Video interviews when your work history is short
The interviewer has read your resume and knows it is short. They are not waiting for you to apologize for it. What they are trying to find out is how you think about the things you have done and whether you will learn quickly at work.
That is good news, because it means a class project told well is worth more than a job told badly. The work is in finding the story and then saying it in the right order.
Where your stories are
Most graduates think they have two stories. Go through this list and you are likely to find more.
| Look in | For | Could start with |
|---|---|---|
| A class project or capstone | A decision you made that the team then followed, or a part you owned alone. | In my final-year project I was the one who... |
| A part-time or summer job | A moment you handled a customer, a shift or a mistake without being told how. | On a busy Saturday at the shop, the till system went down and I... |
| A club, team or volunteering | A thing you organized, a person you helped, a conflict you settled. | I ran the budget for the society, about forty members and... |
| Something you built or learned alone | What you taught yourself and why you started. | Nobody asked me to, but I wanted to know whether... |
| Something that went wrong | What you misjudged and the one change you made afterwards. | I got the scope wrong on a group assignment and what I do now is... |
The same story, told two ways
Question: Describe a time you took initiative on something that was not assigned to you.
Told as coursework
“In my marketing course we had a group project on a local business and I was in charge of the social media part. We got a good grade and the professor liked it.”
Told as a decision
“For a marketing course we were given a fictional brand. I asked the cafe on campus whether we could use theirs instead and they said yes. I tried three kinds of posts over four weeks and kept the one that people actually commented on. They still use it.”
The first version reports a result somebody else gave you. The second says what you chose, what you tried and what happened without anyone asking. Both are the same project and both are invented for this page. Use your own.
Do not open with the apology
“I know I do not have much experience, but…” is a common way for graduates to begin and it uses the opening of an answer on something the interviewer has already weighed. Cut it and start with the story. In your practice report, check whether it shows up in your filler count.
Check the format before you start
Many first-round video interviews are one-way: a question appears, you get a short time to prepare and a fixed time to answer. Rules differ by employer. Read the invitation for the number of questions, the time limits and whether you can re-record and set up a practice answer to those limits.
The practice set also has a few questions written for people with a job already, such as why you are leaving your current position. If it does not apply, answer the useful half: what you are moving toward and why this role.