Chapter 11
Casting a Wide Net with Other Online Résumés
In This Chapter
Expanding your online résumé beyond LinkedIn
Surveying other online résumé services
Presenting the do-it-yourself option for digital résumés
Although LinkedIn seems to have the highest leverage with recruiters and hiring managers, many job seekers still find it useful to publish several other online résumés so they can have full control over the look, feel, and flow of the content they present. After all, the more information you share with an employer, the better off you are. As a job seeker, your goal is to present a well-rounded version of yourself to the hiring manager. You want to get to an interview and have the recruiter say, “Geez, I feel like I already know you!”
In this chapter, I introduce you to some of the most innovative online résumé services available and reveal how to use them in a powerful way to better communicate your job application. Remember that the more of yourself you put out there in the Wild West (otherwise known as the World Wide Web), the more likely you are to be found.
Understanding the Benefits of Online Résumés
Most recruiters I talk to say they’re actively seeking candidates through keyword searches on LinkedIn. So why would a job seeker look anywhere else for online networking? In the next sections, I present compelling reasons for having more than one online résumé and not limiting yourself to just LinkedIn.
Overcoming LinkedIn’s imperfections
Let me be absolutely clear: I’m not saying you shouldn’t use LinkedIn. In fact, I love LinkedIn and have used it for years. I’m simply saying that you should be aware that LinkedIn may not meet all your unique needs as a job seeker, so don’t let it be the only tool you have in your tool belt.
LinkedIn gives you only one profile
When you apply for a job, you should customize your résumé to that position. Recruiters and hiring managers will look to see whether your résumé is generic or really addresses their organization’s concerns.
But wait! LinkedIn gives you only one profile. You can’t customize it for multiple jobs. You may be testing the waters in two or more different industries, but LinkedIn doesn’t allow you to cover all your bases. The online résumé options I show you later in this chapter give you a chance to create multiple versions of the same résumé.
LinkedIn is visually uniform
People’s profiles don’t really differ on LinkedIn. And unless baby blue is your favorite color (it’s apparently the favorite of the LinkedIn designers), you can’t do much to improve the look and feel of your profile.
Across candidates, the only visual variations come from how many multimedia elements they’ve added, or what order they’ve placed the various elements on their profile. That puts the onus on you to come up with ways to make your profile stand out.
With the online résumés available from tools I describe in this chapter, you can change the color, the formatting, and even the type of information you share with greater flexibility. This capability can unlock your personal brand and help communicate your personality to the hiring manager. (I help you develop your personal brand in Part II.)
Keeping your information up-to-date
Compared with a paper résumé, with online résumés, you can update your information once, and everyone with the link will always have the most recent version. You don’t have to resend your résumé or worry about outdated info landing your name on a blacklist. If someone wants to share your info with a co-worker, the link he provides will automatically connect to your most recent online résumé.
Broadening your online presence
The more places you have a presence online, the better your chances of being found by the right employer. Having multiple online résumés helps you expand your social media presence. After you create your other online résumés, you can link them all together. LinkedIn allows you to share up to three outside links; I explain how to add these links to your profile in Chapter 9. And each of your other résumés can link to each other to create a web.
Creating Your Multimedia Résumé
No, I’m not talking about a scrolling marquis banner. Video has become the number one activity on the web. When people see that play button, they are compelled to push in. In just a few seconds of video, someone can learn more about you than reading a three-page résumé. Images and examples of your work can have the same forward momentum. These tools give you a platform to share your videos, images, and work samples.
Innovating your résumé with Innovate CV
Innovate CV (www.innovatecv.com) is an online multimedia résumé-building tool that mirrors the basic framework of a résumé but lets you augment it with multimedia elements, like embedded video and images. It offers the following features:
You can import your LinkedIn profile directly into your Innovate CV résumé. This feature saves a lot of time when building your profile.
You have more design options that are cleaner and simpler than LinkedIn, yet still very standardized for easy viewing.
You can upload video directly into your CV rather than just linking to a YouTube video.
Figure 11-1 shows you a sample of a resume created by Innovate CV.
Figure 11-1: A sample résumé created in Innovate CV.
Using DoYouBuzz to produce your résumé
Setting up your free online résumé with DoYouBuzz (www.doyoubuzz.com) is as simple as importing your LinkedIn profile. You're given this option when you first sign in.
