TikTok has been making moves to be more than just that immensely popular social app with the viral videos. They are now rolling out a pilot program called TikTok Resumes which helps users get jobs with participating companies by adding a TikTok video to their application. While LinkedIn shouldn’t be quaking in their boots yet, this is a pretty interesting move for the company as they want to be a “channel for recruitment and job discovery” . They’re also testing out something called “Shoutouts” that will let users pay for a video from their favorite TikTok creators.
You probably don’t associate TikTok with people looking for jobs. But the platform wants to expand their channel and while it doesn’t sound like the natural way to go, there’s no shortage of jobs and job-seekers so why not. At launch for the pilot program, they have partnered with companies like Chipotle, Target, WWE, Alo Yoga, Shopify, etc, a mixed bag of companies to be sure. You can use the hashtag #TikTokResumes or go to the stand-alone site, www.tiktokresumes.com to see what’s out there.
The TikTok Resume site lets you browse the job listings, career or job-related content from TikTok creators, examples of TikTok video resumes, and a form to apply for the job you want. And of course, you get to submit a TikTok video as part of your job application. For now, the program will only accept applicatiosn for U.S job openings starting July 7 until July 31. Hopefully TikTok will release numbers about this pilot program to see if there is a market for this on the platform.
Meanwhile, they’re testing out another feature that is similar to Cameo. Shoutouts lets users request a custom video from their favorite creators. You tap “Request” on the creator’s page and when you request a video, you’ll have to pay upfront. The creator has three days to accept and then you will get the video through direct message after a week. You can request for things like a birthday greeting, a pep talk, or a special message for a friend.
According to Buzzfeed, this feature seems to be available in Turkey and Dubai for now as it’s still in the testing stage. You pay the creators through an in-app currency same as to what you use to tip them during live videos. Creators can set their own rate for the custom video you’ll be requesting. Let’s see if this picks up and we actually get a beta test and then a stable roll out for the feature.
