CareerBuilder Adding Video Resumes

By: E&P Staff CareerBuilder.com, the newspaper-owned jobs site that has been hit this week by defections to Yahoo, announced Wednesday that it will be the first big online help-wanted site to launch a video resume service.

CareerBuilder is principally owned by Tribune Co. and Gannett Co., with a minority interest owned by The McClatchy Co., which Monday became the biggest chain to join in a revenue-sharing jobs site venture with Yahoo. It is the nation's biggest job site, with more than 21 million unique visitors and over 1.5 million jobs on offer.

CareerBuilder said it would launch the video resume service in the second quarter of this year. It follows last year's launch of CareerBuilder.com's Video BrandBuilder, a service that lets employers post videos of their workplace, employee experience and job opportunities.

CareerBuilder said a Harris Interactive survey it commissioned at the end of last year showed 60% of over 2,200 hiring managers and human resource professionals expressed "some interest" in seeing video resumes of jobs candidates. Nearly half, 49%, of about 6,000 workers surveyed expressed some willingness to post a video resume to capture the attention of prospective employers, the company said.

"With our new video resume service, job seekers can bring more dimension and personality to their paper resume, and make a memorable impression on employers," said Liz Harvey, CareerBuilder.com's director of consumer products. "Employers, in turn, can save time and money by learning more about a candidate before an in-person interview."

CareerBuilder.com used a video resume function earlier this year in conjunction with a nationwide, online "dream job" contest to win an honorary job for a day at Disneyland.

The employer-side video service, launched last September, allows employers to purchase 60-second or 90-second videos featuring footage of such things as their work environment, products, benefits, mission, and community involvement. Depending on the package selected, CareerBuilder.com creates a script, hires a videographer to shoot multiple locations, and provides editing, including animation and voice-over.