Turning to Tiktok resumes
Here’s how app works: Job applicants submit videos and employers review skills, hire
“Calling all recruiters!” Makena Yee, 21, a college student in Seattle, shouted into her camera in a recent Tiktok video. “These are the reasons why you should hire me!” Yee went on to outline her qualifications. “I’m driven with confidence, I love keeping organized, I’m adaptive and I’m a team player,” she said, as images of companies she had worked for flashed up behind her. The 60-second video racked up more than 182,000 views and hundreds of comments.
Yee said she had received more than 15 job leads, which she plans to pursue after a summer internship.
In modern job searches, tidy one-page resumes are increasingly going the way of the fax machine. That may be accelerated by an app known for viral lip-syncing and dance videos, which is popularizing the Tiktok resume.
As more college students and recent graduates use Tiktok to network and find work, the company has introduced a program allowing people to apply directly for jobs. And employers, many facing labor shortages, are interested.
Chipotle, Target, Alo Yoga, Sweetgreen and more than three dozen other companies have started hiring people via the app.
The Tiktok resume is central to these efforts. Job applicants submit videos with the hashtag #Tiktokresumes and through Tiktokresumes.com to show off their skills, something like a personal essay of old. They include their contact information and, if they want, their Linkedin profile. Employers review the videos, which must be set to public, and schedule interviews with the applicants they find the most compelling.
The resumes are an effort to help young people “get the bag” and get paid, said Kayla Dixon, a marketing manager at Tiktok who developed the program.
They are also an outgrowth of a part of Tiktok called careertok, where people share job-hunting advice, resume tips and job opportunities. Videos with the hashtag #edutokcareer have amassed more than 1.2 billion views since Tiktok was introduced in the U.S. in 2018.
But the video resumes have also raised concerns. The format strips away a level of anonymity, allowing employers to potentially dismiss candidates based on how someone looks or acts. Much of the networking on Tiktok also depends on amassing views, which can be hard for those who aren’t adept at creating content or who have struggled to get equal distribution in the app’s feed.
Tiktok is not the first social platform that companies have sought to leverage for recruiting. Linkedin, the professional networking site owned by Microsoft, is heavily used by both job seekers and recruiters.
Although Tiktok resumes are open to people of all ages, top videos submitted through the hashtag are from Gen Z users, most of whom are in college. The app said more than 800 applicants had submitted Tiktok resumes in the past week.
Many recruiters are looking beyond standardized applications online or through networking sites like Linkedin, said Sherveen Mashayekhi, co-founder and CEO of Free Agency, a startup focused on hiring in the tech industry.
“Cover letters aren’t being read and resumes aren’t predictive, so alternative formats are necessary,” he said. “Over the next five to 10 years, it won’t just be video. There will be these other assessments like games for the early stage of the hiring process.”