Chapter 10

Producing a Compelling Video Résumé

In This Chapter

Looking at the basics your video résumé should cover

Keeping your video résumé interesting enough to capture attention

Editing and producing your video résumé

Putting your video out there for the right folks to see

Paper résumés, job applications, and even LinkedIn profiles do a great job of answering a recruiter’s foremost question: “Can you do the job?” However, hiring managers may not be so sure about your presentation skills, leadership presence, or creative abilities. A video résumé allows you to showcase these attributes and can quickly launch you far ahead of any other candidates.

Video résumés augment your job application by letting you use visual, musical, and narrative elements to help you tell your story. They’re ideal for demonstrating your professional presence, presentation skills, or creativity. A concise and memorable video can complement your application powerfully, and it may even be the determining factor in whether you get a callback for an interview.

In this chapter, I help you demonstrate to your next boss who you are and what working with you is like through your very own video résumé. I reveal how a great video résumé can make you a top candidate, detail what to cover in your video, and share how to keep it interesting — the last thing you want is to bore a hiring manager! Then I take you into some technical aspects of producing a professional-quality video. Finally, I tell you how and where to upload your résumé.

Note that the primary emphasis of this chapter is not on the tools and toys of video production. Instead, I spend most of the chapter showing you what a job seeker needs to do and say on film for maximum impact on an employer. The camera and software you choose are secondary. After all, how you use the tools is what matters; anyone can buy a camera, but only a star candidate can produce good film.

Video Résumés 101

The unique limitations of online video make producing high-impact content in your video résumé even more imperative. Consider this: Hiring managers spend an average of just one to three minutes watching their top candidates on-screen. If you don’t get to the point within the first ten seconds, they won’t bother to finish viewing your film.

Hiring managers form their first impression of you from your video. Any sloppiness in production may be associated with you, and being characterized as sloppy isn’t likely to lead to success!

Following are a handful of format limitations to keep your video résumé attractive to viewers:

Your video résumé should run between three and five minutes. Generally speaking, the shorter the better.

The first ten seconds are very important. Hook ’em at hello!

Your video will be watched online, where the screen isn’t very big. Small visual details may be difficult to discern.

The quality of the video reflects the quality of the candidate. Don’t make your video available unless you’re confident it’s a great reflection of you.

Dedicating time to write a strong script and set up is critical. Your video must answer these three questions in both its form and its content:

Who are you? What makes you different?

What motivates you? What wakes you up in the morning?

Can you do the job? Do you have the skills to do what the hiring manager needs done?

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Just like with paper résumés, tailoring the content of your video résumé to the specific job opportunity is important. However, you may not identify every conceivable opportunity. That’s why having one generic video résumé to post online is also a good idea. The cool part is that, after you finish a generic video résumé, you can use that footage as the basis for customized videos later.

Whether your video is general or job-specific, reading your résumé into the camera or making your video résumé a mirror image of your paper one won’t take you far. Yet many tutorials on how to create video résumés suggest just that. Avoid boring your viewers at all costs!

Presenting the Chief Components of a Good Video Résumé

The first aspect of making a good first impression on video is presenting yourself well. In your video, make sure to dress professionally, as if you’re at a job interview. (I recommend wearing neutral or tame colors to help bring out your face.) Also plan to wear some makeup to reduce the oils on your face. Yes, guys, too (if you need help, ask any makeup expert in your life).

For more information about how to present yourself for job interviews (and video résumés), take a look at Job Interviews For Dummies by Joyce Lain Kennedy (John Wiley & Sons, Inc.).

Keep in mind that your video résumé supplements your job application —it doesn’t replace it — and you only have a few minutes to tell your story. Therefore, you must be very choosy about what to include. A well-crafted script ensures that you include everything you need to say. Don’t let the anxiety of being on film make you forget to say something. Be sure to evaluate your professional history and include the most critical and powerful examples. And take out the fluff — anything that doesn’t add value to your candidacy.

In the sections that follow, I present the three most important points your video résumé should cover: your name and pertinent details, the position you want, and why you’re right for the job.

