In May 2020, TikTok revealed it was working on new job listing and video resume features for its app. Although it sounded pretty big at the time—the chance of spending even more time on the app, for justifiable reasons? I’m down—as of now, the video-sharing platform only started a minor test of its promise creating the hashtag #TikTokResumes and TikTokresumes.com. So, now that we have more information on how it all works and what current applicants are coming up with, let’s have a closer look at it and try to see whether it truly holds potential for the next generation of workers, shall we?
@makena.yee Here are the reasons why YOU should hire me! Don’t be shy, let’s get in touch. #tiktokresumes #tiktokpartner
♬ original sound - MAKENA
Job applicants submit videos with the hashtag #TikTokResumes and through the website of the same name to ‘show off’ their skills. Think of it as the gen Z way of listing your technical and personal skills on your one-page CV. Applicants can include their contact information and, if they want, even their LinkedIn profile. Employers can then review the videos, which must be set to public, and schedule interviews with the applicants they find the most interesting.
The resumes are an effort to help young people “get the bag” and get paid, Kayla Dixon, a marketing manager at TikTok who developed the programme, said in a statement. If I’m being honest, it’s a pretty exciting idea considering how outdated the modern job search is. And apparently, I’m not the only one seeing strong potential here.
now accepting resumes at @ShopifyEng using the framing of your preferred tiktok memehttps://t.co/DAQ7UDnljb
— David Zhou (@dz) July 7, 2021
“Employers, many facing labor shortages, are interested. Chipotle, Target, Alo Yoga, Sweetgreen and more than three dozen other companies have started hiring people via the app,” writes The New York Times in a recent article on the new features. Here’s a full list of the companies using the app to hire right now.
That being said, the concept remains in its beta version for now, meaning that a lot of the jobs that are currently being listed are for entry and mid-level positions, not high-level executive gigs. If you’re already established in your career, posting your resume on TikTok may not be all that helpful.
Simultaneously, TikTok has seen an outgrowth of a part of the app called CareerTok, where users share job-hunting advice, CV tips and various job opportunities. Videos with the hashtag #edutokcareer have amassed over 3.8 billion views.
As frustrating as CareerTok can be—tell me one more time how to be a real entrepreneur one more time, I dare you—it looks like TikTok’s new video resumes might have caused more of a problem than the former. Indeed, the format strips away a level of anonymity, allowing employers to potentially dismiss candidates based on their looks or other attributes. Much of the networking on TikTok also depends on amassing views, which can be hard for those who aren’t adept at creating content or who have struggled to get equal distribution in the app’s feed.
LinkedIn being too obvious to even mention, TikTok is not the first social platform that companies have sought to leverage for recruiting. In 2015, Taco Bell advertised internship opportunities on Snapchat, and in 2017, McDonald’s let people apply for jobs through a Snapchat tool known as ‘Snaplications’. That same year, Facebook began allowing companies to post job openings to their pages and to communicate with applicants through Facebook Messenger.
Anyone that spends at least a few hours a week on the app knows that TikTok is bursting with young, talented people and that this talent is ripe for the corporate picking. The real question is, have TikTok resumes actually helped people get jobs so far? Mic asked “a career expert how we can use an app best known for (sometimes culturally appropriated) dance choreography and skincare hacks to expand our professional horizons.” Here’s what advice it received.
“A lot of people struggle with the limitations of a 1-2-page résumé,” said Chelsey Opare-Addo, a recruiter and resume writer in Chicago. “Candidates have a hard time showing their personality and professional brand, and end up sounding like everyone else.” In that sense, TikTok resumes might be more of a helpful tool for people who feel like their skills and uniqueness simply can’t be captured on paper—creatives, perhaps.
Following the same line of thought, TikTok’s job features probably aren’t the most effective way to apply for technical roles. “Personality tends to be less relevant in highly specialized roles, like engineering,” Opare-Addo explained.
As much as TikTok resumes feel like a breath of fresh air in a job seeking industry that lacks, well, just that, it’s also clear it is still missing some key elements for it to become gen Z’s go-to platform for finding a job. First on the list? No discrimination, please.
TikTok’s Creator Fund wants to celebrate TikTok’s best and brightest by giving them the opportunity to earn money through their creative content, starting with $70 million (approximately £54 million) of funds available to thousands of creators across the UK, Germany, Italy, France and Spain. TikTok launched the Creator Fund on Tuesday 1 September as the first step towards “a new world of opportunity on TikTok,” according to the video-sharing app’s statement.
The platform wants to push its users to take their creativity, imagination and ambition to the next level. TikTok is also expecting the fund to rise to a total of $300 million (approximately £231 million) within 3 years and will extend it to further markets across Europe so that even more creators can be given the opportunity.
According to TikTok, creators receive funds based on a variety of factors from their videos, and of course, they should also know that performance on the app is dynamic—it changes naturally and often—so your funds will ebb and flow in the same way. In other words, the more creative your content is, technically, the more engagement you should receive and the more funds you should gain!
Last month, TikTok announced some of the first recipients of the fund, but tens of thousands of creators across Europe will now be eligible to apply. By rewarding innovative and creative content, the app hopes this fund will continue to support its community of creators—and probably bring in more users while it’s at it.
To apply for the Creator Fund, you’ll need to meet some initial criteria. You must be based in the UK, Germany, Italy, France and Spain, be 18 years or older, have at least 10,000 followers, over 10,000 video views in the past 30 days and post original content in line with TikTok’s community guidelines.
No! TikTok says there’s no limit on the number of creators who can join. It wants as many eligible creators as possible to make money doing what they love on the app.
You can apply for it directly through the TikTok app. Access the TikTok Creator Fund in-app through your pro/creator account, confirm you are over 18, then read and agree to the TikTok Creator Fund agreement. Once approved, you should start earning from the performance of your content, which you can view in your accrued funds on your Creator Fund dashboard. So get creating, and don’t forget to read the agreement before you start!
The funds that each creator can earn are worked out by a combination of factors, including the number of views and the authenticity of those views, the level of engagement on the content, as well as making sure content is in line with TikTok’s Community Guidelines and Terms of Service.
Because no two creators or videos are the same, there is absolutely no limit to the different kinds of content TikTok supports with the fund. The Creator Fund total varies daily and is dependent on the number of videos published by content creators that day, which means the daily fund will fluctuate based on the amount of content being published.
Not yet at least! There isn’t a fixed amount of money that TikTok allocates to creators and the same goes for the amount of funds released daily. The video-sharing app has committed to £231 million over the next 3 years to the Creator Fund.