Video Resumes: Gettin’ Down With YouTube

Gettin’ Down With YouTube

Just before the anniversary of Aleksey Vayner’s widely publicized, universally panned—and apparently unsuccessful—attempt at using a video resume to land a job at UBS, paper resumes may be going by the wayside. According to a March 2007 survey by the career information provider Vault Inc., 89% of employers said they’d like to see more video resumes. But maybe the industry just needs a little more hype. Enter Diddy. The hip-hop mogul recently posted a video on YouTube asking for applicants to upload a “video interview” telling him why they’d be the best assistant. “It’s a new age, a new time, a new era,” Diddy says in his video. Will CIOs follow his lead when looking for new talent? That remains to be seen. One caveat: Following Diddy’s video, a quick blurb appears telling applicants for gigs at his company, Bad Boy Entertainment, where to send their cover letters. The hard copies, that is.

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Crime Technology: Liberty vs. Security

The American Civil Liberties Union, that keeper of constitutional rights, is protesting a license-plate scanning system used by a police department in suburban Cincinnati. The scanner—two cameras mounted on a cruiser, to be exact—can capture 900 or so plates an hour. Since 2004, it’s helped police recover almost 100 stolen vehicles and make 111 arrests, police in Springdale, Ohio, told WBNS-TV in Columbus. But the ACLU says the system infringes on innocent drivers by exposing their plate numbers, which the government might then use for other purposes. Damn the man! The cops, on the other hand, see no problem with the system.

Benjamin Franklin once said, “Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” Wonder what he’d think of license-plate scanning.

Next page: System Glitch: When Patients Get Charged Millions