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Portfolio 4 min read 14 views
A two-minute video intro is worth ten resumes
What to say, how to shoot it, and why hiring managers watch all the way through.
A two-minute intro video is not a personality test. It's a stand-in for the first five minutes of a conversation with you. Which is the exact five minutes the hiring manager is trying to skip to.
What to say
- First 15 seconds: who you are and what you're working on right now. Not 'my name is.' Just say the thing.
- Next 60 seconds: walk through one project. Show the artifact if you can.
- Next 30 seconds: what you're looking for next, specifically. Not 'opportunities to grow.'
- Last 15 seconds: how to reach you.
How to shoot it
Phone camera, horizontal, near a window in the daytime. One take. Do not add music. Do not add stock footage. Do not add a lower-third with your name in a script font.
The production value is not the point. The point is the two minutes.
Why hiring managers watch it
Because they can watch it at 1.5x while eating lunch, and by the end they know whether they want to talk to you. Reading a resume takes the same amount of time and tells them less.