I posted earlier today on the increasing emphasis placed on physical attractiveness in a world of cheap, universally available video. I was inspired to write that piece when I learned that Sam Lawrence, CMO of Jive Software, is recruiting for a director of communications using video.

He started by posting a video job requisition encouraging candidates to reply by video. Initially, Jive did not get any video responses, but a few were posted, like this one:

Click To Play

For the most part, I like this idea. It is particularly appropriate for recruiting a director of communications. Jive wants someone who is articulate, intelligent, well spoken, creative, and maybe a bit fearless. Jive also did a great job having several Jive employees and agency representatives on the requisition video to give candidates additional perspective on the company.

As for candidates, remember, once you post a video to a public site like Blip.tv, you have now interviewed with perhaps thousands of people. If another employer finds your video through a search, and they will, it will influence their perceptions of you as a candidate. If your video presents you well, great. If not, maybe you should delete it when you know the current search is done.

It’s nothing new in public relations and communications to hire attractive young people. And it’s perfectly acceptable that an employer recruit someone well spoken and articulate, and not unattractive, in a visible role as a company spokesperson.

Nonetheless, the video interview/application presents ethical issues for the employer. The most troublesome of these is that a video tells an employer the age of the applicant, information which has generally been unethical and illegal to collect. I hope employers will use this information fairly. To not do so would be unfair to candidates and might cause an employer to overlook highly qualified candidates who might not be at their best performing on the “small screen.”

Tags: jive software, video requisition, video application, blip.tv