Are TikTok Resumes the Future of Job Hunting?

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Amid a widespread labor shortage that has pushed companies across many industries—including real estate—to fight for each employee, TikTok is introducing a new job application tool, enabling companies to get in front of the largest generations in the U.S. labor force. Today’s young adults use TikTok to entertain themselves, to follow the latest trends and even to gather their news. So why wouldn’t they use it to apply for a job?

TikTok Resumes is a short-term pilot program that allows users to apply for a job through a three-minute video resume. More than 30 brands, including Target, Chipotle, Sweetgreen and Shopify, have signed up to accept resumes for the pilot, which ended on July 31.

But the next round of submissions will open soon and several companies in the multifamily industry have already shown interest in using this new hiring tool, particularly for positions that reflect the level of experience and the skills that many job-seeking Gen Zers and Millennials possess.

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Downtown Apartment Co., a brokerage company specializing in luxury residential in downtown Chicago and surrounding areas, has been using TikTok to showcase new listings and highlight the company’s achievements. More recently, the company began using the platform to diversify its recruiting practices, as well.

“We just posted our first TikTok hiring video in which our agents and leaders share their thoughts about why DAC is a great place to work. We’ve already seen success using TikTok, so we’re definitely interested in seeing how TikTok Resumes will work and how we might use it to enhance our recruiting efforts,” said Ben Creamer, co-founder & managing broker at DAC.

The good

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A traditional paper resume shows the candidate’s education and experience, but it doesn’t say much about their personality, their confidence level, their communication skills or other in-demand abilities. So this is where an original clip might come in handy and set candidates apart.  

“Oftentimes someone’s personality can get lost with a traditional resume as everyone uses the same basic formula for a resume. TikTok Resumes literally brings an applicant’s resume to life and you get a really great sense of their personality,” Bekkah Doyle, senior search marketing specialist for Reach by RENTCafé at Yardi, told Multi-Housing News.

Doyle believes that TikTok resumes have the potential to become a great tool for filling in positions that require creativity and imagination, such as marketing. Khari Washington, broker & owner of 1st United Realty & Mortgage, agrees that TikTok Resumes could work for jobs that require content creating skills or marketing experience.

However, generating video resumes might not be a core competency for a job and might open a Pandora’s box on discrimination.

The bad

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Video resumes can unlock the doors to unconscious bias in disability, race or sexual orientation, without either party even realizing it. TikTok Resumes are part of the first line of communication between an employer and a potential employee, so it is likely for this tool to reinforce unethical hiring practices.

“As a business owner who hires people and works in the real estate industry with rules against bias, I have concerns about TikTok Resumes,“ Washington said.

Shiv Gupta, marketing director at Incrementors Web Solutions, believes TikTok only works as a way for companies to look at passive candidates. “Companies want to get in front of suitable candidates for opportunities, which is why more staffing and hiring companies have congregated in TikTok, where the most extensive demographic in the workforce is contributing their time,” Gupta explained.

The future?

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Despite all the excitement created around TikTok Resumes, there is no doubt that the tool has the potential to bring more resourcefulness into the hiring process. It is a fast, accessible way for companies looking to fill open positions to find young talent.

“I think TikTok Resumes is a very progressive approach to the way companies hire,” Doyle said. “It really meets the younger generations where they are.”

Will TikTok Resumes be a hit or a flop for multifamily? That remains to be seen. But what is clear is that industry players have a new online tool that allows them to recruit talented, skilled employees in an unconventional way.