Video resume: 5 reasons professionals should consider it Now!
Author: yinkaolaito
Yinka Olaito is happy,excited and passionate Communications & Media specialist, Trainer and speaker. Yinka Olaito helps Profits and Non-profits with effective communication and positioning for premium service delivery and returns. Yinka Olaito also has special interest in Development Communication and has consulted for noted UN Agencies. Yinka Olaito is the CCO of Michael Sage Consulting(Communication/digital media), African Child Education Right Initiatives(NGO) and Content Director, Africa Development Talk( online Platform for discussion on Policy, Governance, development across Africa) and Africa Foundation for Young Media Professionals
We live in a changing world. The world of work is rapidly witnessing its own changes. Technology, albeit internet is doing a lot of damage to age long tradition and no one is spared. Unlike before when job boards are great places to search for new position, things have moved in such a fast phase. Only the smartest will catch up. Being good is neither enough nor does having a good grade guarantee being hired. Who you know and who knows what you can offer or who is recommending you are also vital indices today.
Before a job is advertised, there is likely tendency it has been taken. Job seekers or career changers now know having a personal online presence is a good way to promote their skills as well as gaining exposure. So many people had tried to have their text resumes, profiles placed on the internet either on a personal blog, Linkedin or on Slideshare.
By all means, modern day professionals understand better the value of online presence and they are working hard on beating competitors to it. Like someone said ‘getting a job is also a job’. You must know what to do right to distinguish yourself in the sea of other qualified job seekers.
One dimension we have noticed though is that several research findings had shown that video will become the big deal in the next few years. While text will still be great for Google ranking, visibility etc, video will get the best of the eye balls in no distance time. Hence the question about video resume is now trending. For some, that is weird. But we guess that was what many first thought about online resume. It exposes them to lot of threat they think.
Yes that is true, but today people know you can focus on your skill and not lots of personal information and give as little on that as possible. Say just email contact or include a business telephone line. So why professional should considers an online video resume? This is despite the short fall of not having better Google, ranking visibility than test except one combines it with a text version. Here are our opinions.
It exposes your confidence: One of the reasons many employers want a face to face meeting with potential employees is to see what they look like, check their confidence skill among others. Face to face help to see employee’s personal dress sense. With video resume that is not very long, say 2 to 3 minutes, you can cut off some of the fears of potential employers about your confidence and public speaking skill.
It brings out your personality: More than any other platform, online video resume helps show your real personality. When you talk and make para linguistic features it is easier to get a glimpse of your personality. Even though we know this can be professionally manipulated but someone a keen observation of your voice, pitch can give a better clue.
It helps you connect better: Unlike text resume, video resume helps you connect better with your potential than word or text resume. Some may just cling with you because of your look, intonation among other factors that text will never give.
It gives wing to the text version: Sequel to the above point, it is obvious to all that video resumes give wing to the text version to fly better and kill the bird.
It drives better traffic and guarantees more exposure: it is a common knowledge that anything visual with right aesthetic flies faster in term of traffic online. Given research findings also, video, visual will continue to gain more traffic than any other form of content only.
We must say also video resume has its own disadvantage for ‘heavily accented’ professionals. If your mother tongue is interfering with your spoken English, that may be a minus for your global target. You cannot also afford to dress anyone for your video resume production. With these said, for those who want to give this a trial Ocubicle.com is given a global opportunity in a contest that is free and gives participants global leverage and benefits. Anyone can participate, all you need do is create account, do a video resume and upload and share at various platform. Winners of best shared video resume will enjoy lots of benefits here.
Photo source: webmonkeygirl
