Since video resumes are already enhancing your traditional resume, how can you make it different enough to stand out among other candidates who may use one? Your creativity is key here because it will separate you among the others who decide to use their profile video as an advantage.
Informative Vs. Excessive
Being creative as possible is a good thing, however, you must be careful crossing the line between informative and excessive. An excessive Profile Video would include over-the-top and irrelevant aspects of why an applicant should be hired. Aleksey Vayner, who was applying for an investment banking job on Wall Street, sent employers his video resume entitled “Impossible is Nothing,” which featured him doing extreme sports and activities. Informative? Very much so, but about the wrong aspects of himself. Without any supportive information about his professional accomplishments, goals, and values, the rest of his presentation just becomes excessive and impractical.
Avoiding the excessive doesn’t have to stifle your creativity, but it does help you stand out for the right reasons. When thinking of creative ideas and standing out from the competition, consider these tips to avoid a video resume blunder:
Less Is More
When creating your Profile Video, avoid a laundry list of everything about you. Think about it from an employer’s perspective – what sort of assumptions about the candidate’s job performance can be made from their personal activities? Not many, nor do most employers truly care in the initial rounds. What they do care about is what attitude, skills, and insight you can bring to the position and company at hand.
Market Yourself
Offering a selling point about yourself, or a unique value proposition, is way to stand out among candidates who simply recite the information employers already know from their paper resume. Think of an “elevator pitch.” It’s a tactic often used by entrepreneurs to sum up and sell their idea to investors in the span of a typical elevator ride (60 seconds or less). Your Profile Video can function in the same way and get those employers excited and interested in what you, as a person and product, can offer.
Have A Call To Action
You’ve accomplished communicating what you can do for the company and how you’re different from the masses, now you can include a call to action. Having a clear call to action, like a selling point, is another basic marketing technique that prompts your prospective employer on what to do next. In your video resume, encourage employers to contact you (politely of course) or better yet, invite you to a video interview on Spark Hire! Whatever your call to action is, make sure it is relevant and adds more value to what you’re already offering.