In her video résumé, Henriette Sveen ’10 poses in front of the Golden Gate Bridge to illustrate her journey from studying law and science in Norway to business at USF.
For a growing number of University of San Francisco students, navigating the
digital landscape is about more than just reconnecting with friends or sharing photos
of the weekend’s exploits. It’s about a payday.
That lesson is reinforced by Ryan Wright, associate
professor of information systems at University of San Francisco in his Internet Business
Applications course, part of the School of Business and Professional Studies’
entrepreneurship and innovation program. Wright teaches non-technical business
students how to use simple and free online software to create video résumés and
market themselves online.
Wright’s students are at the leading edge of a trend among
job seekers who bring more to the table than a two-page paper résumé listing
their experience, education, and internships when they apply for a job.
“Part of the class is geared toward developing a two- to
three-minute video that answers the questions: Who are you? What are you
studying? And, how are you preparing yourself to become a member of the
globally connected business world?” Wright said.
Businesses aren’t alone. Some colleges are also accepting
video applications to bolster students’ transcripts, test scores, and résumés.
Learning to market themselves teaches students to tell a
digital story, introduces them to video editing, opens their eyes to how to
publish to YouTube, and the benefits of marketing themselves online, Wright
said.
“I believe it will absolutely become a requirement, in the
Bay Area,” Wright said. “Video résumés give employers a greater degree of
understanding of an applicant beyond a traditional paper résumé. You can see
how they speak, how they tell a story, things you can’t see in a traditional
résumé.
Business alumna Henriette Sveen ’10, said she didn’t think that her experience learning to create a video
resume was valuable she knew it. “I
was at a job interview. They told me that they had seen my video and that they
loved it,” Sveen said. “I got the job!”
A native Norwegian, Sveen wanted to bolster the professional
side of her paper resume with video portraits of her personal and
family life using humor. It ended up being easier than she thought to use
iMovie to combine text, pictures, videos, and music. Plus, creating a video
resume and posting it to YouTube convinced her of the importance of marketing
herself through social media, something Sveen hadn’t put much stock in prior to
Internet Business Applications.
