Luana Dumartheray is a fourth year student on the INSEEC Campus in Lyon in the Digital Marketing & Web Strategy major. She recently made the news with a rather original cover letter! Thanks to this atypical application, she is now an intern in a company that challenges her creativity every day.
WHERE DOES YOUR INTERNSHIP TAKE PLACE AND WHAT ARE YOUR ASSIGNMENTS?
I am currently an intern at the Fondation Emergences. It is a company that brings together founders, often business leaders, with social projects, through volunteer skills.
I take care of all the internal and external communication of the company. Generally speaking, I create communication tools for all types of occasions: invitations, CSR report of the company, monthly newsletter, benchmark etc. I helped to prepare the participation in an event by making a kakemono and videos to present the Foundation. It is a complete and very interesting internship, where I also met many people in thesocial and solidarity economy, a field that I find fascinating.
WAS THIS VIDEO/COVER LETTER INSTRUMENTAL IN YOUR HIRING?
Yes a lot! Since I didn’t have a written cover letter, this video was “make or break. It allowed me to show my original and creative side as well as my video skills.
The feedback has been mostly positive, laughter, compliments, from people close to me but also from companies. Some of the recruiters remained “perplexed” by my application, but it is a matter of taste after all! If they didn’t like my personality, I wasn’t cut out for this business.
DOES YOUR EMPLOYER HAVE ANY PARTICULAR EXPECTATIONS IN TERMS OF CREATIVITY AFTER SUCH AN ORIGINAL APPLICATION?
The expectations seem to me to be higher indeed. In the company, I am presented as “the video pro”, my employers have a lot of projects for me and feel that I can “do it all! It puts more pressure on me but I also have more autonomy and responsibility.
HOW DID YOU DISTRIBUTE THIS VIDEO?
My goal being to find an internship, I mainly sent emails with my video attached, when I found the email address of the company. The file was sometimes too heavy for some online recruitment sites, which is a shame. Not very used to social networks, I posted it on Linkedin only very late, after someone advised me to do so. Then my friends and family shared it on Facebook, which allowed me to spread it more widely.
HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH THE IDEA OF A VIDEO COVER LETTER?
I’ve been passionate about video for a long time, my sister and I make videos for all kinds of occasions. Like many people, I don’t like writing cover letters. I find that we all end up writing the same sentences from the same websites. In the end, this does not reflect a person and his motivation at all. I’m much more comfortable speaking than writing, so the video allowed me to “sell myself” better and show who I am.
Video is a very popular medium these days, and I feel that very few cover letters are actually read by recruiters. I thought a video would be more fun to make and watch, and something more visual might set me apart from the other candidates.
THIS IS NOT A CLASSIC CANDIDACY VIDEO, WHAT NAME WOULD YOU GIVE TO THIS ATYPICAL SPEECH?
If I made a video cover letter by simply reciting a classic cover letter, it wouldn’t make sense. And then, I had to write a cover letter, which was my pet peeve! I then thought of a more original way to make it. It was while watching videos of Stéphane De Groot, a columnist playing with words to talk about a subject, that I decided to make my video in this format. I don’t really know if it has a name but I would say it’s done in the De Groot way!
FOR MANY PEOPLE, MAKING A VIDEO SEEMS INSURMOUNTABLE, FOR TECHNICAL REASONS BUT ALSO FOR FEAR OF BEING RIDICULOUS ON SCREEN. WHAT WOULD YOU SAY TO THAT?
I completely understand this feeling. It is true that when companies ask me to show them, I always blush a little. However, the good feedback I got allowed me to gain confidence in this achievement and to show it with pride. On the other hand, I am convinced that originality always makes you stand out. So, it’ s up to you to dare!
WHAT ADVICE DO YOU HAVE FOR STUDENTS WHO WOULD ALSO LIKE TO START A VIDEO APPLICATION?
GET STARTED! It is true that I had the right equipment (camera, tripod) but my laptop and a buddy to hold it would have been enough too! The material is not the most complex. The writing is the trickiest part. It took me a long time to finish my text, but it was an exciting job. I think you just have to have a line of action, a theme, a vision in your head and go for it without letting go of the idea. Another tip: don ‘t hesitate to talk about it! Generally, we prefer to do things on our own for fear of the judgment of others, but sharing your ideas will help to flesh them out.
Updated 24 February 2022