In today’s competitive job market, distinguishing oneself from a sea of candidates is a daunting challenge. Traditional resumes, while essential, often fall short of conveying the full breadth of an individual's personality and skills. This is where the innovative concept of a video resume comes into play, offering a dynamic and personalized approach to job applications. What is a Video Resume? A video resume is a brief, visual representation that complements the traditional, written resume. It's a tool enabling job seekers to vividly showcase their personality, communication skills, and relevant experiences in a way that a paper or digital document simply can't match. This approach is particularly beneficial in fields like creative arts, marketing, and sales, where interpersonal skills and effective communication are foundational. A video resume isn't a replacement for the traditional resume but rather a vibrant extension that brings to life the qualities that can't be captured in black and white. Read more: Proven Passive Income Ideas for Women in 2024 Steps to Create a Perfect Video Resume Content Planning:  The first and most crucial step is to meticulously plan the content of your video resume. The content should be thoughtfully tailored to the job you're applying for. For instance, if you're pursuing a writer's position, your video could include a segment where you eloquently discuss your writing experience and process. Similarly, for a sales role, highlighting your previous sales achievements would be beneficial. This tailored approach ensures that your video resume resonates with the specific nature of the job you're targeting. Script Outline: Knowing what to say is just the start. Organizing your thoughts into a coherent and impactful script is vital. Remember, this video is your first impression of a potential employer, so it needs to be clear, concise, and compelling. Draft a script and rehearse it repeatedly to ensure a natural and fluent delivery. This practice will help you avoid common pitfalls like rambling or appearing rehearsed. Read more: 10 Best Programming Languages for 2024 A Professional Setting:  The setting for your video resume should mirror that of a job interview. Imagine an office room setting, with you dressed in professional attire, addressing the camera as if you were speaking to an interviewer. This professional approach extends to the recording environment as well; a quiet, well-lit space with a neutral background is ideal. This setting conveys seriousness and professionalism, key qualities employers look for.

Although both resumes and curricula vitae are used in job applications and some employers may use the terms correspondingly, these two formatted documents have a few sharp differences. We will discuss here the cue differences between a resume and a CV, what to cover in each and when to use one versus the other. This will help you to prepare the right document for your job applications as well as career growth. What is a Curriculum Vitae (CV) CV is an acronym of the word Curriculum Vitae, which is a Latin word meaning ‘course of life. A CV is a written document containing details of a person’s past education, experience, knowledge, skill, competencies, accomplishments, projects, awards, honours, etc. Actually, CV is a biography of an individual’s academic background and professional experiences. It is also about a person’s area of interest, hobbies and extracurricular activities.  Read Cover Letter for CV: Important Tips and Tricks CV is not modified according to the job rather it remains the same for all jobs. You should arrange it systematically so that a proper sketch of your career can be drawn.  A CV is usually two- or three-page long, sometimes more than that if necessary.  Generally, the length of your CV will depend on your experience; the more experience you have, the longer your CV will be. In some countries like In the USA and Canada, a CV is used only for academic applications: academic jobs, grants, research fellowships, etc. What to Include in a CV -Contact Information -Research Objective, Personal Profile, or Personal Statement -Education -Professional Academic Appointments -Books -Book Chapters -Peer-Reviewed Publications -Other Publications -Awards and Honors -Grants and Fellowships -Conferences -Teaching Experience -Experience in Research or Lab  -Graduate Fieldwork -Non-Academic Activities -Languages and Skills -Memberships -References. Read Future Resume: How to Project Yourself 5 or 10 Years from Now What is a Resume A resume or résumé is taken from the French meaning ‘to sum up. A resume is a short, compact document that is used for job applications. A resume provides recruiters with a brief overview of your work history. Your resume should be good to target a specific job and be one to two pages long. Actually, your resume is a snapshot of your professional profile. You need to prepare your resume in such a manner so that it will make an impression on the potential employer because it can open the doors of an interview. Besides, it helps the recruiter to select the most suitable candidate for an interview. You must present the latest details first in your resume. What to Include on a Resume A resume usually includes a professional or summary statement, dedicated skills section and a detailed description of your recent and relevant professional achievements. Read Perfect Resume: 12 Effective Tips for writing professional CV You can share your education experience and relevant professional associations. You can list relevant internships, apprenticeships, volunteer work or personal projects if you have little or no professional work experience, The Basic Difference Between a CV & a Resume Before going to the key differences between a resume and a curriculum vitae you should take note of which region of the world you’re applying in along with your career path and decide which is more appropriate to use for you. The difference between a CV and a Resume includes: -A CV is an illustrative document which lists out all the details about your career whereas a Resume is a snapshot of your working life; presents all the details which are required for a job. -A CV is full-scale while a Resume is short. -The word CV is a Latin word and the word Resume is a French term. -The length of a resume is shorter- one or two pages while there is no specific length of a CV. It can be 2 to 10 pages or more.   -CV puts emphasis on academic details. On the other hand, a resume is centred on non-academic details and highlights key skills and competencies that match the job. -A CV is static and you cannot customise it but a Resume is dynamic that changes according to the job. -A CV includes references but a resume doesn’t.  - If you want to apply for academic positions, fellowships, advanced research, etc, you need a CV. On the contrary, a Resume is suitable if you wish to apply for a job, internship or take part in a job fair. -Curriculum Vitae (CV) focuses on expertise but a resume focuses on the contribution; how your work made a difference where you have worked. - Generally, education or academic qualifications are shown at the top of the CV whereas in the resume education is indicated after the experience. Read ATS Optimised CV: How to make your resume Robot-friendly Resume vs. CV: Key International Differences In the U.S., a resume and a CV are two clearly different types of documents used for different purposes. In other regions of the world like the UK, New Zealand and parts of Europe, employers use the term CV to describe both CV and resume. They use the same style of documents and don’t use the term “resume” at all. In South Africa, Australia and India, the terms CV and resume are used vice-versa.  In South Asia, job seekers use a slightly different document namely biodata which contains more personal documents; date of birth, gender, race, ethnicity, marital status, and salary. It’s most often and commonly used in India and Bangladesh.  Conclusion The difference between a CV and a Resume is very specific and clear. Usually, a CV covers all the aspects of a person’s career whereas a Resume is frank to the particular job. A CV is more detailed than a Resume. There is no mismatch and confusion between these two terms. In most countries, in the case of employment demand, a CV or a resume from the candidates. The contents of the two terms; CV & Resume differ in many respects which is discussed in this article. Hope it helps! Read Making a Perfect Video Resume: Tips and Tricks

CV or Resumes are one of the oldest yet most widely used recruitment processes in the world. Almost every job imaginable starts its recruitment process by calling for resumes from prospective applicants. Sometimes the number of applicants can get overwhelming. It becomes almost impossible to scour through each and every curriculum vitae to match compatibility. That is where ATS or Applicant Tracking System comes in. Here’s a comprehensive guide on what ATS is and how you can make an ATS-friendly resume to grab your dream job. Why is it Necessary to Make ATS Optimised CV? Statistics show that Google, one of the largest internet organisations in the world receives an average of 2 million applicants per year. The sheer volume of applicants makes it impossible to deal with the applications on an individual basis. The ATS was devised specially for such scenarios. There are several software that makes up the ATS. It checks for compatibility and profile match for the respective position. The process makes it easy for recruiters to shortlist only the best match candidates without taking the trouble of going through every applicant. Also read: How to Get a Job in Google from Bangladesh? According to a report by Balance Career, almost 70% of the CVs are dropped by the ATS before they are even considered by the recruiters. The ease on the recruiter's end however poses a grim situation for the prospective applicants. Since ATS is an AI-powered software, it will strictly look for indicators that match the requirements for the specific position. The problem here is that there is no way to know whether a company is implementing ATS technology or not. This means that the days of dropping the same resume to every place are virtually over. Any renowned company or an above-average competing one will definitely use ATS to minimise the recruitment hassle. That makes it imperative to know how to beat the ATS mechanism to make sure the CV reaches the hands of the recruiting manager. And you get the coveted call for an interview. Read Basic Software Skills for Freshers to Get Hired Easily Best Ways to Make Your Resume Machine Friendly Selecting the Right Keyword The first major point to take care of is the selection of the right keywords. ATS software scans for relevant words to the JD to seek the perfect match. For example, if you are applying for the position of Business Analyst, the CV should be sprinkled with words like Big Data, SQL, critical reasoning, etc. It's important to identify the correct keywords as it’s a set benchmark in every selection process. Creating a Skills Section A traditional resume often outlines the skills in the experience and educational qualification section. But to make the curriculum vitae more machine friendly, it’s better to create a separate skills section. This will allow the applicant to highlight the important keywords again. And considering ATS is just a metric-based calculator, it’s better to mention the important keywords more than once. Read AI & Future of Jobs: Will Artificial Intelligence or Robots Take Your Job?

