10 Video Resume Tips to Make you Stand out
- Introduction to Video Resumes
- Tips to create a video resume
- 1. Reflect your personality
- 2. Start the video at the end
- 3. Define your recipient
- 4. Focus the message on your recipient
- 5. Synthesize
- Remember the three basic questions from the first paragraph:
- 6. Express the content
- 7. Hold attention
- 8. Be original
- 9. Make it easy for the audience
- 10. Meet your goal
- Summary
Do you usually have great luck attracting your audience through a resume that summarizes your work? Does exposing a grid with samples of your previous works in your web portfolio make it easy to find out who you are, what you do and how you work? Creating a video resume is one of the most innovative ways to make an impression on potential employers.
Creating and posting a video is much easier than it sounds, and the process keeps getting easier as time passes. Here are ten tips that will guide you in preparing your video resume for your job interview.
Introduction to Video Resumes
As the job market becomes more competitive, job seekers are looking for ways to stand out from the crowd. A video resume is a short, creative video that showcases your skills, experience, and personality. It's a way to bring your resume to life and give potential employers a glimpse of who you are.
Tips to create a video resume
1. Reflect your personality
A video reflects better than a piece of paper how you are, and above all, it breaks down a barrier that otherwise remains unknown until the first meeting with the client: how you perform. This will help you increase your chances of being contacted.
2. Start the video at the end
The best thing about audiovisual support is the freedom it offers to express what you want as you want. You can tell a story, teach your trade, and show your experience when faced with so many possibilities. You will surely wonder where to start.
The truth is that there is no universal method, but a good way to start your video is at the end. And not the one in the video. The video contains your message but in the end, on the other side of the screen, who will receive it? Does the user who is watching the video have the same experience as you?
3. Define your recipient
Defining who and how your presentation will be addressed will give you clues about what you could include and how to express that information. For example, is it relevant that what you explain is understood by a 5-year-old child? Or only by specialists in your field?
4. Focus the message on your recipient
Focusing your message on a specific group can make it easier for it to be better understood by those who are part of your target. However, remember that a simpler message will reach a broader audience, but this audience will shrink as your message becomes more specific. Depending on your case, what can be more beneficial for you?
- More exposure?
- A more concrete approach?
Put yourself in the shoes of your recipient to answer these questions.
5. Synthesize
If you know who you are addressing, you can guess the level of detail and the data you will incorporate into your presentation video. Keep in mind that it is not about dumping the information from your curriculum vitae or listing your previous jobs: the medium gives you much more.
In addition, you can always facilitate access to more detailed information through, for example, a link to your website where it is possible to continue discovering more about yourself.
Remember the three basic questions from the first paragraph:
- Who are you
- What are you doing
- How do you work
What is essential? Get to the point. Reduce the information to the most important, to the 3 or 4 outstanding ideas that you want to last after viewing.
6. Express the content
Once you have prepared the content of your presentation, the most interesting part arrives: how you will express it. Think that appearing on the screen in your presentation video is important because you break the barrier of the impersonal written text of a resume and turn it into a real person with a face and eyes. But it is not enough to show yourself on video.
Thousands of people are able to sit in front of the camera in their office or bedroom and narrate a memorized text, but that will not necessarily make it memorable. Remember to take care of your speech. You are not addressing a camera; you are addressing each person who will see your video. Don't be afraid of being wrong. The human touch adds warmth and closeness: even companies sometimes realize this and welcome humor and imperfection.
7. Hold attention
Your spectator will not necessarily be focused on listening to you. You're fighting a tide of other browser tabs full of new incoming notifications. You have a few seconds to clarify that viewing your video is worth it. The total duration is relative: you can explain yourself in thirty seconds or a few minutes. Don't chase a specific time but avoid excessive time. If when you see the result, you are not convinced by the rhythm, repeat changing what you don't like: you can repeat takes and make adjustments to what you record so that it is closer to what you are looking for.
8. Be original
Will it be entertaining? Will it provide valuable knowledge? Ultimately, the question is whether your video enriches the viewer somehow: be it with information, an interesting idea, or a smile. Thus, being original is not limited to doing something different. Work these two questions :
- What is the most predictable way to present your ideas in the video?
- What is it that no one will expect to happen?
You can play with surprise, and depending on the information you provide and your objectives, you will find infinite ways to present your ideas. Look for examples of those videos that you like to find your own creative voice: you will discover the proposals that work and those that fail, as well as be able to combine those ideas with your tastes.
9. Make it easy for the audience
Let's go back to the same place where we started: the end. Because your presentation video does not end at the end of the playback. Now is precisely when what you really do it for begins: contact. It is up to the user to decide to visit your page or send you an email, but remember: make it easy for them.
You can include a text title at the end or throughout the video, include the relevant links in the description and remind the viewer that they have the possibility to access you if they are interested. Or you can twist it. Everyone will put their email and their website in their video. But there are more resources! For example, YouTube annotations allow you to play by linking directly in the video to other videos: can you imagine making an intro video that links at the end to four other videos that expose the four lines of services you offer? Imagination is the only limit.
10. Meet your goal
To finish, I am going to give you one more recommendation. Find a creative way to tell boring technical stuff. The important thing about your video is that it meets its particular objective. Surely you also have many things to tell. The only thing standing between you and your presentation video is a camera, a computer, and a few hours of your time.
Summary
Creating a video resume is a great way to stand out from the crowd in a competitive job market. Unlike an online resume, a video resume will win more attention. By following these tips, you can create a professional, engaging video that showcases your skills and personality. Remember, the goal of a video resume is to give potential employers a glimpse of who you are and what you can bring to the table. With a little creativity and practice, you can create a video resume that helps you land the job of your dreams. Have you come across a video resume that did not leave you indifferent? Share and discover in the comments examples that can serve as inspiration.