Video Editor Resumes & Writing Guide

When you are on the hunt for a new Video Editor role, it is essential to check out a top-notch Video Editor resume sample. Below we have a camera roll filled with tips and tricks on how to compile the perfect video editor resume. As a video editor, you need to be creative and intuitive when in your job and your resume. 

Here are some guidelines with examples per resume section to compile an interview-worthy video editing resume!

Video Editor Resume Examples

(Free sample downloads are at the bottom of this page)

Video Editor Resume Writing Guide

Resume Sections

Covered Sections:

  • 1. Contact information
  • 2. Profile Summary
  • 3. Work History 
  • 4. Achievements
  • 5. Education 
  • 6. Skill Section
  • 7. Certification & Licensing
  • 8. Extras: Languages/Awards/Publications/Volunteering/hobbies
  • > Professional information

What to Highlight in a Video Editor Resume

Your aim here is to leave your potential employers wanting more. This can be achieved by using key principles that could be found in a job advertisement. By avoiding this, you may just as well be part of 80% of applicants that don't make it past the ATS bots. 

FIRST, It is therefore extremely important to use keywords in your resume. ATS bots would not pick up on words such as “banner ads,” and because of this, you will need to type out the word advertisements, for example.

REMEMBER, You will need to do more than just beat the bots because now it is just your resume against a bunch of other applicants all wanting the same job, and yours needs to be aesthetically pleasing to the eye of the recruiter and well written and captivating for the recruiter to consider you as a potential candidate.

THEN, Your opening scene will be an introduction to your most valuable competencies. It is of the utmost importance to explain these competencies to leave the desire of meeting you that much stronger:

Maintaining integrity: The job requires you to keep the director's vision all while bringing changes that will help maintain the viewer's attention. In the end, the story must still make sense to the audience and must not subtract any value from the film.

Editing: When editing a film, the video editor must keep in mind the target audience's attention span, if the film is in context with the genre, and reasonable length. 

Angles & POVs: The video editor will have to decide which angles should be used for particular scenes. The director will sometimes intervene by shooting scenes in many different angles to give the editor more options when editing to edit in the best angles and POV

Post-production: Video editors may sometimes need to add CGI in post-production, depending on the type of film. They may need to change the lighting of certain scenes, and special effects, and sounds, and they do this by collaborating with film engineers. 

THEN, transitioning from that, you need to inform them on a typical working day. This may include creating storyboards, producing and editing videos, developing scripts, create samples for social media platforms, and creating graphics and animations, special effects, music, and sound effects. 

LAST UP. recruiters want to know about your previous employers and the environment in which you worked.. Editors work mostly in groups; however, their work is done independently, and their working locations differ from computer rooms to cutting labs and projection rooms and the. The hours are long during post-production; however, your schedule will be more traditional when you work in a TV studio.

Career Summary & Objectives

It is important to remember that your resume will have little screening time, and therefore, your first impression must make an impact. 

Your career summary must be short and simple, and to the point. Tailor your career summary for each job you apply for according to their job advertisements. However, maintain your honesty. This way, the recruiter is more likely to choose you for an interview.

A resume summary emphasizes that you're competent enough to whip out Spielberg level achievements by displaying your experience. A resume objective, in turn, displays passion and intent. Use these for all they are worth.

Start off your career summary by adding a positive adjective that describes you best in the workplace and your years of experience. Two or three definite technical traits and the industry where you gained the most skills or worked for the longest. Also, include a brief summary of your education. Remember that it may only be 3-6 sentences. 

A career objective is a good choice if you have zero or limited experience. In an objective you would focus on your career aspirations, emphasizing your motivation and determination to grow in your career. 

Furthermore, an objective is your chance to prove to prospective managers and recruiters of your intent to add value to the organization with your suite of transferrable skills.


Examples:


Summary Example 1:
"Quick to deliver, Video Editor with 4+ years of experience, an expert in Final Cut Pro. Looking for a position with Warner Brother Pictures. At Universal Studios, 1.5 hours of finished video finalized per week. 95% of clients sent positive comments on my work. Developed a new system for transcript-free interview editing 75% of editing time reduced"
Summary Example 2:
"Six-year online Video Editor for short films and commercials. Sufficient with Premiere Pro for trimming short segments for certain lengths. 17% more likes and comments due to re-sequenced scenes to enhance audience satisfaction."
Summary Example 3:
"Intern for Junior Video Editor focused on post-production. Familiar with Apple Final Cut. Excellent teamwork skills and strong communication skills from years of retail work."
Summary Example 4:
"Pioneering junior Video Editor with 2 years' experience, seeking a new position at (Insert Company Name).. Highly proficient in Adobe and DreamWeaver, plus listening and communication. CIDQ certified. Proficient user of Film Design Software, as well as Illustrator and Hootsuite."

