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Cape Town - A new South African application hopes to give job seekers the best shot at being hired.
As most smartphones have a "selfie" camera, job seekers simply shoot video of themselves applying for the advertised employment and receive e-mail directly from prospective employer if they show interest.
The application is an indicator of how web-enabled services can make a difference to the status quo. Beyond the traditional CV, many employers would like to get a sense of a potential employee before the formal interview process.
The free app is available for Android smartphones and iPhones, and there is also a website that lists jobs available on the platform.
The site is careful to point out that users can only upload one video per job ad, and CVs might be requested afterward. According to StatsSA, unemployment in SA is at 25%.
Video is set to become the standard method of internet communication and rich media services are showing exponential growth.
According to Ericsson's Mobile Data Traffic Growth report for 2013 to 2019, mobile data in Sub-Saharan Africa was at 37 000 terabytes (TB) per month in 2013, and that will jump to 76 000TB by the end of 2014, on its way to a mammoth 764 000TB by the end of 2019.
Video makes up more than half of that data. The Cisco Visual Networking Index shows that video traffic online jumped to 53% of all data traffic on the internet in 2013.
Impress Me requires users to apply for jobs with a video clip. (Duncan Alfreds, Fin24)
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