Sell Yourself With A Video CV
Designing a video CV to accompany your written document allows potential employers to discover far more information about you, allowing you to showcase your skills, experiences and personality.
Video CVs are becoming increasingly popular in the public relations industry, with the competitive job market requiring applicants to standout by being as creative as possible. Designing a video CV to accompany your written document allows potential employers to discover far more information about you, allowing you to showcase your skills, experiences and personality.
Second year PR_SSU students are currently creating their own video CVs, from the script and storyboards right through to the filming and editing as part of the employability and work placement skills module. They know all too well that facing a camera and having to sell yourself can fill even the most confident PR practitioner with fear, so here are the top tips for creating a video CV to be proud of.
Plan your video
Storyboarding your ideas and creating a script can be useful exercises when you begin to think about your video CV. It allows you to ensure that all information is presented logically, flows well and that you don’t miss out anything important.
Technical considerations
When filming your video consider the lighting, background noise and focus of your camera. A well thought out, creative and interesting video can be ruined by bad lighting, background noise and lack of focus, so have a few practise runs first.
Show your personal brand
Throughout the employability module PR_SSU students are encouraged to investigate and discover their own personal brand. This can then inform everything from business cards to your CV, through colours, design and keywords. Think about what makes you different, what are your PR superpowers?
Don’t just read out your CV
A video CV provides the opportunity to sell yourself, and this is an important skill to have as a PR practitioner. During PR interviews you are often expected to pitch yourself to the interview board, and a video CV is very similar. So think outside the box, present your content creatively and supplement your written CV with a video that will catch your potential employers attention!
Play to your strengths
Do you love being in front of the camera and talking about yourself? Do you like to draw? Or, do you prefer to show your talents through video production? Whatever your strengths are use them! They are a great way of showing off your skills and make the process much more enjoyable whilst you’re doing it!
Remember your audience!
It can be easy to forget who your audience are when creating your CV, so be sure to present yourself as a professional by dressing smartly, using positive body language and ensuring you speak clearly.
Include contact details!
Ensure that your contact details are available at the end of your video, including your Twitter and LinkedIn details! Once your CV is finished make sure you share it, YouTube and Vine are great platforms to link from, and LinkedIn has the facility to upload a video CV onto your page.
Still need some inspiration? Check out third year Gergana Tacheva’s video CV presenting her PR journey!
