Snapchat is being used by employers to really get a sense of applicants. We often work with clients looking for work and wanting to polish their LinkedIn profile. This Guest Post by Kurt Wagner makes me think adding a Snapchat video to your LinkedIn profile could help with your job search.
Investors aren't the only ones who see apparent value in Snapchat.
Likeable Media, a social media marketing agency in New York, is also finding value in the photo sharing app — as a recruiting tool.
When applicants apply to the company — which hundreds do each month, says Brian Murray, Likeable's director of talent and culture — Likeable's automatic resume processor sends an email alerting the applicant his or her materials have been received. It also offers a chance to follow up with Murray in email, over Twitter, or as of four weeks ago, via Snapchat.
“When you're applying for jobs a lot of the time, you feel like you're sending something into the black hole of resumes,” he says. “We're always looking for ways to give applicants a way to be creative outside of the resume.”
For the past month, applicants have been sending Murray Snapchat messages showing off their creative sides. Likeable has received more than a dozen messages from prospective employees, and roughly a third of them have been brought in for interviews.
One of the more creative images included a woman who drew a baseball bat in her hands along with the message “I'm a team player.” Another outgoing candidate sent in a picture of himself at a local restaurant in his hometown in Michigan, standing under its sign, whose letters had been arranged to spell out “Likeable Hire Me.”
Murray says he decided to include Snapchat as a contact method after he got fed up receiving a never-ending stream of email follow-ups. One of the benefits of following up on a resume via Snapchat is that the applicant can be more creative than in an email, but still maintain a necessary level of privacy, he adds.
For applicants, especially those who are already employed and wouldn't want their job hunt publicized, public social sites like Twitter aren't very helpful. “In the past, the only people who ever tweeted at me were unemployed,” he says.
Plus, Likeable creates social media campaigns and content for clients, meaning the company is looking for applicants who understand how to deliver a great message over social media, he adds.
A downside is that some applicants may feel uncomfortable following up over a service like Snapchat, says Murray. Users aren't required to follow up in this way, but doing so can definitely set them apart. “Some people will feel uncomfortable with the stigma that, ‘I don' want my personal [life] to crossover into my professional life,” says Murray. “It's going to eliminate some people, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.”
Likeable will continue to utilize Snapchat heading forward, and Murray says he's open to other social media recruiting tools.
“People are so much more than just a resume.”
