Original blog post can be found at:
http://lgexec.typepad.com/lg/2008/01/what-the-2008-p.html

Today's BBC News article titled "Americans turn to online videos" has some pretty eye-opening stats; stats that may prove quite indicative of the growing phenomenon of online video, particularly as it relates to video interviewing.

- "According to Pew Internet nearly half (48%) of US net users visited a video sharing site during 2007."
- "On a typical day, some 15% were either watching or posting video."
- Some 54% of American adults now have a high-speed connection at home, compared to 45% at the same time last year.
- "According to the Pew Internet Project, men are slightly more likely to use a video-sharing site than women - 53% compared to 43%."

- *** But it is the young who are really driving the increase with 70% of people under 30 using such sites." ***

- "The dramatic rise in the number of video-sharing sites and other websites that incorporate video has had the knock-on effect of increasing the number of amateur video makers."
- "Some 22% of Americans now shoot their own videos, with 14% of them posting at least some of that video online."

- *** "Video sharing sites are also getting more closely involved in the issues that affect everyday Americans." ***

So let's see how this translates to video interviewing (and gasp, video resumes in the future!) -

1. Online video is growing in viral fashion among people under 30.
2. Birth rates are below replacement in “developed” economies.
3. Large segments of the U.S. population are at or near retirement ("Baby Boomers")
4. As the 'World Gets Flatter', there is increasing global competition for talent (i.e. The U.S. isn't the defacto destination for top global talent anymore).
5. "In the summer [of 2007], YouTube co-hosted a presidential debate with TV giant CNN -- The two-hour long broadcast featured all eight of the declared Democratic candidates and consisted entirely of questions that had been submitted online."

If the upcoming Presidential candidates have learned that campaigning can benefit from online video, perhaps we should take a closer look as well. Instead of resisting change and blindly adhering to many of the 'status quo' hiring principles (developed in the Henry Ford era), maybe the time has come to start start talking about the future of hiring and how video fits in.

Josh L. ("The Human Capitalist")
blog: www.lgexec.com