualities that a paper CV can’t capture. But more often, the effort goes horribly wrong.
It starts with the titles. Some job hunters name their production “Hire Me,” as if they were inanimate objects in a Lewis Carroll novel. The dramatic opening follows: Candidates introduce themselves with thundering music and space-age graphics. My favorite: the job hopeful who sits in a dark room posing as Rodin’s The Thinker, as the words determination, motivation and desire float overhead. And few can resist an evocative backdrop. Candidates shout from windy rooftops, lounge in libraries or pose against a backdrop of shooting stars.
The list of video bloopers goes on, painfully.
Compare this with our platform, which uses original voice to convey “less.” Original voice uses thin-slicing to reveal only what’s important about a candidate. Interviews are also more easily showcased by a recruiter to hiring managers. Our captured interviews become a set of easily-managed digital assets.
Many clients tell us that they are hooked on our less-is-more approach. Try this 5-minute demo to see for yourself.
As absurd as it sounds, reducing interview budgets is what I’ve witnessed with many of our clients. The key is leveraging technology to improve or maintain the quality of candidates while reducing the number of interview hours per hire — and significantly reducing cost per hire.
Hearing those is akin to stepping into an exhibit at a public museum. Insights uncovered can be that rich and revealing.
The Rise of the Serial Entrepreneur
Based on your feedback we’ve improved the way you can review and benchmark your company’s recruitment efforts. We’ve created a “My Stats” island, which now appears in both the application and the interface that Bullhorn Marketplace* users would see.