Certify cards

Empathy

Self-management

“The highest form of knowledge is empathy, for it requires us to suspend our egos and live in another's world. It requires profound purpose larger than the self kind of understanding.”

Plato

Claire Cain Miller from The New York Times draws attention to recent research which shows "that empathy makes people better managers and workers, and better family members and friends. But it’s bigger than just its personal effect. We’re all in this together, and researchers say that connection and compassion are crucial to a sustainable and humane future. ". The ability to understand and share the feelings of another is a sought-after skill in all work environments. How do you cultivate empathy? How can you show your prospective employer? Here’s a couple of prompts that might help you get started:

Would you consider yourself empathetic?
Do you find it easy to understand other people’s feelings, emotions and problems?
Do you actively seek to develop empathy? How?(volunteering, reading books …)

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Time management

Self-management

"Plan your work for today and every day, then work your plan."

Margaret Thatcher

Time management is an important and sought-after skill, and if that’s something you’re good at, you should definitely mention it. How can you demonstrate that you’re well organised? In your video CV, you might answer questions such as:

Do you make to-do lists? Show examples
Do you have a time check? Do you set yourself time limits?
Do you use software tools for time management, for example Pomodoro timer apps?
Do you feel comfortable delegating tasks?
How do you organise your time? Do you focus on one task at a time or do you prefer multitasking?
How do you plan your day? Do you have a routine? What does it look like?

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Ability to prioritise

Self-management

“Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least.”

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The ability to set your priorities straight is invaluable. We can guarantee you that your future employer is looking for team members that can identify the most important tasks and get to them immediately rather than focusing on tasks of lower importance. Do you think you’re great at prioritising tasks? If so, you should definitely mention that in your video CV. Here’s a couple of questions that might help you get started thinking about how to best demonstrate this skill in your video:

Tell us about a situation where you had too much to do. How did you go through all the tasks?
How do you prioritize goals? Do you have a method, a checklist?
Do you set yourself goals? Do you do so in your professional and in your personal life? You could talk more about a goal that you set yourself and how you achieved it.
Do you set S.M.A.R.T goals?

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Evaluation

Review and dissemination

"Evaluation is creation: hear it, you creators! Evaluating is itself the most valuable treasure of all that we value. It is only through evaluation that value exists: and without evaluation the nut of existence would be hollow. Hear it, you creators!"

Friedrich Nietzsche

After you finish your video and before you start planning how you can share it, it might be worth taking some time to evaluate your video. While a video CV can help your chances of getting a job it can also hurt 🤕 them. Here’s a short checklist of things to consider before sending out your video CV.

Did you introduce yourself at the beginning?
Did you highlight your strengths and/or achievements?
Did you emphasize why you would be the perfect candidate?
Is the sound quality ok?
Is video quality good enough?
Have you showed your video to at least 5 people (friends, colleagues, family, industry people…?) and got their feedback?
Do you think some people might find it inconsiderate or offensive?
Do you think that core competencies are highlighted?
Do people recognise you in the video? Is the video authentic and personal?

Project development is a creative endeavour?

Creativity

“Every project is an opportunity to learn, to figure out problems and challenges, to invent and reinvent.”

David Rockwell

Creativity is not just about generating ideas. We could argue that project development as a whole is a creative endeavour. If you’re not entirely convinced yet, bear with us for a moment! What we mean is that projects evolve, take unexpected turns and in fact people rarely end up with the result that they envisioned at the very beginning. This whole project development process requires an open mind and willingness to learn, invent, reinvent and create along the way. You could show off your creativity competence by focusing your digital story on project development experience!

Have you developed any projects?
How has the creativity competence helped you along the way?
How did your creativity help you manage your team/or become a better team player?
Have you ever identified an opportunity to develop a project differently in order to achieve better/more desirable results?

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Tell us more about your passion project or a hobby!

Creativity

“I draw like other people bite their nails.”

Pablo Picasso

There is no better way to show your creativity than sharing your work and talking about your creative process… even if the creativity skill is not listed as one of the requirements for the position you’re applying for, it is a sought-after competence and could help you differentiate yourself from the competition. Remember you don’t have to be a professional painter, director, designer, photographer or artist to share the projects that you are passionate about with prospective employers. A Video CV is a great way to show off your personality and interests, and can be a great conversation starter. Wonder where to start?

Do you draw, paint, perform, play a musical instrument, take photographs, write … mime? How long have you been doing this?
Could you show some examples of your creative projects? (presentation, video tour, etc…)
What did you learn from arts & crafts?
Have you developed any transversal skills?
Do you consider yourself creative? What incident made you think that?

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Dealing with unwanted emotions

Self-management

“It takes something more than intelligence to act intelligently.”

Fyodor Dostoyevsky

We all have bad days but not everyone deals with them in the same way. You can be sure that in any workplace, you will have to deal with other people’s unwanted emotions as well as your own. If you pride yourself on being able to manage your emotions and maintain a healthy and pleasant work environment, you can mention this in your video CV. How? Try answering these questions for starters:

How do you deal with unwanted emotions, do you let them get in the way or do you maybe have a strategy how to manage them?
How do you manage unwanted emotions?
How do you deal with angry/agitated colleagues? Do you let their emotions transfer onto you? Or maybe you have methods/strategies how to calm your colleagues and help them?

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Willingness to learn and teach

Collaboration

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.”

Dr. Seuss

In order to stay relevant in our fast-paced world we must be willing to keep on learning and improving which, as a result, can enhance our ability to collaborate effectively. Here’s a couple of questions that you might consider answering in your video CV to demonstrate your teaching and learning skills:

Are you actively seeking to improve your skills and knowledge? Then apply it in the workplace? (give an example)
Do you use online learning platforms (Coursera, Futurelearn…) to hone your skills? Have you earned any certificates?
What do you do if you're stuck on assignments/tasks? Do you ask for your collegues' help?
If you see that your colleague is struggling with an assignment and you knew exactly how to do it, would you teach them how to achieve desired results or would you more often just offer to do it for them? (please give examples)
How do your teaching and learning skills help you collaborate with others?

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