by Orrin Konheim and Shy Pahvelani

It is important to be able to stand out from your competition. A video resume can go a long way towards having an employer understand more about you than can be expressed on a paper and are particuarly important in jobs where the ability to communicate is an important part of the work. Best case scenario: It could even save the employer the trouble of a job interview.

Just like whenever someone is watching a video of practically anything, it's important to hook the viewer. It is first important to understand what the prospective employer might be looking for. Is it a job that requires creative thought? You might want to get creative with your video or how you present yourself in that case. If it's a job in sales that you're looking for, you want to show them your charisma as a salesman and show them you're pitching skills.

Whatever the nature of the position is, however, some things remain standard. You will always want to:

1) Look and sound good-Maintain eye contact with the camera and speak in a commanding but not too stiff of a voice. Practice a little on your own before committing yourself to the video. This has the added benefits of eliminating "ums" and "likes" in your speech, which are definitely a negative. Dress in business attire.

2) Act relaxed-Although the business attire is important, try to dress in something you're most comfortable in. If you're not comfortable wearing a double-breasted armani suit, it will show. Pick something formal that you're comfortable in. Act relaxed and take a few deep breaths. This is supposed to be conversational. Sounding overly rehearsed might make an employer question who the real you is.

3) Be concise-If you noticed the fact, that lately 2-minute youtube videos are more popular than full-length tv shows, than you're probably aware that we all have short attention spans. You don't want to lose your audiences. Try to keep your video resume to just one minute, and do not deviate from your main points.

4) Plan for what interview questions you might receive-Think of a couple interview questions you think you would be asked if you were getting an interview in this field. Ask a peer or try to work from personal memory. Without repeating the question, try to work your answers into the content of your video

5) Talk about results-Don't talk about you but talk about what you would bring for them. Don't focus heavily on all your accomplishments. These need to be much more brief for a video resume. The focus would be on what you bring to the team and what kinds of results you would bring to them if you were hired. You can support this with examples but don't overdo it (i.e. I would fit in well with a publishing company because I have over 6 years of experience writing in local newspapers and I interned at a publishing house). Unlike a written resume, this is conversational. Act as though you happened to bump into one of the leaders in your field at a baseball game and he wanted to know briefly what accomplishments you have in your field. You wouldn't list your whole resume to him, right? You give a short summary of what kinds of experience you have without going into the details. If they want more details they can look at your resume or contact you further.

6) Briefly, thank the employer for listening to you at the end of the interview.

QUANTIFY YOUR SKILL SETS ON YOUR RESUME

by Sheeba Riyas

Before you send out a resume, take a good look at it and ask two questions:

1)      Does it reflect who you are or is it a distorted version?

2)      Does it have the ability to impress potential employers?

Although if your skill sets fails to match the job profile, you would not qualify for an interview, this doesn't mean that you should provide false information in order to qualify for a position. Instead, focus on displaying the appropriate skills sets in a strategic fashion on your resume so that it would get the employer's attention.

If you have participated in certain competitions or extra curricular activities which require skills that match the job profile, during your academic years; including them in your resume would be highly recommended. Similarly, do not mention skills which are not related to the job profile. It is unlikely that a software company would be interested in the pizza eating competition you won in college! In regards to your working experience, ensure that you specify the responsibilities you had when you were with the previous company, along with accomplishments and appraisals must also be mentioned.

Your resume must contain concise and specific information. It should not take more than a minute for someone to go through the entire resume for most employers would not have the time to read pages of curriculum vitae and would prefer to gather sufficient details about the applicant at just a glance.

If you must mention your personal interests or hobbies, believing that they would add value to your personality and potentials; do so in a very brief manner.

At times, an employer would be looking for additional skills in a candidate but may not mention it in the advertisement. A graphics designer who can also handle some basic programming has a better chance of fitting into the job profile than someone who has no additional skills. So, if you have acquired some additional skills that relate to the job profile, it is wise to mention them in your resume, as it would be an added advantage.

Before you begin to create or update your resume, analyze your potentials and skills and create a list. Match the skill sets with the job profile and then include them in your resume appropriately. A resume should reflect you. The resulting image should have clarity, compatibility and facts, as that reaches your interviewer's desk first.