Stating (or subtitling) your name and details

Stating your name is an important aspect of the video résumé, but the question is how to introduce yourself in a way that’s memorable or unique. Many video résumés start with the standard “Hello, my name is . . .” approach. This approach isn’t terrible, but it’s not a great way to get someone’s attention, either.

Depending on how bold you want to be, you have two great options for getting your name and other details across without being banal:

Simply display your name and details on the screen as you start telling your professional story. You can add details, such as your education and work experience, as subtitles beneath your images on the screen as you progress. Bear in mind that a hiring manager watching your video résumé should also have access to your paper résumé, so you don’t need to belabor these points.

Delay bringing in critical details. Tell your story — the most compelling aspect of your video — first. Sometime between 10 and 30 seconds in, pause and say, “My name is _____ and I have five years of experience doing _____.” In this way, you sandwich the critical details between the more interesting narrative elements of your script.

A more advanced technique for presenting your name and relevant details is to deliver them through B-roll — cutting away from the main footage to secondary footage in a way that adds meaning to the sequence. (See the section “Spicing it up with B-roll” later in this chapter for details.) A B-roll delivery of details may look something like this:

An image of you pops up on the screen with you saying, “In 2008, I thought I was going to close the deal of a lifetime.”

The screen then goes blank and your name appears along with other relevant work experience or education you want to include (the text is white against a black background).

You come back on-screen, saying, “What I didn’t know at the time was that the market was on its way to a complete standstill.”

The video cuts to another B-roll with some market facts to support your statement.

You reappear, stating, “But I didn’t let that stop me! My passion for . . .”

You get the idea. Using this delivery method not only allows you to state your name and details but also sets the stage for you to show off your creativity and ability to create a professional-looking video.

For a wonderful example of B-roll as well as great transitions, check out http://bit.ly/B-Roll-Example to see expert video blogger Dave Kaminski's one-minute podcast on producing web video. Notice how his voice remains continuous throughout the film despite the frequent transition to other scenery or images. This video took him many takes, repeating the same script over and over again. The end product looks like a smooth delivery of audio through visually interesting transitions and background changes that tell his story.

Making the position you want clear

Most organizations have multiple openings at any given time, and chances are you’re a good fit for more than one of them. If your video résumé targets a specific position, company, or hiring manager, make that clear in one of two ways:

Use subtitles to display your desired position on the screen. If, for example, you’re interested in a marketing job, you can use a subtitle that says something like, “Looking for a marketing position with your company” or simply “Interested in the Marketing Communications Specialist opening.”

State your desired role verbally in an interesting manner. Opt for an engaging statement that tells the viewer more than just the position you want. Use active statements that show your interest; for example, “Your company is a great match with my passion for marketing communications” or “I’m interested in contributing to your company as a marketing communications specialist.” From here, you can go into more exact details about why you’re such a great fit for the role.

Creating a boilerplate video that’s general enough to fit most employers’ needs in your industry is a good idea. This version is the one you share publicly. As you get better at video editing, you can switch out some of the general information with job-specific details that tailor your job search to a specific company or opportunity.

Communicating why you’re a great fit

If you’re interested in a posted opening for a specific position, chances are you already know the job requirements because they’re usually included in the job listing. But doing additional research on the role and responsibilities of your target company and the job you desire is still a good idea. (In Chapter 15, I talk more about using social media to research your target companies.)

After you understand what hiring managers are looking for, think about your résumé script with the intention of directly answering that need. Here are some steps you can take to demonstrate your fit:

1. Check out a handful of descriptions for jobs that are similar to the position you’re interested in.

Looking at several job descriptions gives you a pretty good idea of what you need to say in your video.

2. Make a list of the top five job requirements you think the position you want requires.

3. Map each requirement of your target position to a story or statement you can add to your video résumé.

Stories and statements help you show the hiring manager why you’re a great fit. In particular, tell stories about accomplishments or innovation. Try to come up with five professional stories or statements that illustrate how you can do what he needs you to do. I recommend choosing the best three stories and devoting the most time to them; then you can briefly touch on the remaining two points.

Fit isn’t just about your ability to do the job. Showing fit in your video résumé includes showing your personality and what motivates you.

