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Job hunting for Gen Y: the app that turns your phone into a video recruitment agency

Your smartphone camera could possibly be your ticket to that dream job you’ve been pursuing. How? Through a new South African-developed app called Impress Me.

Impress Me works very much like normal job-hunting services, employers advertise positions, you search for any that you qualify for and apply for it by uploading a short video of yourself showcasing who you are, what you do and the skills you possess, in the hopes of impressing potential employers. If an employer likes your video, they can get in contact with you to set up a formal interview.

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Kalahari, Price Check, RunwaySale, Groupon and RSA Web have already signed up as employers on Impress Me. It takes as little as two minutes to post a job and employers have the luxury to register, login, edit and view applicant video’s from both the web and mobile app.

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Impress Me is still in its infancy, so the company is currently busy with a new iteration of development which will provide both the employer and job seeker with additional functionalities and features, according to Martin Ras, CEO at Byte Orbit, the developers behind Impress Me.

But why video? What’s the benefit thereof?

“From a company perspective we have found that although a curriculum vitae (CV) conveys most of the information that we require prior to doing an interview, it fails to convey the personality of the job seeker,” says Ras, “Employers want to understand if the candidate’s skill-set is suited, but also whether that candidate will fit into the company culture.

“If the employer can have a glimpse of the prospective job seeker and their personality prior to inviting them for an interview it will streamline the process of recruitment.”

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Not all people feel confident in front of any camera, and the concern might be that a bad performance in front of your phone would prejudice employers against you. But Ras says that shouldn’t a deterrent for applicants.

“Ever taken a selfie? Well, a video selfie is not actually that different from a photo selfie,” he says, “Yes it requires some preparation with regards to what you would like to convey through to your prospective employer, however, you have an unlimited amount of time for retaking and practising your video selfie before submitting it.”

Good video snippets are those which are honest and don’t try to hard, says Ras.

“Also, the idea is not to convey your resume through in 60 seconds, but rather to give an introduction about yourself and why you would be suited for the advertised position,” he says, “Ultimately the job seeker needs to prepare themselves for the potential of being invited to an interview, so what better place and opportunity is this not for them to actually practise and perfect their interview skills?”

You can download Impress Me for Android, iOS and web. Try your hand at it and if it works out well for you, do let us know.

[Main image – Shutterstock]

 

 

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