I had an interesting conversation with Dan Powers this week. Dan is the co-founder of a new video resume service in Silicon Valley, SanJoseStock.com. With partner Kymberli Brady, who lost her marketing job last September, Dan is producing two-minute video resumes for clients. And here’s the hook – if their unemployed clients can’t pay the $100 fee, they can pay later.I love this kind of “pay-it-forward” business model, especially in this economic climate. As Brady said in her KGO interview (posted here), “I can’t find a job, so I have to make one.” And she has support from the Silicon Valley business community as well, as demonstrated by the fact that the San Jose Executive Center donated space for them to film their video resumes for three days.
It’s not only altruistic, but I am sure it is a smart business move. It’s demonstrated that video resumes help you stand out from the crowd. For the KGO-YV news story, they interviewed Jim Vandergrift, creative director for Design Reactor in Campbell, California, a local design firm that receives hundreds of resumes from applicants looking for work. He said he had never seen a video resume before, and it made the applicant really stand out.
As Brady says, deferring payment for those in need is a means of paying a spiritual and emotional mortgage. And it might promise future gigs from those grateful folks who are newly employed.