Whether you’re producing a traditional video or a slideshow commercial (see the later section “Turning to a slideshow if you’re camera shy”), customize your promotional piece for each type of position you apply for. Even better, customize it for individual positions or companies. You can easily produce a generic video-résumé foundation and later insert a customized introduction for each job. With video-editing software, you can just pop in your custom intro and follow it with your common video.

Ensuring Your Video Résumé Stands Out

The art of storytelling may not come naturally to you. Sometimes you may feel like you’re talking too much or getting off topic. Although you can ask others to read your script and give you feedback, your own feelings are signs that your script needs some touching up. In the next sections, I give you suggestions on how to refine your résumé script into a compelling film for your viewers.

Adding conflict to spice up your script

Adding narrative conflict to your video résumé allows you to capture the attention of your audience very quickly and keep them interested until the end. In narration, one thing happens after the next, in story form. With narrative conflict, you’re telling a story about a transformative event. Until the conflict is resolved, most people remain curious to see what happens. People love the thrill of narrative conflict. Just imagine a one-hour TV drama where everyone gets along and gets everything they want — boring!

Four main types of conflict form the basis of most stories, and you can apply any of them to your video résumé:

A struggle between two or more people: Think about how you may have beaten a competitor in the market or resolved a dispute between two co-workers. For example, did you go toe-to-toe with the competition in submitting a proposal to a client and emerge victorious?

A struggle against nature or uncontrollable forces: Reflect on how you may have overcome the uncontrollable forces of the economic climate, a natural disaster, or political misfortune. For example, did you survive a round of layoffs by standing out?

A struggle against some aspect of society: Consider how you may have changed a standard operating procedure to align with your customers’ purchasing habits, overcome a restrictive regulatory environment, or brought diversity into your workplace. For example, did you organize an effort to correct some injustice?

A conflict of opposing forces within a person: Think about a time you may have made a difficult moral choice, overcome a disability, or discovered a hidden talent that put you ahead. Have you ever turned a bad situation to your advantage?

Outlining and practicing your story

To make your video résumé easy to follow, tell the story linearly. Practice telling your story naturally so it flows well. Think of an interesting story you heard on the radio. That’s how you want your script to flow.

Creating and revising an outline for your story helps you deliver your message effectively. Here’s how to do it:

1. Write down what you want to tell, how you want to tell it, and where you want to be when you tell it.

2. Practice the story with other people, including colleagues, to gauge their level of interest.

3. Evaluate your timing and whether you’re talking too long.

4. Revise your outline as needed to keep your video succinct and to the point.

Showing your personality

Your personality goes a long way in helping you stand out in today’s job market. You know the old saying: Someone else will always be more experienced, more educated, or more qualified than you are, but there’s never going to be another you.

Don’t fall victim to the common notion that in order to be professional, you have to whitewash your personality. Hiring managers actually place great value on video résumés because video demonstrates a candidate’s professional presentation skills and demeanor. When I bring this issue up with job seekers, their first reaction is to freak out. I’m not suggesting that you untuck your shirt and pepper your story with profanity; bringing your personality to the table simply means being yourself. And I’m not talking about telling personal stories. Your video résumé isn’t the place for that unless the personal story adds significance to a professional one.

Here are some tricks to help you bring more personality into your video; note that I present the most helpful ones first:

Collect video testimonials from co-workers, managers, or customers — past or present. Make sure you get their permission to use this footage in any way you want. Later, when you edit your video résumé and prepare to post it, you can simply splice in these testimonials to double the film’s impact and demonstrate that other people have a positive opinion of you.

Express your passions. Talk about what work you love to do and why you love it. If possible, demonstrate this passion on-screen. Remember that video allows you to show off your presentation skills. Speaking faster and becoming more animated during this portion can show the viewer how much you care about the subject.

Use your sense of humor. You can always edit out a bad joke later, but the overall feeling that you’re having fun with the process can still come across indirectly. Remember those old Jackie Chan movies where, at the end, you see outtakes of Jackie being a total goofball? The fun that he has during filming comes across in the final edited film even without those deleted scenes.

