Reduce racial prejudice with your video resume

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by Jesse Plunkett Posted on 1 year ago

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Do you worry that your ethnicity, country of origin, or name hurt your chances of landing interviews?

The 2004 study, “Are Emily and Greg More Employable than Lakisha and Jamal?” studied how likely resumes with randomly assigned identifiably White and Black-sounding names were to receive callbacks. Black-sounding names received only 50% as many callbacks. Similar research has since shown applicants with Greek, Pakistani, Indian, and Chinese names, or foreign work experience, were 40% less likely to receive callbacks for an interview.

While most large employers now have express diversity goals & incentives, it would be hard not to worry that race or origin may still negatively impact your interview chances. Even worse, you hardly have the option to conceal your race. Handshake reports applicants with a profile picture receive 7x more views than those without, and LinkedIn reports a 14x increase in views with a profile picture. Recruiters are going to know your race.

As a diverse applicant, you can minimize prejudice by intentionally presenting yourself as an individual. Rapid group stereotyping can happen when recruiters are reviewing hundreds of resumes each day. This creates a prime environment for “Type-1 thinking”- Daniel Kahneman’s term for our brains’ fast and bias-prone default state. Seeing each resume as an individual requires sustained, conscious effort from recruiters. Top applicants know to do more than wish for this.

 

How to show the real you

So what does it mean to present yourself as an individual? It means introducing the real you and helping recruiters escape from the monotony of text-only applications. Including a short (30-60 second) video introduction with your resume nails both targets. Recruiters welcome a reprieve from traditional resumes, and 89% say they would watch a video resume.

Psychologists suggest the best way to reduce prejudice is by contact. Acquaintance lessens prejudice, confirmed by meta-analysis on Intergroup Contact Theory. This effect is called “decategorization.”

If you use a top platform like LinkedIn or Handshake, employers are going to see your picture. Applying with a short video pitch allows them to see you as an individual, not a member of a group. Even better, it gives them the chance to connect with you as a human, which they can’t do with the other resumes.

 

Making it easy

We make creating your short video pitch easy. After creating your SafeHire profile, just customize the script we provide and read it like a teleprompter. Wherever you apply, link your SafeHire URL with your contact info and mention your video intro in your resume’s summary statement.

Most importantly, show the real you.

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