One-Way Video Interviews and Essays
Increasingly, fellowships and scholarships are requesting a recorded one-way interview or essay as part of their application materials. The reasons for this vary, from providing applicants alternative ways to showcase their strengths beyond traditional essays to gaining a clearer sense of an applicant’s personality and communication skills. But, just as with a written essay, one should be strategic in how they choose to present themselves. To that end, here is some guidance on how to approach this application component.
- Know your audience and their expectations. Before you begin, make sure you are familiar with the funder’s mission and goals, especially as they pertain to the award to which you are applying.
- Carefully read the video prompt. Before you begin brainstorming your response, carefully read the video prompt so you are clear on what your video should include. Doing so will help you consider what content you want to include and how you might present it.
- Resist the urge to show off your filmmaking skills. If you are asked to create your video using your own recording software, resist the urge to use film editing techniques, like editing together many different cuts, or adding filters, text, and graphics. There may be exceptions to this advice, like if you are applying for an award specifically for filmmakers or if the application instructs you to use these tools. But for the most part, your video is intended to show your personality and communication skills, not your competence as a filmmaker.
- Set the scene. Plan where you will record it and what you will wear. You should record the video in a well-lit, quiet place and ideally in front of a tidy, professional-looking space. Finding a space where you can record with your background visible is better than recording with a blurred or green screen background. Also ensure that your setup allows you to deliver your content eye level with the screen, rather than looking up or down. For clothes, most often a business casual look is fine, but avoid busy prints and patterns. Do not wear unprofessional tops (hooded sweatshirts, casual tank tops, etc).
- Practice ahead of time. Practice answering the prompt before recording it (either with CFSA, a friend, or by yourself), and time your responses. This will help you think through what you might say and how long it will take you to say it. If there is a limit to the length of your video, make sure you are providing responses that do not exceed that limit.
- DO NOT memorize or read your response—seriously! Viewers want to get an authentic sense of who you are, and watching you read or listening to a memorized answer will make you seem less confident while also making it more difficult for the viewer to feel a connection with you. Instead, have a general sense of what you want to say (you may want to brainstorm and jot down some main points you want to cover), but do not treat this like an opportunity to present prepared remarks (unless explicitly asked to do so). And do not think you can fool your viewers – it is always obvious someone is reading or using prepared remarks.
- Record your practice and watch it. After you have practiced without recording, practice recording yourself as if it were the real take. After this, watch the recording and pay particular attention to the speed of your delivery, length of response, body language, and whether you are fully addressing the prompt you are responding to in the video. This also helps you plan ahead for any technical or environmental challenges (lighting, sound, camera angle, software updates, etc).
- Be engaging. Use conventional social cues to generate a sense of connection with the viewer and interest in the opportunity you’re pursuing. This includes smiling when appropriate, making eye contact with the camera, and infusing your response with energy – whether from your body language or vocal intonations. This does not mean you should go above and beyond what feels natural for you, but be sure to present the version of yourself that appears when you are fully engaged in a conversation.
- You will not say everything perfectly – and that’s ok! Unlike essays where you can carefully choose your words and organize your answers over many rounds of revision, speech that is not pre-scripted is rarely perfect. You do want to present a polished, thoughtful version of yourself in your recording, but do not fret if you accidentally use some filler sounds, pause for a moment when speaking, or make little stumbles. Those are natural parts of human speech and are to be expected! Therefore, if re-recordings of your video are allowed, try to reserve doing so only for significant problems like interruptions, disorganized answer delivery, major disruptions in train of thought, or other aspects of your delivery that go against our above advice.
Beyond the guidance provided above, some best practices for writing compelling essays also apply to video responses:
- Be organized. Think of how you organize a paragraph: you use a topic sentence to overview the main point of the paragraph, you use specific evidence to support the point of your topic sentence, and then you wrap up or restate your point with a concluding sentence before moving on to a new idea or point. Most answers should be framed in a relatively similar way – use clear, structured answers with topic sentences, content, and conclusions.
- Be specific. As with essays, use specific examples to illustrate key points you are trying to convey through your recording. For example: if they ask you to describe your approach to leadership, use an example of a time you led others to illustrate your approach. You may even consider using the STAR method (situation, task, action, result) to help you frame your description. Using specific examples as evidence of your points will be much more effective than speaking generally.
- Pay attention to the requirements. If the recording should be a certain length, do not exceed this. If they ask for specific content, include that and only that. Any application is as much a reflection on your ability to follow directions as it is a demonstration of your fit and preparation for a particular opportunity.
Ultimately, what most viewers are looking for is authenticity -- they want to know that you are who you presented yourself to be in your other application materials. So, as cliche as it sounds, follow the above advice and make sure to be yourself.
SOURCES:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOeCIq3x2nE&t=26s
https://ellinlolis.com/blog/how-to-successfully-complete-kellogg-video-essay/