Interact with others. You may feel more comfortable with another person on the camera. Try setting up a mock TV interview with a friend or co-worker. Alternatively, have someone off-camera ask you questions and just film your replies. You can edit out the questions later, leaving behind your naturally delivered answers.

Be yourself. While taking a storytelling class, I noticed that the students who rehearsed the least performed the best at the end. Unlike scripted theater, the main point of storytelling is to appear natural and spontaneous, yet still prepared, skilled, and professional. Writing out a script is fine, but you don’t need to stick to it rigidly. (Yes, I realize this is contrary to most of the advice you find online. Trust me on this!)

Be confident. The most confident people are relaxed. Keep your arms and legs uncrossed. Smile, but don’t force it. Make eye contact but don’t stare. Vary your rate of speech. Use your hands to emphasize a point but keep in mind that too much hand movement can be distracting.

Always get a second opinion from a professional in your field about your final product before you publish it. Ask your reviewer whether the video captures your personality while still portraying you as professional. You want your reviewer to say, “Yeah! That’s exactly what working with you is like.”

Turning to a slideshow if you’re camera shy

Some people simply don’t do well on camera. I’ve known people who come across quite well in person but simply don’t look good on video. If you fall into this category, all hope isn’t lost. You can still demonstrate your presentation skills and professionalism with a slideshow commercial, which entails presenting your story audibly and supporting it with images and words. I love making these presentations, and I think you will, too.

You can use common slideshow software, such as Microsoft's PowerPoint or Apple's Keynote, to put together a commercial for yourself. To add more dynamic transitions between slides, check out Prezi. Prezi (www.prezi.com) is a free web-based presentation editor that uses big, bold movements that zoom and scale to give your presentation a sense of movement and energy.

Regardless of which program you use, the steps are pretty much the same:

1. Write out a script that’s a maximum of three to five minutes in length (about 750 words).

Each sentence of your script should narrate a different slide. In the “Notes” section of each slide, paste in one sentence from your script.

2. Include an image or impact word for each slide.

Images speak a thousand words, and when used in a slideshow, they emotionally reinforce your spoken point. Note that taking this approach is quite different from going the usual bulleted-list route. Don't be afraid of having nothing more than an image on the screen. Check out Flickr (www.flickr.com) for creative commons content you can use. Also be sure to include at least one picture of yourself.

Note that some slides work better with impact words, either in addition to an image or on their own. Impact words are the main topic, or the essential meaning, of what you’re saying at a given time. If you’re telling a story about a success, consider showing an image of someone jumping for joy with the words on the slide proclaiming, “150% of quota!” and then fade to black with nothing more than the words, “But it didn’t end there . . .”

3. Edit the transitions between slides.

Make sure the words appear on the screen the way you want them to with each click. The last thing you want to worry about when you’re reading and recording your script is what happens when you click. Click one time per line to simplify.

For example, you can structure your transitions like this: “Hi, I’m Joshua, and I love managing large, complicated projects” (click, new slide shows up). “Let me tell you about a time when . . .” (click, words appear on the new slide), and so on.

4. Take a practice run when your slides are done.

The goal is to reach the end of your script while progressing through the slideshow easily. Make sure the slides transition smoothly the way you want them to.

5. Run through your presentation, script, and slides while recording the screen.

Screen-recording software simply records everything happening on your computer screen as a movie. If you don't already have screen-recording software, download Jing (www.techsmith.com/download/jing), a free program that records up to five minutes at a time. You can also try adding voice-over to your slides with Brainshark, which is an elearning platform with great sharing capabilities (www.brainshark.com).

Make several different versions and remember to save each recording at the end. Then you can splice together the best parts of each take.

6. Upload your commercial to the video-sharing sites of your choice.

Recording software allows you to save the recording on your computer for uploading. From there, you can share your video with the world!

You can check out an example of a slideshow video I created in Keynote with Camtasia (www.techsmith.com/camtasia.html) for screen capture to promote a social media curriculum I developed for WorkSource Portland Metro here: www.socialmediatraining.us/curriculum.