Resumes are the first stepping stones to getting hired. Almost every employer looks at the resume to conduct a primary assessment of a prospective candidate. As a result, a resume has to be crisp, concise, and appealing. But there are diverse ways to out-win the traditional typed/paper-based resumes. At this point, a video resume comes up. Nowadays, many smart companies are accepting video resumes. So, what is a video resume? Is it any better than a traditional resume and how do you make one? Let’s find out. What is a video resume? Have you ever heard of an “elevator pitch”? It’s something where you covey and convince someone about yourself and your ideas in a short period. The same principle applies in the case of a video resume. A video resume allows you to provide a brief introduction about yourself, where you can highlight your achievements and experiences more precisely. You can also include why you are a good fit for the position and why should a prospective employer hire you. In an increasingly digital environment, a video resume makes it all the more interesting for the employer to get a glimpse into your personality as well as skim through your profile. A video resume helps you to highlight your achievements, confidence, and demeanor which are some of the crucial aspects of getting hired. Read: Perfect Resume: 12 Effective Tips for writing professional CV Is a video resume more effective than a traditional resume? There is no definitive answer to which one is better between a video resume or a traditional resume. Most places you’ll apply to still goes on with the traditional resume-dropping system. However, more and more organizations are asking candidates to drop a video resume alongside a traditional resume. The popularity of video resumes is on the rise and it's easy to see why. Not every candidate that applies will get an interview opportunity. Sometimes an applicant might have a stellar resume, but they might lack in communication or self-presentation. This might be a make-or-break aspect for many companies. To avoid such a dilemma, a video resume can be a great option in the form of a pre-interview assessment. A lot can be learned about a person depending on how they present themselves and their idea. A video resume allows exactly that. It's beneficial for the applicant as well. compared to the traditional resume, a video resume will allow an applicant to provide a personal touch to their application. You can't possibly pen your thought process on a highly structured piece of paper. Rather a video resume will let you make an impact which will help you win the coveted interview opportunity. Read Writing a Perfect Cover Letter: Important Factors to Consider How to write a video resume? Start with a script It does not matter how eloquent you are, there is no room for mistakes in a video resume. Just like you need to double-check a traditional resume, the same ideas apply here too. So, it is better to prepare a script before you get on with the filming. There is also the chronological aspect. A video resume is a very short time to include a lot of information. As a result, you will have to make it coherent and connected sequentially. Rehearsing the script will ensure a polished and crisp self-presentation. While making your video resume, do not try to be over-enthusiastic or aggressive that you sound fake. Keep it natural and neutral. Bosses love honesty more than anything else. Read Best Job Searching Websites in Bangladesh Find a proper place You need to remember that video resumes are professional videos. As a result, you need to have a neutral background. Use appropriate lighting depending on whether you will shoot sitting or standing. Try to make sure that you keep the focus on yourself. Avoid busy backgrounds and noisy environments. Your surrounding can have a huge impact on the resume regardless of what or how you are presenting. Use a proper device It is expected that the video quality of a video resume should be standard and vivid. Most handheld smartphones these days can shoot 1080P footage which is good enough to shoot your resume. As long as you shoot in a quiet environment, the inbuilt microphone can do the job properly. Instead of having someone film you, use a tripod for stationary presentation. This will help to cut out any unnecessary movement and keep the focus uninterrupted. Read How to ace a Job Interview? If you want to incorporate movements, make sure you are constantly under good lighting and equally audible throughout the video. Allow multiple takes You cannot expect to nail the resume in the first shot. There might be minor mistakes here and there. However, you cannot pass them onto the video. As we have already mentioned, the video has to be completely error-free. Therefore, you should allow and have the mental patience for multiple retakes until the perfect shot is achieved. Instead of having to cut every time, you can repeat an action continuously until you get the perfect segment. Once you edit the video, you can keep the desired segment and discard the rest. Read Effective tips for hunting jobs during pandemic Use additional visuals To make your short presentation even more impactful the video resume, you can include some additional footage in the video sequences. It can be highlighted from your resume or snaps from your profile. Here the key idea is to utilize the opportunity to display your significant achievements. Dress well and follow guidelines Companies that accept video resumes often have their own set of requirements. It can be regarding duration or language or something else. What you need to do is go through all the requirements and find out whether anything clashes with your script. You should be able to make changes according to that. Another important thing is to dress professionally. Consider it as a physical interview. Dress up yourself in the proper way as if you are attaining a formal presentation. This will not only give you confidence but also make your video resume fully professional. Read Considering a Career Change? 10 Questions to Ask Yourself Bottom Line Even though a video resume is not a replacement for traditional resumes, it is still getting traction day by day. The demand may increase in the future given its usability and impact. We hope this article helped you to get a clear idea about how to prepare a good video resume to get a job.

