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Don’ts
Don’ts

Review and dissemination

Don’ts
Don’ts

Review and dissemination

"Measure twice and cut once."

proverb

Don’ts

  1. Don't send out your video resume if you got feedback that it might be offensive
  2. if you're not happy with the outcome, the quality is not up to your standard (sometimes it might do more harm than good)
  3. Don't try to include everything you've done
  4. Don't just read out your resume
  5. Don't criticise your previous employer
  6. Don't get too personal

Don’t have professional equipment to film your video?
Don’t have professional equipment to film your video?

Execution

Don’t have professional equipment to film your video?
Don’t have professional equipment to film your video?

Execution

“I don't get tripped up in technology. I use technology as a tool.”

Spike Lee

Even if you do not own a camera and professional editing software, there’s plenty of resources that you consider. Here’s a couple of suggestions:

  • Visit your local library, Community center, youth center or contact NGOs that help people find employment
  • You can always rent or borrow equipment
  • Create a video using alternatives (ppt, online open-source tools, Blender, Google slides, iMovie ...)
  • Remember you do not have to use professional cameras to create a video, you can always record your video with your phone, tablet or your laptop.

Willingness to learn and teach
Willingness to learn and teach

Collaboration

Willingness to learn and teach
Willingness to learn and teach

Collaboration

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.”

Dr. Seuss

In order to stay relevant in our fast-paced world we must be willing to keep on learning and improving which, as a result, can enhance our ability to collaborate effectively. Here’s a couple of questions that you might consider answering in your video CV to demonstrate your teaching and learning skills:

  • Are you actively seeking to improve your skills and knowledge? Then apply it in the workplace? (give an example)
  • Do you use online learning platforms (Coursera, Futurelearn…) to hone your skills? Have you earned any certificates?
  • What do you do if you're stuck on assignments/tasks? Do you ask for your collegues' help?
  • If you see that your colleague is struggling with an assignment and you knew exactly how to do it, would you teach them how to achieve desired results or would you more often just offer to do it for them? (please give examples)
  • How do your teaching and learning skills help you collaborate with others?

Tell us more about your passion project or a hobby!
Tell us more about your passion project or a hobby!

Creativity

Tell us more about your passion project or a hobby!
Tell us more about your passion project or a hobby!

Creativity

“I draw like other people bite their nails.”

Pablo Picasso

There is no better way to show your creativity than sharing your work and talking about your creative process… even if the creativity skill is not listed as one of the requirements for the position you’re applying for, it is a sought-after competence and could help you differentiate yourself from the competition. Remember you don’t have to be a professional painter, director, designer, photographer or artist to share the projects that you are passionate about with prospective employers. A Video CV is a great way to show off your personality and interests, and can be a great conversation starter. Wonder where to start?

    We’ve prepared a couple of questions that might give you some inspiration:
  • Do you draw, paint, perform, play a musical instrument, take photographs, write … mime? How long have you been doing this?
  • Could you show some examples of your creative projects? (presentation, video tour, etc…)
  • What did you learn from arts & crafts?
  • Have you developed any transversal skills?
  • Do you consider yourself creative? What incident made you think that?

Ability to prioritise
Ability to prioritise

Self-management

Ability to prioritise
Ability to prioritise

Self-management

“Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least.”

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The ability to set your priorities straight is invaluable. We can guarantee you that your future employer is looking for team members that can identify the most important tasks and get to them immediately rather than focusing on tasks of lower importance. Do you think you’re great at prioritising tasks? If so, you should definitely mention that in your video CV. Here’s a couple of questions that might help you get started thinking about how to best demonstrate this skill in your video:

  • Tell us about a situation where you had too much to do. How did you go through all the tasks?
  • How do you prioritize goals? Do you have a method, a checklist?
  • Do you set yourself goals? Do you do so in your professional and in your personal life? You could talk more about a goal that you set yourself and how you achieved it.
  • Do you set S.M.A.R.T goals?

Giving constructive feedback and welcoming it yourself
Giving constructive feedback and welcoming it yourself

Collaboration

Giving constructive feedback and welcoming it yourself
Giving constructive feedback and welcoming it yourself

Collaboration

“I think it's very important to have a feedback loop, where you're constantly thinking about what you've done and how you could be doing it better. I think that's the single best piece of advice: constantly think about how you could be doing things better and questioning yourself.”

Elon Musk

Feedback is very important for development and growth. If you’re keen to show your prospective employers that you’re capable of giving constructive feedback and welcome it yourself, here’s a couple of the questions that you might want to answer:

  • Do you find it difficult to give feedback? Why?
  • How do you handle criticism?
  • How do you give and receive feedback?
  • Why do you think feedback is important?
  • Can you remember an instance when you received feedback and acted on it to improve?
  • Have you ever given constructive feedback that helped your colleagues improve?

Dealing with unwanted emotions
Dealing with unwanted emotions

Self-management

Dealing with unwanted emotions
Dealing with unwanted emotions

Self-management

“It takes something more than intelligence to act intelligently.”

Fyodor Dostoyevsky

We all have bad days but not everyone deals with them in the same way. You can be sure that in any workplace, you will have to deal with other people’s unwanted emotions as well as your own. If you pride yourself on being able to manage your emotions and maintain a healthy and pleasant work environment, you can mention this in your video CV. How? Try answering these questions for starters:

  • How do you deal with unwanted emotions, do you let them get in the way or do you maybe have a strategy how to manage them?
  • How do you manage unwanted emotions?
  • How do you deal with angry/agitated colleagues? Do you let their emotions transfer onto you? Or maybe you have methods/strategies how to calm your colleagues and help them?

How do you deal with unexpected challenges?
How do you deal with unexpected challenges?

Flexibility

How do you deal with unexpected challenges?
How do you deal with unexpected challenges?

Flexibility

“Life is anything but predictable.”

Dwayne Johnson

Flexibility competence can be demonstrated by discussing how you deal with unexpected situations and answering questions such as:

  • How do you handle an unexpected situation?
  • How do you deal with changes in your plans?
  • Do you find it easy to reorientate yourself when plans change?
  • Are you prepared the embrace new opportunities or challenges?
  • How do you prepare yourself for the unexpected?
  • How do you adapt to meet the needs of a situation or emergency?
  • How would you rate your ability to adapt to change?
  • Are you willing/eager/keen to learn new methods, procedures, or techniques?Can you share some examples?