Joining uboast (which hopefully you already have done) or a similar website where you might post a profile that might attract employers iIs a good idea, because it could save you the trouble of having to individually seek out each individual employer. Let's admit the often-overlooked fact that the part of the job search that involves seeking out all those employers and applying to each of them can be incredibly time-consuming.

At the same time, let's cautiously admit that the odds of someone seeking us out before we seek them out is often unlikely. Do not make the mistake of thinking that employers will contact you if you put up a profile up that you're not excused from actively seeking out jobs if you want a job.

Still, here are some strategies for making a profile most visible to employees:

1. Remember that this is a totally different ballgame than sending a resume to a single employer. You're not going to modify your resume to tailor to a single employer. You're trying to attract anyone and everyone who might give you a job. Therefore, it's definitely ok, if this thing runs longer than a page......

2. Emphasize as many skill sets as you can on your resume and if the jobsite (like uboast) has a place where you list your skill sets, list as many as you can there. If you get contacted with a job opportunity you do not like, you could always reject it, but you definitely want them to contact you first. It's important to be in the driver's seat. At the same time....

3. Don't come off as too obvious that you're trying to stretch yourself. Job search websites are aware that candidates always want to try to come off as broad as possible so they can attract the most clients and it's not in the interst of employers using the site to have to wade through every person's resume who has a grasp of microsoft office when they're looking for a hard-care computer expert. For this reason, job search websites, might limit you to 3 or 5 skill sets. If you try to pass yourself off as someone skilled to work in the field of IT simply because you've used excel, it won't look good. 

4. Ideally you want to show that you've followed a career trajectory and have honed your talent over time through a variety of different experiences. If you want to be a teacher, mention that you've worked in summer camps too as a teenager, even if you might not put that on some resumes. This way people can see you've had a number of years or experince in the field. If you want to work in the energy sector and you didn't have a degree in it (not many colleges offer a degree in it), but you took a class or two on it in college, mention that in as well.

5. Drop specifics. If you worked for someone that might be well-known around the industry mention that as well. I once had a job in Americorps, for example. In Americorps, I was contracted out to the Fairfax County Department of Community and Recreation Services and the Northern Viriginia Technology Council singed my paychecks, so I had 3 bosses. It's always difficult to include all of the organizations I was affiliated with in one line of a resume, but it's beneficial to drop all three organizations in case each of those intrigues someone.

-Orrin Konheim (who now has a loose profile on uboast if someone should wish to contact him)

By Michael J. Smith

Someone once told me that when you're conducting an active job search you should be sending out three to five resumes per day. While that number may seem a little high, you should certainly be applying for at least one job per day.

Depending on the length of your job search, that could be a lot of resumes. If memory serves me correctly, I believe I sent out more than 30 resumes as my college graduation approached.

Considering the importance of finding a job, I strongly recommend keeping track of all of the cover letters and resumes you send, as well as all correspondence you send and receive. Being organized can keep you from making a huge blunder during the interview process.

Create a folder on your computer that will hold all of your job search documents. I call mine Job Hunting. Granted, mine will probably be a little different than yours, the concepts should be the same.

For me, inside this Job Hunting folder, I have several subfolders, to even further keep track of things. My subfolders include: Cover Letters, Resumes, Reference List, Salary History, and Thank You Letters.

By Michael J. Smith

Most new graduates should put a lot of time, effort and thought into their resumes. For those who do, and do it correctly, it's obvious for employers. And, in some cases, that can be the difference between your resume being read or thrown out.

And, as you know, you can't be considered for a position if your resume is not read.

To ensure that your resume is read, make sure that you present yourself professionally. I should be able to glance at your resume and tell, by the formatting, if it is something I want to read. Formatting and presentation can be as important as the information on the resume.

With the visual presentation of your resume influencing my first impression, it should be as professional as possible, which means no typos and no strange formatting.

By Michael J. Smith

All of the people you ask for advice about getting a job will tell you the same thing: you only have a few seconds to attract the attention of the hiring manager with your cover letter and resume. That's absolutely correct.

Hiring managers receive about 20 - 50 resumes per job posting. For more in-demand jobs or jobs at more prestigious companies, that number can be higher.

Gone are the days when someone was designated solely to review resumes. So, assume the person reviewing your resume is juggling multiple tasks.

They don't have a lot of time to review resumes, nor do they want to. So, they skim, yes skim, not read, resumes and cover letters, making their decisions within the first minute.