It is no big surprise that video marketing has grown in popularity and in importance over the last few years. Moreover, there are several platforms for sharing videos that have grown in popularity and you can see several brands using these platforms and videos to promote their products and services.
The growing importance of videos is visible everywhere, people use Gmail video calling to
connect with each other or to conduct interviews and there are several other video calling services which people use.
But did you know that you can use videos to market yourself and your skills?
Yes, you can absolutely do that, these kind of videos are referred to as video resumes.
This means that you have the option of utilizing videos to introduce yourself and highlight your skillset to your prospective employers or hiring managers.
It is one of the most innovative ways of letting your potential employers know what makes you unique and it definitely helps you stand out from the crowd if done right. It is a very creative way of showing why you would be the perfect fit for the company.
If you have a lot of experience in the field, you should consider using a video resume to summarize your best qualities to help your potential employer understand why you would be the best candidate for them to choose for their company.
But here is an important point you should remember, video resumes do not in any way replace the traditional paper resumes, but they are an addition to your worded paper resumes.
A video resume can be either 30 seconds or 2 minutes.
Creating a video resume can be tricky, do not attempt to make one if you do not have any sort of experience in shooting and editing videos, cause if you do so and send it to the potential employer, it may backfire. In these situations, it is wise to use the help of professional videographers to create your video resume. Making unprofessional video resumes may reduce your chances of getting called to an interview but on the other hand, if done right, it can help you greatly.
Also, most of the companies out there are not interested in video resumes, only around 3% of the businesses out there are really interested in reviewing video resumes. The rest of them are not particularly interested in reviewing video resumes as they think it would be discriminating to do so, this is due to the fact that other candidates may not have a video resume.
This is why you have to careful when you send out video resumes to companies.
Tips On Making A Video Resume
When it comes to making a video resume, the process is quite different from making a worded paper resume or PDF resume. It does require quite a bit of preparation, video shooting/editing skills, scripting, and visual storytelling skills.
Here are some tips to help you create your video resume.
Writing A Script
This is the very first step you have to do when you want to make a video resume. There are a few different things you can do such as sit in front of the camera and talk about your skillset/experience or you can film yourself performing and showcasing your skills. You can even use both the elements. regardless of what you want to do in your video, having a script definitely helps in making the video better.
This is similar to having a story-board when filming movies or short films, it helps the video look smooth and professional.
You should also write down what you want to speak in the form of little notes, but when you’re in front of the camera, make sure you don’t read out the words directly from the notes. Use the notes a guide, only then will your narrative sound more natural.
Write down your qualifications, experiences, and skillset that you wish to highlight.
Before you shoot the video, it would be wise for you to rehearse. This way you will not make many mistakes during the actual shoot.
Setting Up The Recording Devices
Make sure you use a good recording device to shoot your video resume, you do not need to have professional equipment to shoot your video resume. Most of the smartphones nowadays are equipped with a high-quality camera, you can use that to shoot your video resume. Or if you have a video recorder with you, use that. Regardless of the camera you use, make sure you place it the camera in a place where there is adequate lighting available, you should ensure that there is no shadow seen in the video and also make sure there is a good amount of light falling on the subject of the video.
Apart from a camera, you should also concentrate on the sound quality of the video, if the camera in-built the phone does not capture audio properly, you should use an external recording microphone, with this piece of equipment you will definitely get high-quality sound. Also, when you record audio and video separately you should layer the audio over the video during the editing process.
One important thing you should keep in mind when shooting your video resume is that you should record multiple takes of each shot and choose the best takes of each shot and arrange them in the required order during the editing process.