Vlogs & Infographics: Replacing the Resume

Are paper resumes dead?

Paper resumes still have their place, however, it is becoming more and more clear that candidates want to stand out and paper is no longer the only way.

I’ve been hearing, seeing and reading about a bunch of different people who are going after the companies that they want to work for. These candidates are making videos, creating blog spaces and creating entire social campaigns just to get their dream company’s attention.

I remember when I was in college (Art Institute of Philadelphia) we had a mini portfolio class where we had to share our resumes. I created one with a splash of color, totally different than anything I’ve ever seen or done before. I got a C- for that week because I did not create a realistic resume. Literally all I did was create a logo for myself and add primary colors here and there. It was too much back in 2006.

I am oh so happy to know that my efforts then would now be considered sub-par. Even in the past 2 weeks, I’ve come across 2 applications that take your LinkedIn profile and will aggregate all of your information to come up with a lovely and simple infographic. Vizualize only aggregates information from your LinkedIn profile. And last week our very own Jen Hitchens talked about the Brazen Careesist latest Facebook application that allows you to pull together information from Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. (Check out that post here) It’s a really great idea and I’m excited to see if it catches on!

Below I have added some of my favorite resumes, campaigns and HIREME videos.

Bianca created a blog to showcase all the reasons why Chipolte should hire her for a social media /PR position. She included links to all of her specialties like social media, PR, and writing and also included her resume with a great “about me” section. Along with those efforts, Bianca created a Twitter account (@HireMeChipolte) to help her campaign go viral. All of her followers are eagerly waiting to see if Chipolte gets back to her. Do you think they will? If you were Chipolte would you consider this applicant?

This takes me to my next favorite campaign. This comes from Matthew Epstien. After leaving his last job, Matthew created a video that was posted on You Tube. His site (GooglePleaseHireMe) was where he posted the video, talked about the position he wanted and gave employers his contact information. The viral video made for great entertainment and after everything was said and done Matthew did end up with a job.

However, it was not at Google. His initial goal was to land at least a telephone interview (which he did get) but later he found out he did not get the job. Matthew was offered a position with an up and coming startup (SigFig), which he is very excited to be working with.

The most impressive thing about this campaign are the metrics:

And finally…

QR CODE – Content-rich Resume from Victor petit on Vimeo.

This video is great, because it takes a pretty normal looking CV and transforms it into something different, something that stands out.

Did I miss any good ones? What are some of your favorite non-conventional resumes?

OR

If you ever received a resume like this would you be impressed? Or would you ignore it?