How to embed your voice inside of a resume
20. Dec, 2008 
7 Comments
I really wish I could take full credit for this, but truth be told, this strategy is a knock-off of an idea I picked up from Eric Jaquith. (If you were among the fortunate few who attented SourceCon 2007, then you know what a whiz he is.) The idea is from the viewpoint of Recruiters, but I think jobseekers can see the potential in this strategy as well. In a nutshell, one can add an audio clip to a resume as a way of promoting a candidate to a potential employer.
To demonstrate this, I have addded an audio clip to an outdated version of my resume and am availing it to you (again) for demonstration purposes only. So without further adieu, click here to download my resume and see this trick in action. (Be sure to double-click on the speaker icon and turn your speakers up.) But I digress…
How to embed your voice inside of a resume
Let’s imagine that you are a TPR (Third Party Recruiter) or a Corporate Recruiter or a Retained Searchfirm, or whatever and you are SOOOO excited about a particular candidate that you will just bust if the hiring manager does not review the resume. However, the Hiring Manager is very, very busy and does not have the luxury of time to look at the resumes he asked you to produce, much less listen to all of the reasons why they should interview your candidate right away. So what do you do? Well, you might want to try embedding a voice message into the resume you send in; that way they can hear your excitement and pay closer attention to the document that were planning to quickly scan over.
“So Jim,” you say, “That sounds interesting, but I don’t know how to do that.”
“No worries, all you need is a copy of Microsoft Word and a microphone,” I reply, “Let me show you how to do it.”
STEP-BY-STEP
1. Make sure you have a microphone that works with your computer. No biggie, as you can pick one up at Wallmart for $10.00 (more or less).
2. Open up a new Word document
3. Pull down the Insert Menu and click on: “Object”
4. From the Object window scroll down to “Wave Sound.”
5. Highlight “Wave Sound” and click “Okay.”
6. A little window that looks like a tape recorder pops up.
7. Click on the red dot button and begin recording your message. By default you get sixty seconds, but if you stop the recording before it gets to the very end and start recording again, you get sixty more seconds.
8. Once you’re done recording, close out that window.
9. Like magic, a speaker icon appears in your Word document.
10. To play back the sound file, simply double-click on the speaker icon.
11. Add a message next to the speaker to remind the reader that an audio message is embedded. (You might also want to mention that they should be sure to have their speakers on.)
And that’s it! Pretty cool huh? *(Now I started this demo with a blank document and then I cut and pasted my resume in, but that does not matter as the resume could have been there the whole time.) I would very much like to hear your comments on this and (even better) solicit your testimonials on how this strategy has worked for you. If you would, simply leave a comment below. And again, to see a working demo of this: Click here to download my resume, double-click on the speaker icon and turn your speakers up.
Good luck!
-Jim Stroud
***
ABOUT THE WRITER
Jim Stroud is a Social Media Development Manager for EnglishCafe, the premier English learning community for global professionals. Prior to EnglishCafe, Jim Stroud amassed a decade of recruiting experience consulting for such companies as Microsoft, Google, MCI and Siemens. Jim also produces i Live Online, a how to blog for all things internet.
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I appreciated this article. I’m a techno nerd living in the desert where there is no computer work (work period in this economy). I’ve been able to find 2 awesome work at home jobs instead and am still looking to advance up further telecommuting. I find that an online resume needs a little bit more pizazz than one that you would present face to face and this is one great idea. And in my line of business a professional resume is of utmost importance. Good going!
Once again, thanks for one of your incredible resume tips. I will use this strategy in my next professional resume in order to get more creative and stand out of the crowd. Good going !
This article is one of the best article I have ever read. I wonder if such trick of recording audio message in your resume works, It will be a great boon for all the professional resume builders. It will bring a revolutionary change in online resumes as one can speak as well write about his skills at the same time. I thank you for sharing such a nice article.
Dumb idea….Yet one more thing to go wrong on a resume. If the HR manager is not smart, they screw up the link, have no speakers, etc, guess who gets blamed..the candidate.
Recorded voice sounds nothing like your real voice, now we all need a new “advisor” – someone to tell job candidates what to say on these new msgs or how to say it.
Too new to be smart, maybe in 5 years when everyone does it. Now it will just get you put in the dump pile
I don’t think that its anything that I would put in my resume, but thats a pretty niffty trick ta know for sending special notes to friends and loved ones and stuff thanks for the info.
I just found your site (through a LinkedIn older group message), scrolled down and this tip caught my eye. Awesome!! Thank you for sharing such a novel but useful technique and for making the implementation directions so clear and concise – -especially the demo module.
You are just the type of mind I like working with — again, thanks.
Great website , love the template. Seriously considering migrating to this blog platform now!