Do Video Résumés Really Work?
By David Jensen, CPRW, CARW,CEIP
The ability to create and post short audio and video clips on personal Web sites and video sharing sites such as YouTube has taken online communication to a new level. Job seekers are even using video technology to promote their employment candidacy by creating and distributing video résumés. Despite the growing popularity of this trend, it still begs the question, do video résumés really work?
Video Résumés Call For New Technology
The human resource professionals and recruiters interviewed for this article all said they would review a video résumé. The reasons they gave were that they were curious about the technique and it would allow them to see how candidates present themselves and their public speaking skills. Still, video résumés are a ways out from becoming a mainstream form of résumé distribution because someone can review five or six paper résumés in the time it takes to view one video résumé. However, larger companies are investing in applicant tracking systems that will likely include a feature that enables hiring managers to quickly open and view video résumés.
A Properly Produced Video Résumé can be an Effective Job Seeking Tool
The fact that HR professionals have said they would review a video résumé means that it can be an effective tool to promote your candidacy. However, as with a text résumé, not only does it need to capture and retain your audience’s attention, it needs to compel a hiring manager to contact you. With a video résumé, you employ a combination of your appearance, presentation ability, and content to make your case. You have between 60 to 90 seconds to provide enough of the right information for the hiring manager to make an informed decision about you.
Take the Time to do it Right
Video cameras are very unforgiving. The first time someone goes in front of a television camera, they usually receive some coaching because the camera amplifies every movement and vocal slip-up. Your audience focuses on you the entire time so it can be very noticeable and distracting whenever you look away from the camera, move your arms, or stutter. Make sure you get clean video and audio recordings and edit out all mistakes to provide a clear and coherent product.
Video résumés will eventually become a common job seeking tool. And it won’t be long before the most skeptical employers will come on board. However, even the most top-of-the line production technology cannot compensate for a poorly produced résumé. A well-crafted résumé, whether on paper or on the screen is an investment in your career. It’s worth your while to devote the time and resources to create a good product.
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Showcasing Military History & Performance to Outshine the Competition
by Lou Huskey, CPRW, ResumeEdge.com Editor
Transitioning from the military world can be a challenge, but many candidates find great success in job searches when they are able to target specific companies that search for employees with this type expertise. Most individuals coming out of the military have valuable experience in leading teams and making strategic business decisions that greatly affect the projects they have been involved in. Accentuate strong leadership backgrounds to show how you can easily move into management positions. In the corporate world, employers look for people who can work independently without lots of direction, so focusing on being a self-motivated, disciplined individual is important. Be sure to highlight the demanding work schedules that the military typically imposes. Being able to work in fast-paced environments and handle highly stressful situations typically creates an outstanding level of integrity and gives you an above average work ethic that many others don’t offer.
Emphasize communications skills by showcasing knowledge of various languages and the ability to work with individuals with varied cultural backgrounds. Highlight your computer proficiencies and technical strengths, eliminating technical jargon that simply does not apply outside of the military world unless it pertains to the job you are applying for.
Many companies specializing in defense, homeland security, and other government markets seek out experienced employees for job opportunities throughout the world, so indicate that you are able to relocate and travel. When contracts are lost, employees can be required to move as well, so being open to these situations will help a company see that you are the best selection. Defense companies search for applicants with security clearances and many times individuals aren’t even admitted to job fairs geared towards these industries without one.
Closely analyze the job advertisements you find interesting. It is so important to show how your capabilities clearly parallel their job requirements by bringing out the matching skills to indicate your expertise is what an organization is searching for. This can be achieved not only within your professionally prepared resume, but also in a cover letter. These documents should highlight the most important aspects of your career and be crafted in a concise, yet informative manner. A long document that is jam-packed with too much detail simply won’t be read in this tight market.
To conclude, candidates with military backgrounds have so much to offer commercial employers, even those who are not involved in government-related ventures. By researching potential positions and marketing your most important abilities, you will be able to utilize the best of what you have learned while serving in the military and find an exciting, rewarding career opportunity.
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The Importance of Translating Military Jargon Into Civilian Language
by Jennifer Stiglic, BA, ME, CPRW, ResumeEdge.com Editor
There is a big difference between, “Provide mission critical technical services to the battalion for the tracking of all cargo material in a combat zone” and “Direct IT services to support a 150-person operation, tracking all cargo materials in a demanding work environment.”
Job responsibilities in the military can easily translate to corporate positions; you just need to overcome the language barrier and jargon. The process of translating military jargon into civilian language is essentially the same as translating a resume from Spanish into English…it is a different language. For example, common words in military resumes include command, battalion/soldiers, and mission. These can translate into civilian terminology as supervised, team, and organizational goal. Hiring managers may not understand the significance of your experience when they read resumes with military jargon stating leadership of defensive techniques, combat readiness, weapons storage or combat zone operations.
In order to increase your marketability for a civilian job, break down your experiences and re-word the content to match the language of your target position.
The first step is to break down job duties into individual tasks to identify key strengths. To accomplish this task, read job postings, company job descriptions, and industry resumes located on job boards and industry association websites to match your experiences to civilian jobs. A great resource is the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Outlook Handbook located online at: www.bls.gov/OCO. This site provides overviews of job positions with detailed information on the nature of the work, language used, and education needed. The second step is to go through your experience and transition your resume using civilian language found in the job postings and company descriptions. Some responsibilities could relate to equipment maintenance, international relations, budget management, team training and leadership, personnel management, and logistics management.
Accomplishments are critical to the resume whether they are for the military or corporate/civilian positions. Be sure to highlight your accomplishments in the resume and quantify the results based on impact to the organization.
In the end, one easy way to test your resume is to have a non-military person review the resume and let you know the verbiage or wording they do not understand.
