Written by: Dawn Lee

TikTok is an entertainment platform that is powered by people who are interested in finding and creating content of all genres. Creators have been redefining how engagement works and has risen in popularity. As the gen z population starts to enter the workforce, most of them use TikTok for content consumption. However, with higher unemployment rates and many cooped at home, it has led to hours of scrolling, so why not take advantage of these trends.

Indeed, the social media platform caught on and launched a new feature that allows job seekers to utilize their channel for recruitment and job discovery. Job seekers are able to post their video resumes to show their creativity and showcase their skills and experience. This new feature was recently launched last month and the social media site has already teamed up with companies such as “Chipotle, Target, WWE, Alo Yoga, Shopify, Contra, Movers+Shakers, and many more”. While it is unclear if this programme will continue in the future, it does make you wonder if this could be the future for landing a job.

With job seekers finding new ways to stand out, the ability to demonstrate their soft skills is important. According to LinkedIn, 79% of job seekers believe that job search has become even more competitive as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic; 76% of job seekers wish that there was a better way to represent themselves and 75% believe that it is insufficient to look at a standard resume for the evaluation of soft skills. All these statistics point towards a change when it comes to recruitment as a resume may not be enough anymore.

In this climate where everyone has a digital resume, extra steps have to be taken for you to stand out amongst others. With more people using videos, it has become a key channel in helping job seekers to stand out in the hiring process.

In fact, even professional platforms such as LinkedIn, have introduced new features and profile tools to help members to “better represent themselves in a more authentic way, and share their career goals and aspirations.” You will be able to post a short profile video to showcase yourself and demonstrate the soft skills you have to hiring managers and recruiters.

While job seekers are using new methods to stand out amongst their competition, it is important for companies to also evolve and accept these new trends. Currently, most companies make use of Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) to streamline their hiring processes and review applications more quickly. But there are proven cases, whereby videos and new-age technology helps to attract the right talents too. Some examples include Dropbox, Google, Starbucks and Apple, which make use of videos to promote jobs and highlight their company as an employer.

Social media and other video resumes will slowly become the new norm as the typical resume allows you to find out about a candidate’s educational qualifications and experience, but nothing about their personality or other qualities. In this new age, companies will have to stray abreast of trends in order to continuously improve and get the right talents. Is your company open to new ways of hiring? What will you do to find and attract the right people?