Companies are multi-tasking amidst remote working and are now open to a crisp 60-90 second video resume. This takes away the need to go through a multiple page resume and also brings out behavioural traits of a candidate in the video.
How confident a candidate looks on camera, how they are able to summarise their work experience and their strengths/achievements are some of the aspects looked at by recruiters in the video resume.
However, before sending across the video resume, here are a few things to keep in mind:
Short and crisp is the key
Recruiters receive hundreds of job applications on a daily basis. So they don't have the time to watch a 4-5 minute video resume. So keep it short. Decide which are the aspects of your educational and professional career that you would want to highlight. Also remember to only speak of those achievements that are relevant to the job.
So, you may have topped your college with a GPA score of 4.7 but this is of no use to the job that you want to take up. Similarly, cut out the corporate awards that you may have received because it just takes out video time.
Shoot it professionally
The video resume is like a pre-interview session so be extremely professional. Dress in formals and ensure that the camera is still and of good quality.
You necessarily do not need to own an iPhone to shoot a video. Any Android smartphone with a megapixel of 16-30 would be sufficient. But you will have to invest in a mini-tripod to mount the phone so that the video is shot properly. A white or light-green coloured background works best.
Do practice what you have to speak a few times because you cannot be seen fumbling in the video resume. If you forget lines or miss a crucial achievement, redo those parts so that it can be edited.
Professional studios are also available for hire if you want to shoot a 60-90 second video. The charges could range from Rs 499 for use of the premises to Rs 2,500 to get a professional cameraperson to shoot it for you.
Contact video resume specialist portals
Once the video resume is ready, while you can send it to the recruiters the chances are they may not notice it.
For this, you now have specialised portals like StaffMerge and Biofie that are designed to display video resumes and can help you connect with employers effectively. You could also take assistance from their paid services for better visibility.
These platforms also help you record the video resume for an additional charge. This is an advantage because they will shoot and edit the videos more professionally.
Make minor adjustments based on the job role
One crucial tip for video resumes is to tweak them based on the job role. Candidates often make the mistake of sending the same resume for multiple jobs. In the HR world, this is considered as 'lazy applicant' syndrome because a candidate hasn't put any additional effort to find out what the requirements of the job role are.
For instance, for a content strategy role at a financial services firm you would need to have prior work experience in writing about this sector or have technical expertise. The same set of skills would not work for a communications role at a pharmaceutical company.
So, you can either re-shoot portions of the video resume to meet the job needs or have video resumes ready as per the skills required.
Close to 5 million salaried workers are still out of jobs amidst the COVID-19 outbreak and resultant lockdown. If you want your profile to really stand out, invest in preparing a suitable video resume.
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