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Giving constructive feedback and welcoming it yourself

Collaboration

“I think it's very important to have a feedback loop, where you're constantly thinking about what you've done and how you could be doing it better. I think that's the single best piece of advice: constantly think about how you could be doing things better and questioning yourself.”

Elon Musk

Feedback is very important for development and growth. If you’re keen to show your prospective employers that you’re capable of giving constructive feedback and welcome it yourself, here’s a couple of the questions that you might want to answer:

Do you find it difficult to give feedback? Why?
How do you handle criticism?
How do you give and receive feedback?
Why do you think feedback is important?
Can you remember an instance when you received feedback and acted on it to improve?
Have you ever given constructive feedback that helped your colleagues improve?

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Dissemination

Review and dissemination

"I think performers are all show-offs anyway, especially musicians. Unless you show off, you're not going to get noticed."

Elton John

You’ve just created a video and you’re excited to share it with the whole world, congratulations! Welcome to the next step – that is trying to get your work seen. It might feel like you’ve done all the hard work already but … this step requires attention and planning as well. After all, if no one, or in fact if your prospective employers, won’t watch your digital story, all the hard work will be fruitless. 🍒 It is important to prepare a publicity plan. Here’s a couple of things to take into account:

Are you planning to attach this video with your application?
Maybe you’d like to circulate it to a wider audience?
Which channels are you going to use to distribute and why?
Where do hiring managers advertise the job? Maybe targeting them on those platforms eg. Linkedin woudl be

If you’re going to be using social media to distribute your video CV, it might be worth doing a relevant hashtag research to discover new opportunities to reach your potential employers. For instance, Tik Tok launched a video CVs programme in 2021 and in order for their resumes to be considered, people were asked to add #TikTokResumes hashtag.

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Getting out of your comfort zone

Flexibility

“Comfort can be dangerous. Comfort provides a floor but also a ceiling.”

Trevor Noah

Most people are nervous about getting out of their comfort zone but that’s probably one of the best ways to learn and improve. You could show your potential employer how you do it and handle situations in which stepping out of your comfort zone is necessary. Here’s a couple of things you might cover when describing how you get out of your comfort zone:

List 5 things that push you out of your comfort zone. When did you experience these?
Do you actively seek new ways and opportunities that would get you out of your comfort zone?

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Empathy

Self-management

“The highest form of knowledge is empathy, for it requires us to suspend our egos and live in another's world. It requires profound purpose larger than the self kind of understanding.”

Plato

Claire Cain Miller from The New York Times draws attention to recent research which shows "that empathy makes people better managers and workers, and better family members and friends. But it’s bigger than just its personal effect. We’re all in this together, and researchers say that connection and compassion are crucial to a sustainable and humane future. ". The ability to understand and share the feelings of another is a sought-after skill in all work environments. How do you cultivate empathy? How can you show your prospective employer? Here’s a couple of prompts that might help you get started:

Would you consider yourself empathetic?
Do you find it easy to understand other people’s feelings, emotions and problems?
Do you actively seek to develop empathy? How?(volunteering, reading books …)

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What to do if you do not want to film yourself?

Execution

"I get stage fright and gremlins in my head saying: 'You're going to forget your lines'."

Alan Rickman

Don’t want to film yourself? Feel camera-shy? There could be a number of different reasons for not wanting to perform in front of the camera. Luckily, you don’t necessarily have to in order to create a video CV! Here’s a couple of examples:

Animated video
Filming someone else
Creating a video from stock footage
Filming your pet! 🐕🐈🐟

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Willingness to learn and teach

Collaboration

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.”

Dr. Seuss

In order to stay relevant in our fast-paced world we must be willing to keep on learning and improving which, as a result, can enhance our ability to collaborate effectively. Here’s a couple of questions that you might consider answering in your video CV to demonstrate your teaching and learning skills:

Are you actively seeking to improve your skills and knowledge? Then apply it in the workplace? (give an example)
Do you use online learning platforms (Coursera, Futurelearn…) to hone your skills? Have you earned any certificates?
What do you do if you're stuck on assignments/tasks? Do you ask for your collegues' help?
If you see that your colleague is struggling with an assignment and you knew exactly how to do it, would you teach them how to achieve desired results or would you more often just offer to do it for them? (please give examples)
How do your teaching and learning skills help you collaborate with others?

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Project development is a creative endeavour?

Creativity

“Every project is an opportunity to learn, to figure out problems and challenges, to invent and reinvent.”

David Rockwell

Creativity is not just about generating ideas. We could argue that project development as a whole is a creative endeavour. If you’re not entirely convinced yet, bear with us for a moment! What we mean is that projects evolve, take unexpected turns and in fact people rarely end up with the result that they envisioned at the very beginning. This whole project development process requires an open mind and willingness to learn, invent, reinvent and create along the way. You could show off your creativity competence by focusing your digital story on project development experience!

Have you developed any projects?
How has the creativity competence helped you along the way?
How did your creativity help you manage your team/or become a better team player?
Have you ever identified an opportunity to develop a project differently in order to achieve better/more desirable results?

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Do's

Review and dissemination

"We give advice by the bucket, but take it by the grain."

Tom Stoppard

Do:

Get inspiration from online examples
Create a video when it's one of the application requirements
Look professional in front of the camera, wear appropriate clothing
Research the company/position you're applying for
Write a script, prepare notes
Get feedback from your peers, family, friends, co-workers (the more feedback the better)
Show your personality
Showcase relevant skills, expertise
Have fun!

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