HOW TO MAKE AN IMPRESSIVE SELF-INTRODUCTION VIDEO?

An excellent self-introduction video can help you get some extra brownie points from the recruiters. The schools will hear your English skills and the sound of your voice and you can show that you’re qualified for their vacancy.

When you decide to apply for an ESL teaching job in Vietnam, you need to provide your resume (You can use the professional service editing here), a photo, degree/diploma, and a (TEFL/TESOL/CELTA) certificate. The recruiters need to know some standard information about you: your name, date of birth, hobbies, education, skills or working experiences, etc. But is this information enough to impress your potential employers?

In this article, Vietnam Teaching Jobs will give you some tips to make an excellent self-introduction video that will help you get the ESL teaching job of your dreams. Besides this, you can also find out the best way to send your video to employers at the end of this post.

WHAT SHOULD BE MENTIONED IN YOUR INTRODUCTION VIDEO?

• Your full name
• Age
• Nationality, where you’re from
• Personality
• Educational background: All employers want to know your education. Therefore, you need to mention all the degrees or diplomas as well as the specialties you’ve studied or the certificates you have (TESOL/TEFL/CELTA).
• Past teaching job experiences (what age groups, subjects etc.): Tell the recruiters how you’ve started and why you chose to become a teacher. Remember to talk about who you are and about what students you want to teach (kids or adults). Show them that you’re passionate about your work.
• Explain why you would love to teach English in Vietnam?

HOW TO PREPARE FOR A SELF-INTRODUCTION VIDEO?

1. Do not look at the paper and read it like a speech when recording your self-introduction video

We understand it can be scary to record an introduction video. You should try to write all of your information down on paper at least 10 times, by doing this you’ll make sure you understand and remember what you’re talking about. After this, practice to speak in front of a mirror to achieve a more natural pronunciation and improve your body language. You don’t have to follow any specific structures, just stick to your plan and speak confidently.

2. Speak clearly and not too fast:

In some situations, the recruiters will not be good at English. If you speak too fast, no one will hear what you say and your video makes no sense. You should imagine that you’re talking to non-native people who have weak English listening skills and try to make sure they can understand you well.

3. Dress like you’re in a personal job interview or in an online class:

The way you dress doesn’t mean you’re qualified or not but it’s better if you dress formally. You should brush your hair, wash up, put on light make-up (if you’re a girl) and maybe wear some nice accessories such as a bracelet, watch, or necklace. You won’t feel confident if you wear something that you don’t like or something that doesn’t fit you.

4. Keep smiling throughout your self-introduction video

During the first few seconds of the introduction video, a friendly smile will tell the interviewer you are friendly and enthusiastic. So, if you want your interviewer to relax and enjoy your video then don’t forget to smile. You should practice smiling in front of a mirror to make certain your smile doesn’t look forced or tensed.

And don’t forget to brush your teeth. Smiling with spinach between your teeth will definitely leave a wrong impression.

5. Record your video in a quiet place:

The mic will pick up all background noises such as traffic, people, etc. It’s important to ask your family members not to enter your room while you’re making an introduction video at home. It’s better if you lock the door and record in a private place or prepare your introduction video when there’s nobody at home.

Remember to turn off your phone and mute notifications in all social networks (Messenger, Facebook, WhatsApp etc.), because these sounds can disturb you when you record a video.

6. Record several trial versions:

It’s almost impossible to make a perfect video in one try. Therefore, you should record 2 or 3 introduction videos before you record your final video in order to check and improve your mistakes.

Once you record your trial video, you can analyze your speech, your facial expressions, your body language and your pronunciation. While watching your trial video, correct the things you don’t like and don’t repeat them in the real video.

7. Tidy your room:

It’s important to appear in the video in a clean room without any distractions in the back. The perfect background for your video is a clean wall without any prints or posters on it. You should record your video from the waist up with your face and hand gestures visible for the audience.

8. The quality of your self-introduction video

Try to film your video in natural light (sun) – this is the best option for a high-quality video. In case you can’t find natural light, make sure you use powerful (and close to natural) artificial lights.

You can use your smartphone or camera for recording, it doesn’t really matter. It’s even possible to use the built-in webcam of your laptop or PC for this purpose. The only thing you want to keep in mind is that you should take care of the video quality.

HOW TO SEND YOUR SELF-INTRODUCTION VIDEO?

Because video files tend to be relatively large in size, Gmail only allows you to attach up to 25MB and Microsoft outlook only allows up to 10MB per email attachment. Therefore, you need to upload your video and share the URL with the recruiter instead of sending the entire video file.

Upload your self-introduction video on Youtube:

Step 1:

The first thing you need to do is to log in to YouTube. To do this, you’ll need to set up a Google account if you don’t have one. Your Google account can be used for YouTube, Google My Business, Gmail, and any other Google platforms.

Step 2:

After logging in to YouTube, choose the upload button at the upper right side corner of the page. From there you will be taken to the Upload page.

Step 3:

Privacy Settings: videos put on private settings can only be seen by you and the users you allow to see the video. Private videos do not appear on your channel and are hidden from all users. When you adjust your privacy, click the big arrow button and select the video you want to upload from your files, or simply drag and drop the file.

Step 4:

While the video uploads to your channel, you can see its progress on the status bar. Once uploaded, the video has to process. You can see the progress for that in the status bar as well.

Step 5:

Choose a title. By default, YouTube will name your video “VID XXXXXXXX XXXXXX” using a combination of numbers. You can erase this field and rename your video.

Step 6:

Share the link with the recruiter by email.

SELF-INTRODUCTION VIDEO EXAMPLES

Once you finished your self-introduction video and you’re ready to find your dream job, let us help you get the best one! Good luck!