Internships are a great way to familiarize yourself with a target industry. Most jobs these days require some form of experience relevant to their sector. Internships are an effective way to get this experience and hone industry-related skills. But should you jump into any internships? Or should you carefully choose based on your interest? Should it be paid or unpaid? We will answer these all in this article. Why should you choose an internship? Let's understand why you need an internship in the first place. The current global job market is booming with eligible candidates. There are often hundreds or more applicants for a single job. The situation is even more critical for the freshers. Read How to improve your productivity and efficiency at Work? While many people think that good grades are the only deciding factor in landing a prestigious job, the reality is often far from it. Employers look for skilled employees. And that’s exactly what an internship is designed to be, to train you with the necessary skills. An internship basically gives you a competitive advantage and sets you apart from the rest. But people often make the mistake of jumping into any internship they get. If you are majoring in data science and plan to stick to your major as a career, there is no point in pursuing an internship in HR. This might look good on your CV but won't add any value whatsoever as it's not related to your sector. Read: Best Ways to Lead Effective Team Meetings What to consider while taking an Internship? Now let's look at some of the other factors you should consider before choosing an internship. Understanding your responsibilities There are multiple job roles within the same sector. Just because you are doing an internship in line with your major doesn’t mean it will add value. Carefully read the job description before applying for an internship. In your CV, you can mention the responsibilities you carried out during the internship. So, the responsibilities need to reflect and align with your future career choices. Paid vs Non paid Many employers think of an internship as a training phase and often don’t include any remuneration scheme. However, you are still adding value to your employer with your regard, even if it comes in the form of training. We personally suggest you choose paid internships over non-paid ones. Because at the end of the day, you are still an employee even as an intern. Usually, most companies pay significantly less than the industry standard owning to internship and contractual employment. However, it's still better than working without payment. check for clear outlines regarding payment or you can politely ask about it at the end of your internship interview. Read Earn Money Online: Best ways for Students to generate income during pandemic Location The location also plays an important factor when it comes to choosing internships. If the company is located in a new city or country, both the scopes and challenges can be immense. There aren’t many foreign internships available in Bangladesh. However, some internships might require you to travel to remote places as part of the job responsibilities. As a result, you should carefully consider whether the location and time spent on commuting are worth the compensation, be it monetary or experience. Due to Covid-19, many sectors are offering virtual internships. This can be a great opportunity to gain some experience from the comfort of your home. Read: Pandemic, Remote Working & Procrastination: How to avoid procrastination when working from home? Networking opportunities Internships aren’t full-time jobs. They are more like an insight on how full-time jobs are and what is expected from you in your industry. Internships are a great opportunity to network with your potential employer as well. You will also get to interact with other interns who are in the relevant field as you. Having good networking will help you advance in your professional career as well. So, it's important to check what kind of networking opportunities will you be getting from your internships. You can read more about professional networking in our comprehensive blog here. Mentorship Opportunities Internships are all about learning new skills. However, there are internships out there that will only pile you up with paperwork with no real skill development opportunities. You should stay clear from such internships. Internships are meant for learning new skills relevant to your sector. As a result, you should look for internships that will give you hands-on experience and opportunities to learn beyond paperwork. Read Leader Vs Boss: Know the Differences Testing out your skills Internships aren’t about learning new skills alone. They should also provide you with an opportunity to put your learning and existing skills into effect. You should be able to test out your skills and reflect on your performance. A cohesive work environment can be a great addition in this regard. Your supervisor should be willing to let you work on your elements and oversee the performance for meaningful feedback. You should think of this as a test drive of your potential career choice. It's more like a trial-and-error run to check whether your preferred career choice is suitable for you in the long run or not. Read What makes a Great Manager: Know the Qualities and Skills Work on projects that matter Even though it's an internship and your employment is for a short time, you should aim for internships that let you have a meaningful impact. There are instances where interns are subjected to the paperwork of the company. But that doesn’t add any real value to your resume and skills. However, if you can work on definitive projects, it will not only help you hone your skills but also give you the opportunity to gather new experiences. Thus, an internship can be beneficial to your career course. Read: Earn Money Online: Best ways for Students to generate income during pandemic Bottom Line Internships can be effective ways to grab employment opportunities in the fast-tracked corporate world. Many companies don’t have the adequate means to train fresh graduates. As a result, it becomes easier for them if they hire candidates with internship experience. It also gives the candidate clear ideas about real-life work experience. However, there are a lot of aspects to consider before taking up an internship. We hope this article will help you in that regard.