Employment History 

It is crucial to get this section just right. Hiring managers would like to see this section chronologically to show your most recent and most relevant features. You are more than welcome to include your URLs and infographics, and cloud portfolios in a different part of your resume. Your sentences must be straightforward and descriptive when describing your daily duties. 

REMEMBER: You can add URLs, websites, and social media pages that include your previous projects in this particular section (side note, refrain from using to many links). Anything more than that would be redundant. It is important to note that the job advertisement should be used as a guide when compiling your resume as recruiting managers to use programs that generate resumes with certain keywords that are usually found in the job ad. 

Recruiters rarely ever go back as far as six years. This is due to the number of software updates and new tools we are presented with daily. Your oldest projects and experiences should only be added to avoid gaps in your resume. This can be attained by adding the company name, your job title, the time you were employed there, and a summary of what you did during your time at the company

List experience in reverse chronological order such as the examples below.

Examples

Video Editor at Blue Penguin Designs

(January 2016 – Current)

Primary responsibility is to trim segments of footage and put together a film in sequence and add music and sound inputs.

  • Delivering exceptional, professional edits for commercial markets. 
  • Obtained the relaunch contract for Radisson Hotels and had fifteen projects featured positively in Dezeen Magazine.
  • Created high-grade video creations competently in a fast-paced environment.
  • Change the lighting of certain scenes, and special effects, and sounds, and they do this by collaborating with film engineers.

Junior Video Editor at Bottle Bob Advertising

(January 2009 – November 2015)

Responsible for reviewing both shooting scripts and raw material for editing purposes and for making the best shot decisions

  • Designed 12 sensational commercial promotional videos for clients and received praise from every client for professionalism and vision.
  • Ensured all project budgets are kept under set amounts and delivered on time.
  • Create rough cuts and final cuts, ensuring smooth running and logical sequences
  • Decide which angles should be used for particular scenes by shooting scenes in many different angles to give the editor more options when editing to edit in the best angles and POV

Job Descriptions Examples

Need more content? Have a look at a further job duty sample below:

Video Editor Job Description

  • Reviewing both shooting scripts and raw material for editing purposes and for making the best shot decisions 
  • Comprehend the needs of the production team’s of the needs and specifications
  • Manipulating film pieces not visible to the naked eye
  • Trim segments of footage and put together a film in sequence and add music and sound inputs
  • Create rough cuts and final cuts, ensuring smooth running and logical sequences
  • Consult with stakeholders straight through the production process
  • Constantly learning new software and technologies and the industry’s best applications for maximized efficiency
  • Demonstrating abilities in video editing with a sturdy portfolio
  • Experienced in being thorough with timing, continuity, and motivation
  • Acquainted with CGI, special effects, and composition and storytelling skills due to a creative mind
  • Familiar with Adobe Creative Cloud for creating and editing 20+ images and animations for client productions per week
  • Saved 20% on costs with new video stock and image vendor

Accomplishments

In a Video Editor’s work, ‘proof of concept’ is a term often used.  This section of your resume is about the same. Review all the skills you have and describe them in your resume using action words and linked numerical values about your mos proud accomplishments.

Here it’s crucial to add qualifications with accurate information regarding the accomplishments. This section is like a bragging section where you can promote your talents with links to your Instagram or any other platform to prove all you have done and said. 

Now, the most important aspect of your accomplishment statements is numbers! Think scores, rankings, percentages, dollar values, metrics, dates and timeframes. This approach is referred to as resume quantification.

But First what NOT to do:

  • Transformed hours of raw footage into video as paid for by the client as a head video editor. Client 100% satisfied.
  • Commended by lead video producer for speed and intuition.
  • Developed and implemented transcript-free editing method with bubble-sorted clip bins. The method was adopted by the entire team, freeing up production hours per week.
  • Sourced new royalty-free music, video, and still image vendor, saving  on costs and doubling subjective quality of productions.
  • Created a new system for storing b-roll that eliminated hours of time spent searching per week.

Now let’s gear them UP

  • Transformed 14+ hours of raw footage into 1-hour video as paid for by the client as a head video editor. Client 100% satisfied.
  • Commended 15x by lead video producer for speed and intuition.
  • Developed and implemented transcript-free editing method with bubble-sorted clip bins. The method was adopted by the entire team, freeing up 100+ production hours per week.
  • Sourced new royalty-free music, video, and still image vendor, saving 30% on costs and doubling subjective quality of productions.
  • Created a new system for storing b-roll that eliminated 4+ hours of time spent searching per week.

Education Section

In the world of video editing, talent needs to be supported by education. This includes projects you have completed and other academic accomplishments such as degrees, diplomas, certificates, or online courses. A rock-solid theoretical foundation is exactly what recruiters are looking for.

