May 28, 2018

Welcome to the final part of our three-part series blog ‘Making your best Video Job Ads’, this – our final instalment, is about best preparing to present and bring your jobs to life.

When filming, it’s important to be yourself and use compelling content so that the information shared in your video job ad is absorbed and efforts are rewarded with great candidates.

Making videos might not be something you have ever done before, but rest assured VideoMyJob is designed for everyone to use, regardless of your experience in front of a camera.

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Here are our tips on how you can best present your content, environment and yourself to help you make really engaging videos.

1. Prepare and Practice

Practice with the teleprompter when you first start using the app. To simply  ‘be yourself’ on camera, you first need to work out which teleprompter setting; ‘scroll’, ‘still’ or ‘off’, works best for you. Use the option that makes you feel most relaxed. Play your takes back, do you sound like your natural and normal self? Getting this technical component right will help you to talk in your regular rhythm and deliver at your normal pace which ties in with your authenticity, your tone and uniqueness! The teleprompter will assist you with your ‘You-ness’, especially for those of us who find video nerve wracking.

Review the job opportunity and pull out the key points and highlights that you believe candidates would be interested in learning about and would need to know about this position, to engage and compel them to apply. This is a marketing tool, so remember to walk a mile in your audience’s shoes when putting your content together because after all,  your videos are for them!

After you have structured your job requirement content, type it up or copy and paste it over to the VideoMyJob Scripts. If you prefer the comfort of having a full script in the teleprompter make sure it is written as you would say it, and not as you would write it in a text job ad.  Writing scripts for yourself a skill within itself so go gently when you start. You may not nail it the first few times around but the more you write content and play your videos back to review, you’ll become more efficient and skilled in writing job ads that sound like you.

If you’re new to this, run through your content a few times and do practice takes to get use to seeing yourself on camera and delivering your content. Keep your video under 90 seconds. Breathe, smile, then record and remember that practice will increase your comfortability and your confidence in front of the camera! It may not happen overnight but it will happen!

2. Position and Place

Position your camera at eye level and look at your camera in the same way you would in a conversation with a candidate, straight on. If you are using the teleprompter you’ll be reading the text off your phone screen. If your teleprompter is turned ‘off’ or on ‘still’ then avoid feeling the need to ‘eyeball’ the camera. When we are in conversation normally, it is natural to look away, look down, up or to the side when we are thinking, expressing and explaining.

Work out if you prefer to sit or stand and then place your tripod and camera in position. Some people find that standing helps to free up their body language and expression whilst others who move around a lot find that sitting helps them to stay grounded and focus on the task at hand. Spend time exploring both so you know what position makes you feel the most at ease to present.Before you film it is also a good idea to check your technical set-up to ensure your camera, sound and lighting are the best they can be. In our last blog post we covered how to optimise these technical elements - make sure you read this article to help with your set up.

3. Personalise & Present

What you wear in your videos further reflects on your company's brand and values. If your office attire is smart casual, wear that or if your environment is corporate, wear a suit. Your presentation also reflects who you are so don’t alter your appearance for filming. Embrace your style, whether its conservative, flamboyant, or somewhere in between because this is your personal brand and digital footprint too.Treat your phone as a person! From this day on, your phone is always going to be another person in your conversation whether it's just you or you and a colleague recording your video job ad. Imagine your phone is a friend or a candidate you think highly of or successfully placed in a role. This will help you to ‘welcome’ the phone in your environment and transmit an open and relatable energy to those watching you.

With these tips in mind, the best piece of advice we can give you when you are filming, is to be yourself. Hopefully, you have already identified and are planning to implement strategies from this blog series which will help you to do just that, because being authentic is an imperative factor to creating engaging videos.

Remember, this is not a test! VideoMyJob is a modern form of communication from one human being to another.  You don’t have to do or layer on anything extra when you present your video job opportunity. Essentially, you are replicating a real life conversation and your focus should not be on yourself but on your audience and your offering to them. Keep this at the forefront of your mind, especially if you feel nervous, are a perfectionist or over thinker!

Use your teleprompter to anchor you, your smile and a sense of humour to relax you ...and remember, be yourself, because everyone else is already taken!

If you missed the previous posts in the series, click below to check them out ➡️

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The more videos you make, the better you will get at it! And, if you get stuck, or need any help, our friendly support team is here to help you. 

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Article Topics:
Video Adoption & Implementation Professional Development