$aving Green

PHILADELPHIA,– In the Golden Ages of job hunting a crisp suit, perfect resume and great references was all that one needed to impress a potential employer, however new developments in online recruiting methods are changing the rules of the game.

Video resumes, social networking sites such as Facebook and “a day in the life of a Company” videos are changing the way employers recruit and students job hunt, but are more traditional forms of recruitment getting lost in the digital world?

In 2007, Universum, the global employer branding leader helping companies – through research and consulting – understand and develop their Employer Brand Image and Employer Value Proposition, surveyed over 60,000 undergraduate and MBA students from schools across the United States. In the Universum IDEAL™ Employer Survey, students answered questions about their career expectations, top industries, career goals, salary expectations, IDEAL™ employers and recruitment strategies.

When pursuing an IDEAL™ Employer, students look to the internet to research companies. According to the study, company websites (36 percent) are the No. 1 place to find information about employers.

Career fairs (31 percent) are the second most popular place to gather information and are followed by articles in publications (25 percent), advertisements in career publications (25 percent) and career websites/internet job boards (21 percent).

It is clear that these savvy students are obtaining a well rounded view of potential employers by not only looking at company websites, but also looking at what is written about employers in noteworthy publications.

After they are done researching, students must apply to these top companies, but how can one candidate stand out amongst thousands of applicants? The traditional resume is still honored when applying for a job, but in order to stand out among the competition some students are hopping onto the trend of video resumes.

In about two minutes, these bright students can not only tell potential employers about past job experience, but also they have the ability to add more personality and flair than a traditional paper resume.

CareerTV.com, sister company of Universum and the first and only global interactive TV and video website designed to help college students and young professionals develop long-lasting careers within the world’s top companies, allows students to upload both video resumes and traditional resumes onto a personal profile to get ahead of competition. CareerTV.com not only houses video resumes, but also they offer hundreds of employer videos for students and potential employees to see what it’s really like to work at a particular organization.

Students are not alone in this pursuit of success, employers are also taking advantage of this new wave of internet recruitment. Companies like Ernst & Young are utilizing CareerTV.com to post company videos and even creating Facebook.com profiles to attract top talent.

“This is employer branding at its finest,” says Claudia Tattanelli, CEO of Universum USA. “In order for companies to stay ahead, they have to speak to top potential employees in their own language. Employers are now in the process of revamping their strategies to bring their employer brand to the top by using the very best and most targeted channels.”

Yes, video resumes are an innovation in the world of recruiting, but they have not completely ruled out the traditional, well–written resume. Students are now being forced to create a portfolio of tactics to move to the top of the interview pile.

On the other hand, employers will have to do more research if their goal is to attract, recruit and retain top talent. Only the savviest of them all will prevail and succeed in this digital recruitment war.

Source:  Universum  

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