Stay Put and Land a Job

Still get the jitters while facing an interview? Or do you hate the idea of travelling long distance for the gruelling session? Well, with most of the companies opting for video resumes and video conferencing to recruit people, these fears are fast being allayed.

And while the companies use this technology to save time on short-listing of candidates, the applicants revel at the idea. Companies, besides cutting down on time, travelling expenses and the pain of going though hundreds of CVs, are now preferring to gauge their prospective employee on the basis of how he talks, gesticulates, responds – or just on how presentable he is.

We talk to professionals from different fields who give their take on this fast growing trend.

"Oh yes, we've been arranging video conferencing to interview candidates who are based in places as far as New York and London. It makes our reach to the best talent so convenient," confirms Jayant Krishna, regional head of a leading corporate house.

"Besides, in fields like ours the corporate sector, hospitality industry or media where it's important that the candidate is also presentable enough apart from having good qualification and experience, such conferencing helps quicken the short-listing process.

After all, the non-verbal part the mannerisms, body language and expressions make for an equally important aspect. The candidate is, however, required to come down for the final round of selection," he adds.

But isn't it strange that despite having the best qualification, one may still lose out to the other where 'presentability' factor is concerned? "So what? That's the way it is these days. See, business is all about selling yourself, and that's what each company looks for in a candidate during the placements And it is just to ensure this, that companies travel down all the way from different places to personally meet the students (as in the IITs) before offering them jobs," states Prof Rajeev Sinha, Chairman, Placement Committee, IIT-Kanpur.

"And at times when they can't, video conferencing is the next bright option these days. So, to make our students doubly prepared, we've been conducting workshops on the campus to groom our students on the physical aspect," he adds.

Supriya Srivastava, director of a private International Bank, Hyderabad, who has gone through this type of interview twice, shares, "For my first job, my entire placement procedure, with the bosses sitting in Bangalore, happened via video conferencing till I finally got the job without even meeting them.

And for my present job, I had my bosses interviewing me from Switzerland. The best part is that not only your employer but even the candidate can actually assess the expressions of the boss and gauge his response. So, even though the physical proximity was not there, I was relaxed because I could at least see my recruiters."

But while the idea could be a pleasant one for some, ad guru Prahlad Kakkar begs to differ. "How can you actually recruit a person without meeting him? At least where the ad world is concerned, I can't risk employing a person on the basis of what I see or hear via a webcam.

The idea seems more feasible in companies where mass employments are to be made but not where you have very select appointments to make."

All right, so where video conferencing gets a thumbs-down from Kakkar, video resume is a complete no-no for all. While Jayant Krishna feels, "Video resumes lack the aspect of interaction", for Rajeev Sinha, "The candidates look more artistic than professional when they go to the studios to get themselves shot. They are more tutored than natural."

Well, to each his own!

Source: www.timesgroup.com