A Los Angeles radio station is offering free air time to job seekers who get 30 seconds for their elevator pitch and a link to their resume online.
Each of five different “radio resumes,” as they’re called, airs on KHHT-FM, a Clear Channel property that is among the top stations in LA. The resumes rotate through the 63 weekly spots covering all day parts, including the pricey and desirable drive times in the morning and evening.
Clear Channel came up with the idea of offering air time to help job seekers. So far, only a few of the company’s 850 stations stations are trying it. The LA station began the promotion in early July.
Ron Shapiro, assistant program director for Hot92.3 — the signature name for the station — said that offering the program was a natural. The station already had job listings and resources on its website and promoted events on the air. “It was a logical step for us to do it,” explained Shapiro, who handles the logistics of the program.
The program got off to a slow start, he says, suspecting that the concept was foreign to most people. But now that they hear the resumes, the number of people wanting to participate has grown into a “nice, steady stream.”
Job seekers selected each week get sample scripts, but write their own copy. It sometimes takes a few tries before the recording is just right. “If they sound nervous, I’ll tell them to take a couple of breaths and we’ll do another take,” Shapiro adds.
It’s too soon to tell how effective the program will be at landing jobs. But two of the participants have gotten interviews, Shapiro says. More may have been contacted by employers or recruiters who can look over the candidate resumes before deciding to reach out to them. The station isn’t tracking the results, depending on the job seekers themselves to report their success.
Unfortunately for this article, the station doesn’t post the actual radio spot on its website. But here’s a sample. Having heard two or three of them, we can report that they sound professional, clear, and to the point; much like a good elevator speech shared with hundreds of thousands of listeners.