Video Resume: Top Tips to Stand Out From The Crowd
Searching for your dream job in the modern job market is far from an easy ride. The applicant pool is always competitive, but it is often difficult to stand out with the ever-changing nature of job applications.
It is subsequently essential to think outside of the box when you’ve been on the job hunt for what seems like an eternity, and when you have been rejected a few times in a row, it may be hard to keep the momentum going with fresh ideas.
How can you make the strongest impression on your potential employers by capturing your best qualities and relevant experiences relevant to your prospects?
Enter: the video resume.
In this article, we will look a little deeper into the capacity of the video resume to help you stand out from the crowd in a sea of candidates, as well as offer some tips and tricks on how to make a killer piece of content with practical value.
What is a Video Resume?
Thankfully, a video resume or CV is far more than a monotonous list of your accomplishments and employment history spliced into an awkward video format. Indeed, paper resumes still do an excellent job summarizing your quantitative achievements (such as school grades). But in today’s evolving world, it is genuinely challenging to stand out from the crowd. A video resume could be a great supplement to your traditional resume to break the fourth wall and grasp the attention of your employer. A study by Wyzowl.com suggests that as much as 59% of senior executives would rather watch a video than reading text if both are available.
In marketing, marketers frequently use video content to convey what cannot be achieved via traditional methods based on the written word, such as long newspaper ad campaigns. The same can be applied here.
Like a hard-copy paper resume, you must include the essentials such as work experience, education, and your interests. Still, your video resume should convey strengths that are not so easily outlined on a paper resume. Examples include endearing qualities such as charisma, clarity of voice and public speaking, warmth, humor, and your informal, natural speaking manner.
Among all this information, make sure you answer the fundamental question: Why should the potential employer hire you? Don’t get lost in fancy details elsewhere at the expense of including the important stuff.
Why Create a Video Resume?
As we have already discussed, video resumes can help you stand out in a highly saturated job market. Videos are the perfect way to convey your message efficiently and effectively in an age when attention spans are diminishing in the height of technological progress.
Be a breath of fresh air!
It’s common to hear companies preach about merit-based hiring. When many people apply for the same role as you, there will likely be a few differentiating factors regarding what you have all achieved. How does an employer select a winning candidate from many resumes that list the same achievements and awards?
Videos are far more likely to leave a lasting impression than hard copies. When hiring a candidate, recruiters are likely to remember you as the creative genius who thought in an unorthodox and creative manner when watching your resume instead of just reading it.
This type of content will also allow your personality to simply shine through, encouraging the employer to develop a stronger connection than what can be achieved through a double-sided sheet of paper. The employer can determine whether you would fit into their business culture by listening to how you talk, move, see how you dress and use words.
That said, if the role that you’re applying for is in the creative industry, there’s an additional reason for you to create a video resume. Making a promotional video for potential employers has a dual role. You are not only providing them with your resume but a portfolio-style piece of work from which they can gauge your abundance of talent.
Is a Video Resume The Right Approach?
It is essential to research the company you are applying for to see whether traditional application forms would be better suited to them. The last thing you want is to offer a highly creative, unorthodox application to a potential employer whose values remain conservative and conventional.
If you think it may be an alternative that your employer would appreciate, a video resume should be more focused on showcasing your unique qualities and making a memorable impression.
Our Tips & Tricks
Do you think that the video resume may be the way forward for your next job application? How exciting! For your convenience, we have compiled some of 6 top tips on how to create a stand-out video resume that will get you hired:
Write a killer script
This point may seem obvious, but please do not attempt to wing your video. I think we can agree that we have all experienced that traumatic feeling of being at the front of the class, wishing we had learned our Keynote lines a little better.
Preparation is key. If you write out a script first, you will come across better since you can phrase all your ideas in the most professional way possible.
If you appear on camera, an important tip is to memorize your script. Choosing to read from a script will simply look sloppy and unprepared – two qualities that you do not want your potential employer to align with you. Speak as naturally as possible, and you will give off an excellent first impression.
Make it relevant
Once again, traditional CV values apply. Deter going off on a tangent; you must keep your points clear and concise. Generic CVs don’t sell, so make sure that your content is relevant to the job you are applying for. Personalization will show employers that you genuinely care about the role and have committed thorough research around the company values, making for a more memorable application. Unfortunately, if you are applying for a handful of positions at once, this may mean multiple video resumes.
Employers who have sifted through 100s of CVs are not likely to have the highest of attention spans, and it is vital to grab their attention from the moment they press play.
Keep it short & sweet
We have transitioned nicely into the importance of being short and concise. Short and sweet will pack a punch. Like CVs that are pages and pages long, a five-minute video may give the employer the wrong impression that you cannot narrow down skills relevant to the role. You are also at risk of coming across as arrogant. Recruiters are busy people, and your time is not more important than theirs.
It’s simple: hiring managers switch off when you push it to the limit. When you are this early in the hiring process, they lose nothing by discarding you.
Wistia recommends that maximum viewer engagement is 1-2 minutes, with an in-between of 90 being the ideal video length for video resumes.
Get creative
Seems obvious with a video resume, right? You may think that your golden ticket video resume idea will get you into the Chocolate Factory, but there is a little bit more to it than that.
Don’t worry; you won’t be subject to TV-obsessed kids or chewing-gum enthusiasts who will turn into a blueberry. You will, however, still be up against a variety of competitive candidates who are trying their best to stand out for the same reasons as you. You may not even be the only individual offering a video resume since the medium has grown in popularity in recent years.
With that said, make sure to try various styles, takes, and mix up your script. Showcase your content to family and friends and let them help you pick your favorite. They will also likely pick up minor mistakes you have surpassed or even offer their creative input.
Maintain professionalism
Thankfully, the camera quality of smartphones these days is pretty up to scratch, meaning that you can film an HD video from your pocket. Still, you must make sure that the lighting, framing, and editing are all of a high standard.
If you are talking directly to the camera, it may help you treat it as though you have rehearsed a script to answer a question in a real-life interview scenario.
Again, dress to impress in attire similar to that you would wear at the following interview stage. In any situation, clothing may be one of the first things people look at to determine how they feel about you upon a first impression.
Make sure your background is neutral, and at the very least clean and tidy.
Receive feedback
Many employers will neglect to offer feedback on your application if you are unsuccessful. Be proactive and ask for comments. That way, you can improve your next video resume for future applications.
Camera Shy?
No problem! Not all video resumes need to show a candidate talking directly to a camera. Animation video resumes have become a popularised ideal in recent times, especially to those within the industry.
Check out our blog on Animated Resumes to find out more!
Wrapping Up
So there you have it! You may well still be considering whether this video resume is the right move for you. As aforementioned, it may well be that your employer of choice is less inclined to embrace progressively creative forms of application. It is important to weigh this up before making a bold move to submit a creative resume, so be sure to do thorough research before preparing your application. Only you can decide if a video resume can help or hinder your chances of getting your foot in the door of your desired industry or company.
If you’re trying to get into the creative or technology field, the video resume can be an apt route to take since it allows you to show off some flair.
That’s not to say that the video resume is not fit for more traditional industries. For example, this type of content is a great way to show some charisma if applying for a job in teaching and applying for a managerial role in a finance firm where you’ll be required to partake in public speaking to large crowds? The video resume is ideal for showing off your communication skills.
I think what we’re trying to say is, as much as you must consider the appropriateness of the video resume concerning the job you are applying for, never be too quick to rule it out.
Need some advice and want to learn more about what we offer at Animation Explainers?