DoYouBuzz gives you many more layout and color options than Innovate CV and presents your résumé more like a web page than as a single document. The home page in your DoYouBuzz résumé includes the main elements of your résumé so the recruiter can have a summary of your profile. Then if he is interested, he can click on each section to get the details and know more about you. To see some examples of résumés built in DoYouBuzz, type “site:doyoubuzz.com example resume” into a new Google search.
DoYouBuzz looks amazing on a mobile device. After setting up your webpage, try visiting it on your phone.
Telling your story with CareerFlair.com
I met the founders of intRvue, the developers of CareerFlair (www.careerflair.com), at a conference years back where they kept telling me about the importance of visual storytelling, a new concept for me at the time. They passionately explained how important it is for the candidate to describe successes in a way that engages the hiring manager in a narrative. Their platform was built with this simple premise in mind.
CareerFlair’s Story Boards let you tell the stories behind your resume bullets using text, images, and video. Clickable keywords link to resume bullets so viewers can pull up functional views of your accomplishments. Sidebar widgets let you add featured stories, social media chatter, and more. CareerFlair lets you create unlimited versions of your resume and website so you can customize for each job opportunity.
Rethinking the Traditional Résumé Format
Forward-thinking employers and recruiters are questioning the value and role of the résumé in modern times. Many recruiting discussions nowadays focus on whether or not to ask for a résumé any more. Indeed, the cover letter has all but disappeared, now replaced by a few sentences in an e-mail to which a resume is attached.
Many innovative companies today are also questioning the function of a résumé and coming up with some interesting alternatives. They are pushing the boundaries of visual display, interactivity, and social media integration.
Visualizing yourself
This first batch of tools rides a current trend of displaying large amounts of data in a visually appealing way. Humans can consume a huge amount of data very quickly when it’s displayed in a graphically logical way, and infographics are entering mainstream media. Well, you can do the same with your professional history.
Vizify
Vizify (http://vizify.com) recognizes that people are multifaceted individuals with interests and activities that reflect their passions, so the team behind the free platform designed a service that helps you create a website to visually highlight all the bits and pieces of who you are. Vizify takes your information — you can link to Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter — and visualizes it in bubbles, charts, graphs, graphics, and uploaded images. It spreads your information out on different pages and gives links to your other sites, creating what the people at Vizify call a graphical biography.
This platform was designed with employers in mind, and its design is based on feedback from over 300 recruiters. By identifying the four most important data points an employer wants to see right away, this platform is more than just visually appealing; it’s based on function.
Re.vu
Re.vu (http://re.vu) also offers an infographic based on your LinkedIn profile. However, it also allows you to add sections and pages as well as greater flexibility in design. The design team has spend a lot of energy making its platform as flexible as possible. You can manually build your own infographics without having to import them from any other source, which makes this platform a fun one to build on for the designers out there.
Enthuse.me
Enthuse.me (http://enthuse.me) lets you create a minimalistic one-page profile to show off what you do best by embedding useful content, creating original content, and connecting your social networks to display links and statistics. In contrast to other pages like Zerply or About.me, Enthuse.me users can pick the best pieces of content that really show off their expertise instead of displaying their entire life.
Workfolio
Think visual portfolio for your personal brand. Workfolio (http://workfolio.com) is a web application that allows anyone to create a career-oriented visual website to highlight their personal brand. Using its integration with LinkedIn, Workfolio creates a starter website automatically which alleviates the "empty-canvas" problem of other website tools. It helps users register their own domains, choose an attractive theme, and create high-quality content so they can feel great about their website and get back to business.
Using semantic job-board services
Technology has grown to a point where job boards can actually know what kinds of jobs you'd be interested in based on the personal information you submit. So-called semantic job-board services allow you to do just that. With a profile on these services, great jobs get hand delivered to you. For a full list of new and innovative job boards that leverage your social network, check out the online Part of Tens at www.dummies.com/extras/jobsearchingwithsocialmedia.
WorkFu
WorkFu (http://workfu.com) acts as a matchmaking service between job seekers and employers. When you fill out your profile, which dynamically links with your social media profiles, you are giving a Fu Score, which consists of who's in your circle of connections and the relevance you have to a particular job. Using that score, WorkFu presents available opportunities to you with the more relevant ones at top. And because they also work with employers, you can simply apply to these opportunities with your WorkFu profile. Their user interface is beautiful, and the system tries to learn what you like or don't like as you sort through the opportunities.
