THE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA JOB MARKET: WHERE THE JOBS ARE : BEARINGS : Smile! (You’re on Corporate Camera)

Talk about globalization. For job hunters with the widest of horizons, Korn/Ferry International is setting up a video-conferencing system to link its U.S. offices with London and Tokyo.

At $100,000 per video installation, Korn/Ferry already has cast its telegenic embrace around its Los Angeles, New York and Chicago offices. The firm’s London and Tokyo offices will join the high-tech job hunt later this year.

The good news: no jet lag. The bad news: middle-of-the-night job interviews?

Well, not yet. But Korn/Ferry Vice President Bob Woodrum has come close. A test with borrowed facilities early last year found Woodrum, a client and a job candidate in New York talking screen-to-screen with executives in Tokyo and Hong Kong. The Asia-based interviewers lucked into civilized morning hours, while Woodrum and company were on the air well past dinner time.

And then there’s the problem of forgetting that your face is on screen--perhaps in extreme close-up--at all times. That means keeping fidgeting to a minimum and directing your hands away from hair and orifices.

“Once you walk in that room, you’re on,” Woodrum said. “Don’t try to make cute jokes.”

Korn/Ferry uses video conferences for preliminary screening to shrink a large pool of candidates down to the few who warrant personal interviews. The system will save Korn/Ferry and its clients money, even though the New York-Los Angeles hookup costs $400 an hour, Woodrum said.

“When I fly to Los Angeles--I just did this, so I know--round-trip coach fare is $1,105; the hotel was $105 a night for two nights, plus my meals. And because it’s Los Angeles, I also had to rent a car.”