The competition is tough, so anything you can add of value in terms of academic and theoretical knowledge will aid your chances greatly in terms of securing an interview.

Don’t forget that self-study and informal studies also count as learning. Be sure to add these to your resume as well

List your academic accomplishments as follows:

  • Starting with the qualification, institution, location, and date of completion in a single line. 
  • To impress the hiring managers feel free to edit in honors or cum laude results and your GPA score if it is above 3.5
  • If you lack physical experience, include major subjects or course curriculum topics.

Some examples:

2016 – Cinema 4D Master (C4D), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Open Course Ware

2019 – Adobe CS5 Certified, University of Delaware, Newark, DE

2017 – Hootsuite Certified Professional, Hootsuite Media, Albany, NY

2018 – Adobe Certified Expert, Adobe, Online, Course Topics: Illustrator & Photoshop

2020 – Advanced Course in Digital Video Editing, ADMEC Multimedia Institute, Online

Resume Skills

To have your resume land in front of the recruiters, you need to create a resume with a strong resume SEO to pass the ATS bots. Use the advertisement as your guide, and they usually include the hard skills and soft skills they want most in an applicant. After listing the skill, the proof must be shown in your accomplishment section.

No need to repeat all the tech and tools you’ve already listed. 

With a matrix for your technical skills, you will attain two critical goals. I

  • In the first place, you will beat the application trackers by using keywords used exactly from the job spec. 
  • And secondly, using a matrix will help recruiters with an overview of your technical Aptitude.

Technical Skills Matrix

Core SkillExperience Level (1-Expert, 2-Skilled, 3-Novice)
Premiere Pro1
Editing1
Adobe Creative Suite1
Final Cut Pro1
Avid Media Composer1
Soundtrack Pro2
Animation2
Graphic design1
DVD Studio Pro2
Blender1
Illustrator3
GoLive CS23
Logging dailies or clips2
Version1
Trimming2
Sculpting1
Transcription1

Add soft skills that will show recruiters your competencies when working with clients or collaborating with other companies and co-workers. At the end of the job advertisement, the soft skills are listed.

Use this as a guide to list soft skills that coincide with the soft skills you pose.

Soft Skills Matrix

CreativeEnthusiastic
ArtisticTeam Player
CollaborativeDetermined
Detail OrientatedDeadline Driven
TenaciousFocused
DiplomaticCompromising
Strong CommunicatorAccountable
PassionateVisionary

Qualifications/Certifications associated with Video Editors

Avid Certified Professional: Media ComposerAdobe InDesign CourseBachelors Degree in Multimedia Design Applications
Video Editing Expert CourseAdvanced Video Editing Expert CourseAdobe Certified Expert, Premiere Pro
Certified Video Engineer – Society of Broadcast Engineers, IncEnvato Tuts+ Illustration & Video Editing CoursesUdemy: Introduction to Video EditingJava
HTMLPhotoshop Essential C6 ToolsCertificate Program – 3D Basics
Project Management DiplomaAssociate of Arts in Video EditingCertificate Program – Video Editing
Avid Certified User: Media ProAdobe Premiere Pro Video Editing CertificateApple Final Cut Pro

Optional Extras for Video Editor Resumes

If you don't do something to jooosh up your resume, the format is a pretty dull reading for the recruiter. Grab their attention by adding some sense of passion for your trade! 

Adding an “other” section to your resume that includes your awards, testimonials, and other achievements will help your resume to get that whistle people do when they are impressed. 

You may also try the following

Show and tell

Do not just SHOW what you can do, but also TELL by using complete sentences of your experiences and your duties and responsibilities within each project. The most detail and effort should be put into your most recent projects, meaning that the main focus should be on what you have done in the past year or two. .

Editing Stack

As a Video Editor, you must be up to date with all the latest tools and applications by naming your design tools, and different software programs in a skill matrix are provided below. 

SDC Free Video EditorPinnacle StudiosDaVinci Resolve
iMovieAvidemuxAdobe Premiere Pr
Final Cut Pro XAvid Media ComposerWindows Live Movie Maker
Pinnacle StudioPremiere ProVegas Pro
Apple iMovieFinal Cut ProWax
Movie Edit ProCorel VideoStudioCyberLink

Professional Information on Video Editors

Sectors: Advertising, Publishing, Online Media, Marketing, Design,
Career Type: Design, Production, Content, Photography, Animation, Videography, Art, Graphics
Person type:  Designer, Creator, Visualizer, Maker, Producer, Writer, Coder, Implementer, Developer
Education levels: From Post School Qualifications and upwards
Salary indication: Average $ 3 071 per month (Indeed) 
Labor market: 14% growth projected from 2019 – 2029 (BLS)
Organizations: Various

Video editor Resume Downloads