Media types have always used wacky tactics or "wacktics" to get jobs

Video CVs are, apparently, the the next big thing. I’ve just read an article on Jobs.ac.uk by Catherine Armstrong in which she asks whether such an approach could ever work in academia. But the idea of presenting yourself on video to prospective employers is nothing new. People have been doing something similar for years, just think of actors and broadcast journalists with their show reels. All of this is perfectly normal for media-type jobs where personal appearance is important but it’s a weird prospect for a “normal” job.

Eager to find out whether this really is a daft idea I decided to do a minimal amount of snooping around to see if I could find an example of a video CV. Lo and behold, the first thing I found after typing “Video CV” into Google was a website dedicated to hosting people’s video CVs in a variety of languages. This site will host your video or, for a fee create one for you. There are three examples on their main page which are presumably some of their best examples but as sure as I’m sitting here they’re the best for all the wrong reasons. I’ve included them below for you to enjoy later. Chris Dautremont’s video looks and sounds like a cross between a media student’s over-the-top Big Brother audition tape and one of those public service ads persuading young people to stay at school. Then there’s poor Dilyara Risbayeva’s video which looks more like one of those videos kidnappers send to the cops with a ransom demand. Bless her, she’s so wooden and uptight that you keep expecting to see her holding up a copy of today’s newspaper while the muzzle of an AK-47 pokes out from the side of the screen.

Rogues gallery