Rosen Law Office

Video résumés are a way for candidates to stand out in today’s tough job market.  These videos, known as vesumés, express the candidate’s personality in a way that would not be possible on paper.   Professionally produced vesumés are available for a few hundred dollars, and several websites have sprung up for the purpose of hosting them.  YouTube already has over 16,000 video résumés, some tongue-in-cheek.

According to a survey by career publisher Vault, Inc., 89 percent of employers said they would watch a video résumé if they received one.  But others worry that vesumés provide clues to a candidate’s race, gender, national origin, age, or handicap.  Will watching these videos increase the risk of a discrimination suit?

If video resumes were required as part of the application process, certain groups might not have the funds or expertise to produce them and could effectively be excluded.   But we know of no employers who have such a requirement.   Rather, it is the candidate’s choice to supply a video resume and the candidate’s decision about what is said and how it is presented.  If a candidate sends you a video, he is in a poor position to complain that you watched it.

“No one has yet filed a major lawsuit for discrimination by video résumé,” Time.com reported in 2007, and we haven’t found any either.  That’s probably because whatever the video discloses about the job-seeker will be just as obvious in an interview.   Even a paper résumé will usually indicate something about the candidate’s gender, age, and ethnic background.   Naturally, these characteristics should never be part of the employment decision, and hiring procedures should include safeguards to prevent the appearance of discrimination.

According to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission:

it is not illegal for an employer to learn the race, gender or ethnicity of an individual prior to an interview. Of course, Title VII requires that all individuals be provided equal, nondiscriminatory treatment throughout the hiring process. If an employer representative observes a job seeker in a video clip, and either learns or surmises the person’s gender, race, or ethnicity, such knowledge could increase the risk of discrimination or the appearance of discrimination. Employers need to take care in training hiring officials and human resources staff about the appropriate responses when gender, race, or ethnicity are disclosed during recruitment. Video clips might be analogized to information on a résumé that clearly tells an individual’s race, such as, “President, Black Law Students Association.” In this situation, as with the video clip, the employer needs to focus on the person’s qualifications for the job.

The fact that a resume is on video, rather than paper, should not subject an employer to an increased risk of suit.  In either case, the employer should be ready to show the hiring decision was based on the candidate’s qualifications and not on impermissible factors.

–Joel Rosen

Disclaimer—This office represents search firms, which may use or produce video resumes, and that relationship may affect our conclusion.  This posting does not constitute legal advice, and you should obtain an opinion from your own lawyer.