Last week, social media platform TikTok announced a short-term pilot program, called TikTok Resumes, where users create a video resume, post it, and then send that video to recruiters through the app. More than 30 companies including Chipotle, Target, and Shopify signed up to accept resumes for the pilot, which will last until July 31.
Here are two reasons why we love this program as the future of recruiting:
- A New Future for Recruiting?- Whether this TikTok pilot program turns into a full-time service offering or some other platform emerges to fill the gap, clearly the standard recruiting process is somewhat broken, especially for entry level and creative jobs. Does a cover letter truly express a candidate’s abilities or only give evidence a person can copy a template from google and tweak it appropriately? You can’t fake a three minute video but you can let your personality shine through and show why you are deeply passionate about a company and its mission.
- Meet Your Candidate Pool Where They Are – If people are already spending their time creating content for the TikTok, why not eliminate frictions and allow them to easily apply for a job with your company through the social network? There’s a good chance that as an employer you can reach a wider audience than simply posting on a job board. In my opinion, this makes so much sense for roles like the Detroit Pistons’ video producer where a candidate’s video can quickly highlight the relevant skill set.
Time will tell whether video resumes begin widely replacing paper resumes and cover letters for recruiters but I’m bullish that this TikTok pilot represents the start to a changing of the guard. Worst case scenario, I have to imagine evaluating candidates will be way more entertaining.
From conversations with multiple organizations, hiring has been challenging coming out of the pandemic, specifically for gameday staff with the season around the corner. Could this pilot program inspire you to change your HR process and attract younger, more digitally native employers?
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