Self Branding through a Video CV using your Mobile Phone
What is a video CV? The answer is easy to guess. In fact, the answer lays into the question: It is a cv made in a video. The person stands in front of a camera and convincingly says, looking into the lens of a camera what he would write down on a written cv.
This introduction sums up the spirit behind the project UpGrad_Me.
It is an Erasmus+ project whose aim is to create an innovative training resource for Youth Workers to teach migrant youth how to utilise social media for personal branding: presenting themselves in a professional manner to potential employers and being able to promote themselves for jobs in companies online portals and vacancies posted on social media. All this using a technology that is already part of their daily life: their smartphone.
Youth workers from three European Union Countries, Malta, Italy and Spain will use the training resource to pilot the project and walk a group of migrants into the simulation of an online job application using a smartphone. Migrants will learn how create a Google account with Gmail, using the free apps pre installed or downloadable for free. How to launch the YouTube Channel linked with that Gmail, how to use Google Drive to store docs in the cloud, find a location using Google maps. In addition, they will discover how to use Kinemaster, a simple video editor useful to add text to their video cv and share it on YouTube.
This project will also allow them to be able to create a paper CV on Europass and edit it when needed, and create a cover letter from Europass portal.
The project is led in partnership with African Media Association Malta, Arciragazzi Portici, Solidaridad Sin Fronteras.
Regine Psaila, from African Media association Malta says: “After working with migrants for more than a year, we observed that the majority have their cv done by someone else because many do not have access to a computer or simply because they haven’t learned how to use it, and lack the necessary information on how to create one themselves. And yet, all have a mobile phone. That is how the idea of this project took root.”
Benefit for employers as well.
The concept of a Video CV’s link in a regular CV means that employers can access a short video of the person who submitted the CV, hearing and seeing first hand their speaking and presentation skills, it is a way for applicants to showcase their abilities.
According to Natalia Padron, Employment Coordinator of African Media Association Malta, “This type of CV will also assist the employer during the assessment process, as it is time and resources saving, it can increase his success rate in the recruitment process, helping him to deal in anticipation with potential stereotypes or natural bias.”
The project is funded by Erasmus+. Partners’ contacts:
African Media Association Malta https://www.africanmediamalta.com/
Arciragazzi Portici in Italy http://www.csvnapoli.it/arciragazzi-portici/
Solidaridad Sin Fronteras in Spain. http://ssf.org.es/
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