Concluding the Video

The end of your video is very important. Hiring managers tend to remember the last few moments of your video as they review candidates for a position, so you want to make sure your video goes out with a bang. If you manage to make an impression and enable the hiring manager to get in touch with you, chances are good that you’ll get a call back. I help you figure out how to do both in the following sections.

Always end your video by reaffirming your excitement and passion for the position. That final blast of energy will carry you far. Practice saying things like, “I’m confident that my background and skills are a great match for your organization.”

Adding a call to action

Every good marketing piece needs a clear call to action. Because your video résumé is essentially a three-minute infomercial about you, you need to make clear what you want the hiring manager to do after watching your video. I’m guessing you want him to call you, so make sure you give him a good reason to do that. For example, you may say, “So if you’re looking for an energetic and passionate accountant with an eye for detail on your team, please give me a call right away.” (The words in italics are the call to action.)

Consider ending your video with a question. Curiosity is one of the most powerful human emotions. Asking the viewer a quiz question and then saying, “To get the answer, set up a call with me,” can be a playful yet powerful way to get the call back. Do you know any weird factoids about your field that people may be interested in?

Relaying the best way to contact you

Your call to action (see the preceding section) leaves the hiring manager ready to reach out to you, so make doing so easy by sharing your contact information. Because a hiring manager is most likely going to view your video during normal business hours, give your daytime phone number or your e-mail address and note that you’ll respond to any inquiries as soon as possible.

Speak your contact info aloud while it is also displayed on the screen. You’ve seen those late-night TV commercials: “Act now, and you get to hire me and get these two toys for free!” They often repeat the contact info because it’s so important.

If you ask a hiring manager to e-mail you to set up an appointment, make sure you have a professional e-mail address. That Hotmail address you set up in middle school, [email protected], just doesn't cut it. Make sure you use your name or some combination of your name and numbers (see Chapter 5 for more on this). Also, if you give out your phone number, be sure your voicemail is professional.

Producing Your Video and Tying Up Loose Ends

By the time recruiters watch your video résumé, they already have some sense of who you are as a candidate. So your video’s job is to answer other questions about you, including your level of professionalism. The production quality of your video implicitly answers this question, which means your film needs to not only have good content but also look good.

To produce a quality film, you need to take a look at the basic elements of production, such as camera options, lighting, and timing. Remember that the spit and polish you add to your video shows hiring managers that you take pride in your work and are a serious professional. After you have these basic components down, consider incorporating an appropriate soundtrack and/or a B-roll to spice things up a bit. Implementing these elements well can make the difference between a boring, amateurish video and a well-produced, fun-to-watch résumé. I walk you through all these video-production elements in the sections that follow.

Producing your video is easier if you have a trusted friend help you out. Make sure you give him clear instructions on how to frame the shot. And be sure to use a tripod. You’re not filming reality TV. If your friend holds the camera, the video will look shaky.

Having to watch a video that has a “wizzzzzzz” sound in the background is beyond annoying. To prevent this sound from creeping into your video résumé, either mic yourself or get as close to the camera as you can. If the buzzing sound still slips in, your editing software may be able to help you reduce it. Remember, too, that you can mask poor audio quality with a mellow soundtrack. (I fill you in on how to create a soundtrack later in this chapter.)

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Looking at camera, lighting, and editing software options

For most people, the best part of producing video is getting to play with all the toys. So here we go. Assuming that you’ve thought long and hard about your script, your setting, and your attire, choosing the appropriate gear is the next important step. With the following tips, not only can you get great gear, but you can get it at a very affordable price!

Cameras

A portable video camera untethers you from your computer's built-in webcam and takes better film, too. I recently got my wife a new smartphone for her annual upgrade. I was shocked to realize that it took better pictures than the camera I bought three years ago. Chances are your mobile device can do very nice film. Video and photo technology is getting better and more affordable. With a minor investment of around $150, you can buy a high-definition (HD) video camera that plugs right into your computer. Search for "flip cam" on Amazon.com (www.amazon.com) for some great camera options.

When you’re filming, mount your camera on a solid surface to avoid shooting wobbly footage. You can get a tripod very inexpensively on Amazon.com.

