Video Pitches/ Linkedin Cover Story

#linkedin recently introduced a #coverstory section, which is a great opportunity to showcase your personality, your #unique self. The concept of a #videopitch has been around for a while now and has been slowly picking traction and now that it has the endorsement of LinkedIn, its bound to become common-place soon.

So, how is it going to impact job seekers - the ones who didn't win the genetic lottery?

We are living in a time, where we are trying to be more inclusive as a society, but on the flip side, the amount of narcissism persisting amongst us is unprecedented. #instagram , #facebook #snapchat and countless others have created a culture where it is so important to be extremely good looking, and if you weren't born with it, then there are #filters, which can literally make you unrecognizable. The obsession is such that even those who are conventionally breathtakingly good looking feel the need to use filters. Heck! More than half of my those in my #linkedinfeed look good enough to be on the big screen. You see where I am getting at?

We are obsessed with #beauty and as humans its an #unconsciousbias, which we cannot escape.

But the impact of this is felt by the ones who don't fall in this category and do not appease the eyes. And while all of us can claim to be on the high road, where the persona or the skills of a person are more important, but if we are presented with two candidates with the same #skillsets, there is a higher probability of going with the better looking one.

The reason why this is relevant and needs to be spoken about is the fact that these video pitches are not only going to give rise to bias but also #anxiety to those who already suffer with a low self esteem. It becomes a new battle altogether, because when you are recording a video, you are able to see all your flaws and a part of you takes a beating, since in that moment not only are you trying to highlight your skills but also trying to overcome that pit in the stomach due to the way you feel about your looks. But if you don’t participate in the video pitches, then you are not on par with the competition. Basically, resulting in a vicious circle and the place where you previously took pride and solace in - your skillset now has a component where you can’t upskill.

We are evolving rapidly as a society, we are connected virtually like never before. At the same time, we need to be sensitized over the commonly overlooked issues as well.

#videopitches are a great & creative marketing tool, which give you a chance to standout from the crowd, but they need to be discouraged from being the norm. The beauty about a written application as the first filter is that it eliminates a lot of unconscious bias and gives the same chance to each one of us. Let that retain, for somethings are beautiful just the way they are!