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How to Stand Out with the Perfect Video Resume (Part II)

By: Noah Shunfenthal
Online Career Tips Staff

Before diving into Part II, make sure you read: Part I of this series.

Now that you’ve prepared yourself for being in front of the camera, and have done all the necessary rehearsing (right?) it’s time to walk you through the “production” process of your video resume.

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The bare minimum equipment I recommend for shooting a video resume is your webcam. Please no cell phone videos as those will look terrible and have poor video and audio quality. As long as you are able to shoot on a camera that can give you an editable video output (most do), then you’ll be set!

  • Stay horizontal. Keep your camera on a tripod or a flat surface. You’ll want to stay away from artsy tilted camera angles or the handheld “Blair Witch Project” experience.
  • Quiet on set! Shoot in a quiet, controlled environment, preferably indoors.  Silence all distractions including cell phones, televisions, babies, your dog Rufus, etc.
  • Manage the lighting. Make sure light is reflecting directly off you and not pouring in behind you – this will cause backlighting, which will make it difficult to see your pearly whites. Instead of having your back toward a window, position your face in front of the window so that natural light shines on your face.
  • Do a sound check. Speak loud enough so that the microphone picks you up clearly in your normal speaking voice. Do not adjust the microphone or audio levels mid-recording as you’ll want one consistent audio level.
  • Give your camera breathing room. Let’s do our best to keep the camera out of our faces, okay? Keep the camera out enough so that we have a shot of your head, neck, and top half of your chest. This should be the standard shot.  Feel free to be panned out even more, but don’t be so far away that we can’t tell your eyes from your mouth.
  • Avoid the cliche’s. “Oh, why hello…I didn’t see you there!”No.  Please don’t start your video with that line.  It may be cute for a throwaway YouTube video, but your potential employers won’t find it funny.  They’ll just say, “Wow, awkward”, as they toss your resume into the trash.
  • Above all else: Relax.

You may have noticed that I have provided very little detail with each of the above tips. The reason is because you’ll want to keep your filming simple, especially if you have no prior video experience.  Simple mistakes such as bad camera pans or funky camera angles will significantly damage your video resume. Your best bet is to keep it clean and down-to-earth.

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Care to share any of your production pro-tips? Post them in the comments section below!

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