Lighting

Lighting yourself during your shoot is an important aspect of looking professional. Professionally lit film is hard to miss. Shadows are almost absent on the speaker’s face. The speaker is backlit so she doesn’t look two-dimensional, and the light is bright but doesn’t wash out the contrast of the image. However, professional lights can cost you thousands of dollars. If you’re on a limited budget, keep the following lighting tips in mind:

Use light from the front and the back to give your image some depth. Avoid light from directly above (this type of light creates shadows).

Shoot between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. or between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. for best results when filming outdoors.

Arrange indoor lighting with care, with a frontlight (like a spotlight) and a milder backlight from behind you from the floor.

Experiment with combinations of cold (white) lights and warm (yellowish) lights until you get the look you’re going for.

If you want to invest in some extra lighting to make sure you’re seen clearly on camera, check out the $40 Might-D-Light on Amazon.com. It points more than 80 low-watt LED lights at you, and the rechargeable unit comes with AC and DC charging adapters.

Editing software

Video-editing software allows you to put text on the screen, split video from audio tracks, and handle transitions between scenes. Most PCs come with video-editing software these days, and all Macs come with iMovie. If you don't have video software, you can edit your video online with a service called WeVideo (www.wevideo.com). The basic version is free, and you can upgrade to full features for a marginal fee.

Video editing is really fun and can consume huge amounts of time. If you’re new to it, expect at least a three-hour learning curve.

Adding your soundtrack

The soundtrack to your video résumé defines your candidacy more subtly and more powerfully than any other video production technique. When you think about the soundtrack for your film, keep these suggestions in mind:

Vocal music takes away from a script. In most movies, the music with words usually plays when no one is talking. Consider using music without lyrics.

Some music has cultural implications. For example, gangster rap may have negative connotations because the culture around it espouses law-breaking activities. Conversely, classical music may imply an excessively conservative culture. Think about the cultural implications of your soundtrack. My advice: Avoid the extremes.

Keep it happy. Choose a soundtrack that has a simple melody and an upbeat tempo. I tend to alternate between a single acoustic instrument and a compelling electronic musical composition.

Pick music that has the right licensing. Most of the music you listen to on the radio is copyrighted. Because your video résumé is for public use, using copyrighted music without permission is illegal. Even though you can’t use your favorite hit single, you can still use appropriately licensed music for free as long as you reference the artist at the end of your film. Do an Internet search for “creative commons music” to find the best sites for legal soundtrack downloads.

Embrace ducking. Ducking describes a technique whereby the volume of one soundtrack gets really low as another track comes in. Most video-editing software lets you duck the soundtrack so when your voice comes in on the other track, the music automatically gets very soft. Just make sure the music isn’t competing with your voice.

When using video-editing software, experiment with different transitions. Your options include crossfading (when the next scene blurs onto the current scene), simple cutaways (a sudden cut to the next scene), and fade-to-blacks (where the current scene fades to a black background before the next scene comes in). You’ll probably use the first two quite often. If you want to denote a full change of scene or passage of time or if you want to create chapters in your video’s sequence, you can try using a fade-to-black. For instance, when you change topics or move from introductory material to more detailed material, fade-to-blacks give the film some space. With only three to five minutes, however, I don’t recommend using this type of fade more than three times. Whatever you do, don’t get too fancy with your transitions. Things like spiraling fades and flashing lights take away from your content.

Look at these sites for great royalty-free music you can pick up for about a dollar: http://friendlymusic.com and http://audiojungle.net.

Spicing it up with B-roll

Many video résumés are a single shot taken with someone sitting in front of a camera going on and on about who he is. These videos look amateurish. To avoid this fate and visually spice up your video résumé, try adding some B-roll. B-roll entails cutting away from the main footage to secondary footage. A video résumé that uses B-roll may take you, say, to someone introducing herself outside her house, moving to her piano bench in the next scene, and then moving again to a desk chair to complete the talk. These scenes are filmed at three different times, in three different places, with the subject wearing three different costumes, but the scenes are edited together in a linear way to give the film fluid continuity. I give another example of using B-roll in the earlier section “Stating (or subtitling) your name and details.”