Resume are like the first screening for any job. This is the first step that you take as a prospective candidate for any position. Needless to say, a resume and its contents may make or break your chance of getting a job. Regardless of how skilled or passionate you may be, if your resume isn’t articulated properly and sequentially, you have narrow possibility of success. Here are some useful tips that you should follow to write a persuasive resume. How to write a professional CV Don’t Write Everything One of the common mistakes of writing a resume is that people tend to make it as elaborate work history. It can confuse the selectors. You may have worked as a content writer back in your college days but that has nothing to do if you are applying for the position of saying a software engineer. In your CV, mention your job experiences that are relevant to the industry you’re applying to and in line with the position. Read:Effective tips for hunting jobs during pandemic Highlight the Highlights of Your Career There is a marketing term called ‘keeping things above the fold.’ It refers to highlight the important stuff so that it gets noticed easily. Among all your educational and work experiences, you should highlight the best ones. The key here is to showcase your achievement better for express consideration into the position. Add a Supplementary Link It's alright to curtail a little information and keeping things above the fold. But in some cases, the job may require you to state detail information regarding your past experiences about the job, cultural activities or social work. To prepare resume for such jobs, it would be better if you can have some ideas about that industry. In such cases, we suggest you to build a portfolio website. A portfolio website can showcase all of your achievements as well as give a glimpse of your personal self. More importantly, you can simply add a link to your website in your resume. Read Free Online Content Writing Courses in 2021 Simplicity is the Key You will see people knocking some of the fanciest resumes out there in terms of design. But let’s be honest; fancy designs won’t get you the job. It’s always the content of the paper that matters, not the paper itself. We suggest you keep things simple and easy to navigate. Simplicity is the key here as it will not only look professional but will also help the employers to navigate to the important part. Carefully Include Your Contacts Gone are the days when we used to see addresses in resumes. There is no need for that anymore. However, you should include a phone number and a professional personal email as your contact in the resume. In addition to that, you should include all the potential places where you can be found on the internet like LinkedIn and Twitter. Read Top 10 Free Online Video Editing Courses Make it Easy-to-Skim When you are applying for a position, keep in mind that you are not the only one who is applying. There will be hundreds and thousands of similar applicants and it's safe to assume that not everything that you write in your CV will be read. The reality is, your CV will get skimmed and they will try to understand what sets you apart and what relevant skills you have to offer. Based on that, we suggest you make your CV skimmable. Write concise sentences that can give a broader perspective in a short phase. Working on the bullet points This point is in line with our previous point that the content of the resume should be skimmable. You may have worked a long time in a place with a lot of achievements, but that doesn’t mean you should include all of it. An ideal section in a resume should have about 5 to 6 bullet points. Now it is up to you to curate the contents in a way to fit the ideal standard. Read:How to be a Confident English Speaker? Avoid Technical Jargons Do not use technical jargons to showcase how much you know about our work. You might feel that it will set you apart from the rest and show the depth of your knowledge. But you should understand that the first person to read your CV might not be someone familiar with the technicalities like a recruiter o a high-level official. We suggest you to avoid using technical jargons while writing a resume. It's better to design the CV in a way that it's understood by all. Include Numbers There's nothing like numbers to back up your claims. Whether it is to show how many clients you have served or your contribution to the development of your organization. Numbers and figures turn heads and give a recruiter a concrete idea about the impact that you can have on the company. With that said, don’t overcompensate with numbers. Keep things clean and professional. Remember that the recruiters are looking for a CV, not info-graphics. Read Some advanced tech skills for a sustainable career in 2021 Education or Experience One might often think that education is what sets a prospective employee above the rest. It may be true in a certain sense, but it is almost solely limited to entry-level jobs. We suggest you to highlight your experience before your education. Your hands-on experience in a similar setup will go a long way to ascertain your credibility than your GPA. Include Extra Skills The pandemic has created a lot of free time for office goers. We hope you used the time wisely to rack up some skills through online courses. Show off your skills and certifications in your resume as they will be added to your skillset, particularly the ones that are directly involved with your industry. Read:How to ace a Job Interview? Proofread One of the common mistakes in resumes is the grammatical errors. Avoid them at any cost. We mean seriously, this point can’t be overemphasized. No matter how good your resume might be, if it has a typo or grammatical mistake, it will only drive down your credibility. Take a good look for about ten times before you submit your resume anywhere and make sure it's compliant with all the requirements. Bottom Line A concrete resume is like getting half the job done in job hunting. So far we have suggested some effective and practical topics to write professional curriculum vitae (CV). We hope these tips will help you to better write your resume and secure that job you’ve been eyeing. Read Best Job Searching Websites in Bangladesh