Making a video resume

A video resume is a short video, usually one to two minutes long, in which you introduce yourself to a potential employer: who you are, what you can do and why you would be a good fit for the job. It does not replace your written CV, but it adds something a piece of paper cannot show: your personality, your communication skills and, in our case, your English.

In this unit, you are going to prepare and record your own video resume in English. First, you will watch real video resumes and analyse what works and what doesn't. Then, you will learn the do's and don'ts of the genre. Finally, you will practise useful sentences that you can reuse in your own script.

Step 1: here are 7 video resumes found online. For each one, note the language used, the good things and the not-so-good things.

Step 1 – Watch and analyse

• Video resume 1: Melania Smyk – My video CV (student)

• Video resume 2: Mark Leruste – Best video CV ever
• Video resume 3: Aurora Puriqi – CV video
• Video resume 4: Laura Harris – Front-end web developer
• Video resume 5: Saji Nair – Short video resume
• Video resume 6: Ola – The Interview Thingy
• Video resume 7: Ant Pugh – Visual CV

Step 2 – Learn the do's and don'ts

• Tips for creating a video resume: read and fill in the gaps

Step 3 – Useful sentences for your script

• Some ideas for your video resume: listen and fill in the gaps (6 pages)