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Using B-roll is also a great way to cover up a bad take or a mistake. Suppose you’re delivering your script just fine until you mess up on the second-to-last sentence and scratch your face. Record that sentence again, but then edit the video so just words appear on the screen when you say the face-scratching sentence. The transition from seeing you talk to a black screen without any interruption in your script is a B-roll. Then when you splice the two shots together, no one will know a blooper occurred. In fact, your video will look great in the end!

Here’s how you can incorporate B-roll into your film:

Record the same parts of your script several times in several different locations so you can switch between them later.

If you mess up a scene, don’t worry. Instead, move to a new location, change your outfit, and then re-record. Later, you can cut to the secondary scene to hide the mistake.

If you flub the audio, you can just re-record the sentence by starting at a natural place before the mistake. Then switch to a B-roll with the new audio. With this technique, people won’t notice that your head position was slightly off in the middle of a paragraph, the way they may notice if you were to re-record both the audio and video.

Find some visuals to represent part of your script. For example, if you want to emphasize your passion for creative marketing, you can show a sequence of your own creative portfolio flashing across the screen as you talk. You can also use key impact words on a simple black background or other silent video footage that adds meaning.

The best way to implement your B-roll is by following the instructions included with your video-editing software, but here’s the general process:

1. Separate the audio tracks from the video tracks.

2. Remove the video track that you want to replace with B-roll, leaving the audio behind.

3. On top of the remaining audio track, insert the B-roll video sequence.

Making Your Video Available

I recommend you publish at least one version of your video résumé to as many video-sharing sites as possible. Create a general video résumé that isn’t targeted at any specific position (think of this version as a personal commercial). The widespread adoption of social media opens up what I like to call engineered serendipity. That is, when you put yourself out there, you never know what amazing opportunities may come to you. In the following sections, I help you determine where to post your video and how to get it onto those sites.

Figuring out where to upload it

Instead of uploading your video to the 20-plus available video-sharing sites one at a time, you can use a content distribution system. I recommend OneLoad (www.oneload.com).

After you create your free OneLoad account, you can upload your video, description, and tags. From there, OneLoad lets you choose which sites you want to syndicate to. Note that you need to have accounts with each of those sites. Then with one click, your video will be on 20 or so video-sharing sites. I suggest you take the time to create accounts on at least five different sharing sites, if not all of them.

YouTube is the second-largest search engine in the world. If you post your video on YouTube, engineer as many views and comments as you can. When hiring managers see that your résumé is watched and engages people, your social value increases. Send an e-mail to your friends and family, asking them to watch your video and leave a comment.

I know that all this uploading may seem like a lot of work, but after all you’ve done to produce a killer video résumé, you may as well take an hour to make sure as many people as possible see it. That’s right: You can set up accounts and upload your video to all these sites in less than an hour. It’s totally worth your time!

Making your video findable

An employer may find you on YouTube by looking you up by name or by using some industry or role-specific keyword combination. If you want your video to rank on their search results, follow these tips.

When uploading your video résumé to pretty much any video sharing site, remember to include very clear descriptions, categories, and tags. When you write the description of your film on a video-sharing site, start the description with http://yoursite.com, replacing yoursite.com with the domain name of your LinkedIn profile, résumé website, or blog. Adding http:// tells the site to activate the link, making it clickable.

Make your description just one to two sentences long and include some of the keywords relevant to your target industry. Use your full name in the title of the video as well as in the description and tags. If people run a search on your name, you want them to find your work of art.

Because you have very limited room in the video’s description to write searchable copy, you can take advantage of YouTube’s closed caption feature. Closed caption is a direct transcript of your video tied to time so that someone hard of hearing can read what you are saying as you say it. This transcript also gives YouTube a chance to know exactly what you say in your video so it can index it more accurately for search results. After your video is complete, simply type along as the video runs. Note that not all video sharing sites have this feature yet.

If you make a video résumé you're proud of, I'd love to include it on my Pinterest board for great video résumés: www.pinterest.com/joshuawaldman/cool-video-resumes. Simply add your video to your Pinterest page and tweet me the link @joshuawaldman. I'll take a look and add it to my board.