Get Noticed with a Video Resume
Job searching can be an exhausting process. Whether you are just starting your career or looking to advance your career, the first step is to build your resume. If you’re a college student you may seek guidance from your university’s career center. If you are a current professional looking for a new opportunity, you may use Google to search for helpful tips on how to make your resume stand out to employers. Self-promotion is a tricky thing; you want to stand out to future employers without spamming the feeds of your personal Facebook and Twitter followers. Putting pen to paper is great and all, but what about putting ideas into motion by creating a video resume that will ‘WOW’ potential employers?
Remember how Elle Woods used a video essay to get into Harvard Law? And what about Barney Stinson’s video resume on HIMYM?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rMVx2JbztU
While their video resumes may be a bit far-fetched, these characters are actually taking advantage of the numerous benefits video resumes pose for job seekers:
1. Share Your Personality with Employers.
Employers are not only looking for what knowledge and skills you can bring to their team, they also want to see if your personality is a match for their organization. In a video resume, you can showcase your personality, voice and most importantly your brand. How you brand yourself to a prospective employer is key. Are you a writer, designer or researcher? Don’t be shy – tell employers your story. Talk about your educational training and the skills you can apply to a professional role in their organization. Employers will be interested in your personal interests too. Perhaps you are an avid cyclist and enjoy traveling. Aspects of your personal life may allow you to connect with current members of the organization to which you are applying. This allows interviewers to better imagine how you may fit within their organization and contribute positively to their office environment.
2. Contribute to Your Personal Brand.
A video resume is one of several aspects that will contribute to your personal brand. Many professionals in the communication, design and arts industries have online portfolios to identify themselves as members of their industry and to showcase examples of their best work for potential clients and employers. Online portfolios can be simple but also purposeful. Create content that will show clients and employers who you are and what you can offer to their organization.
3. Showcase a Particular Skillset.
Video resumes are a unique way to demonstrate your abilities to create and arrange content into an engaging story about yourself. They will also show your skills in video production and editing, which can be highly sought-after skills in the communication field. Even here at EVG, we work to produce videos that promote content marketing resources such as our videos on Content Audits and SEO.
4. Talk in detail about a project or accomplishment.
With traditional resumes, it is not uncommon for a skillset or accomplishment applicable to an intended position to be overlooked. According to The Ladders, your resume has 6 seconds to make an impression. That is not a lot of time! Thankfully a video resume can point out why you are the best candidate for a job. Perhaps you are applying for a job that involves graphic design – your traditional resume may refer to a few projects involving this skill but what if the recruiters overlook this information? Use your video resume to talk about a project or important accomplishment that shows potential employers how your skills can be applied to a role in their organization. Treat it like a case study: talk about the goals of the project, incorporate methods and tools you used to execute the project, and conclude with the outcomes of the project. Allow employers to envision how your experience can benefit them.
Have you ever used a video resume to market yourself to an employer? We’d love to know how they may have helped you or what type of feedback you received from employers as a result.
Enjoyed this post? Read more from Bethany!
Bethany Haberstroh–Content Strategist
