3 Video Resume Signs of a Good Team Player

Great candidates know the value of teamwork. You need someone in your organization who understands just how important it is to work well in a team setting and band together to complete projects.

A 60 second video resume will allow you to see more personality than a one page paper resume, helping you discover if your great-on-paper candidate is a great team player or a lone wolf in disguise. Allowing employers a more personal feel for candidates is one of the real strengths of the video resume. You need someone in your organization who is going to add in a positive way to your existing teams and your company culture. Therefore it’s important to find out straight from the video resume whether your superstar candidate will be willing to pitch in and work well with others.

Here are some things to look for in the video resume to make sure you’re hiring a team player:

Mentioning past teamwork
In the video resume, the job seeker will often take the opportunity to mention projects worked on as well as past successes. If a job seeker is mentioning a great project which resulted in real value for their former company, this is a sign of a good video resume. A job seeker willing to get concrete and specific about their past accomplishments knows the value they can bring to your organization. They are showing off their skills and qualifications in a way which is more concrete and more easily measurable than just mentioning what they can do in the abstract.

In these cases, look for a job seeker who mentions teamwork directly in the video resume. If they mention a project they completed, do they mention working in a team to accomplish goals? Do they specify how they worked together with different team members to accomplish the task at hand?

Look for candidates who understand the office isn’t an island and working with others is necessary in order to accomplish goals. Those who understand the importance of teamwork and mention it directly in the video resume, while discussing past experiences, will be more likely to become a good team player once they step foot in your office.

Excited to join the organization
When it comes to looking for a team player in the video resume, you need to find someone who is excited to join your company culture. The best way to find a job seeker who will fit into your company is to find someone who already understands the company culture and can express why they would be a good fit.

Look for candidates who are excited to join the organization and can give you concrete reasons why they would be a good fit in the video resume. Candidates who mention a specific part of your company culture directly in the video resume are the same candidates who have thoroughly researched your company.

These are likely the candidates who understand how important it is to fit into a future workplace and how important cultural fit is to workplace harmony. Candidates who understand the importance of your company culture will likely be the same employees who understand the importance of teamwork.

Lack of egotistical language
The hiring process is one of the few times when people are asked to brag about their skills and accomplishments. In fact, bragging is pretty necessary for candidates to impress employers with what they can do. But there’s a differences between conveying skills and trying to sound like the best worker who ever existed.

Watch out for candidates who go out of their way to make themselves sound like the CEO of their last company. For instance, a job seeker who mentions successful team projects but makes it sound like they were the only one contributing might not be the best team player. Instead, look for candidates who can acknowledge their role in a larger group focused on getting results. If it sounds like the candidate was the only one doing any work, it’s unlikely this person truly understands and accepts the importance of teamwork.

If you want a team player instead of a lone wolf, look out for some of these signs in the video resume. This way you can save time and only interview the candidates who will be a good fit for your organization and existing teams.

What are some signs of a good team player you look for in the video resume? Share in the comments!

IMAGE: Courtesy of Flickr by jairoagua.