TikTok has made efforts to become more of a career tool for users, but is the platform useful for all job seekers?
by Fred Heritage
Users of TikTok, the popular social media app that lets you create and share short videos, may view the platform simply as a source of entertainment, with a dash of news and advertising thrown in, rather than a tool that could help boost their careers.
But just as other social platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook continue to establish themselves as career development tools, so TikTok may also now be thought of as a route to potentially land your next role.
In 2022, TikTok has roughly one billion active monthly users, according to data site Backlinko, with an increasing proportion opting to use the platform for career-related reasons.
Although ByteDance, the Beijing-headquartered technology multinational that owns TikTok, says it does not track data on the growth of its number of career-related users, an article in The Washington Post from March 2021 reports that the company said the hashtag #careeradvice was gaining traction on the app, having grown to more than 80 million video views a day by mid-February 2021.
Professional development tool
TikTok began encouraging more educational, professional-style content on its platform in spring 2020, when the pandemic suddenly confined many of the app’s users to their homes, says the article. At that time, the company launched its US$50m Creative Learning Fund, offering grants to teachers, experts, and other educators to produce more “educational content”.
In May 2021, the platform went a step further to helping job seekers by launching TikTok Resumes, a scheme aimed at “expanding and enhancing TikTok as a new channel for recruitment and job discovery”. The initiative saw TikTok partner with select employers and invite candidates to apply for both entry-level and experienced positions by submitting creative video resumes to the app.
Highlighting the success of TikTok Resumes, Kate Barney, head of human resources for TikTok-Global Business Solutions, North America, revealed to The Washington Post that television network HBO received more than 300 applications for its 2020 summer internship using the hashtag #HBOMaxsummerintern.
Initiatives like TikTok Resumes show the platform is attempting to become more of a career development tool for its users, but does that mean TikTok is useful for all job seekers?
TikTok pros and cons
In an article for The Balance Careers, writer Madeleine Burry argues that while TikTok represents an all-new avenue for applicants to certain roles, with certain types of employers, it may not be the best tool for everyone. She argues, for instance, that if you’re not a regular TikTok user, creating an account solely to apply for jobs may not be worth your time.
Her article outlines some pros and cons.
Pros
- TikTok Resumes may highlight your strengths – the article quotes from Andrew Fennell, director at StandOut CV, a careers advice service: “Videos help your personality and confidence come across – unlike a standard resume”.
- It could be relevant – If applying for roles involving social media, public relations or marketing, a TikTok resume could be show off your strengths as a communicator.
- It could be attention-grabbing – Not only can you connect with your dream company using hashtags and relevant tags, posting a video resume on TikTok gives it “the chance to go viral, be shared, and possibly seen by people in the industry you’re targeting”, says Fennell.
Cons
- Potential for bias – With a video resume, employers will see your appearance from the outset, which could lead either to conscious or unconscious bias from hiring managers. How you look could be a factor in whether they respond.
- It could take time – Although TikTok videos are brief, getting across a coherent, work-appropriate message in that short time can be challenging. Your seconds-long video may take hours of work.
- Videos must be short – Attempting to highlight all your career experience in mere seconds is difficult. “While TikTok can showcase your personality, it’s a little harder to employ the more serious aspects of your portfolio or experience in such a short clip,” argues Flynn Zaiger, CEO of Online Optimism, a TikTok marketing agency