Jackalope Jobs
Jackalope Jobs (http://jackalopejobs.com) is a platform that helps job seekers find a job via their social networks. The web-based resource consolidates the practice of finding work through its intelligent search process, not just through keywords. Jackalope Jobs searches your social profiles and those of your connections to provide the right openings and right connections that can help you land your dream job. Unlike most job boards (where you have to fill out one of their profiles or upload a résumé, and then they show you jobs whose employers have paid the most money), Jackalope Jobs allows you to use your social profile. Your connections through multiple social networks can help you in your search. If you've been using traditional job boards and haven't been so happy with the results, this is a service worth a go.
Leveraging your network
Many career coaches would say that the best chance for you to get hired is by having a strong supportive network of friends and professionals. These tools will help you stay in touch and even grow your network, thereby increasing your chances of getting hired.
Connect.me
The mini-profile you get on Connect.me (http://connect.me) is a social business card with your photo, headline, and some social media links. Connect.me then lets you connect your Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn account(s) to find other people in your social networks. If you know them, you can vouch for them, and they can vouch for you. Getting vouched for means you're trusted by your peers. Marketers know social proof is a good thing. You can embed your Connect.me card on your website to show that you are actively engaged in social media and that your network trusts you. You can also use this platform to explore new people you may be connected to or want to connect to.
Recmnd.me
Recmnd.me (http://recmnd.me) is a platform you can use to get recommendations from other people and try to rank high in their network. It works with employers who may be looking for candidates with a certain high number of recommendations for certain skills or abilities. The profile here is simple: It's your photo and then a list of all the skills you have with how many recommendations you have for each skill.
Zerply
Zerply (http://zerply.com) gives you beautiful profile design options, ones which, it claims, make the most sense for the "designers, hackers, artists, and creatives of the world." After you set up your profile, you become part of a database of other creative people open for work. So if a hiring managers needs a Ruby on Rails software developer, she can search Zerply and see all the profiles tagged as Ruby developers. Then, using her own account, she can start conversations with any of the candidates she likes. Essentially, it creates a social networking platform just for creative work. When employers post jobs on Zerply, they are analyzed and matched to your profile so you can see only the most relevant jobs.
Resumup
Resumup (http://resumup.com) imports your social media profiles, like LinkedIn, to create both a visual and a text profile for you to share. The innovative part of the platform is when you start to create career goals. Using their wizard, you can see what career ladder leads you to your goal, what skills you need to acquire to get there, and who may be able to help you get to your goal.
Bragbook
Video is a great way to show your personality, which is why your Bragbook multimedia résumé (www.bragbookmm.com) puts your short welcome video right up at the top. The rest of your profile reads very much like you would expect an online résumé to read, with professional experiences, recommendation letters, and personal interests. However, it presents this information visually. So if you like to surf, you can put a picture of yourself surfing right next to that interest. If you have a certification, you can put a copy of the document right there. Bragbook is one of the few services that allow users to incorporate all forms of digital media, including PowerPoint, Excel, and Word documents in their visual form.
Bigsight
Although the profiles on Bigsight (http://bigsight.org) aren't fancy, they are likely to wind up on a Google search result. The site claims that 87 percent of profiles appear at the top of Google. It doesn't automatically integrate any information from social media, so you have to type in your professional credentials. But considering the search rankings you may get, the extra work may be worth your time in order to improve your online reputation.
Adding on tools
You can’t build a profile or an online résumé with the following add-on tools, but they do each provide different types of functionality that can help you enhance your online presence and attract more potential employers. These tools augment your online reputation and help you paint a clearer, more engaging picture of who you are.
Keeping it brief with 1-Page Job Proposals
The 1-Page Job Proposal (www.1-page.com) was co-founded by Joanna Riley Weidenmiller, whose father Patrick Riley is the author of the best-selling business book The One-Page Proposal (HarperBusiness). His work has one simple premise: If you can't sell your idea to someone on just one page, then you haven't thought enough about it.
Chances are that the people you’re making a proposal to are busy and don’t have time to read charts and graphs. So present the highest level information you can concisely. Well, Patrick Riley’s daughter Joanna figured that if that principle holds true in business, it most certainly holds true for job searches.
The 1-Page Job Proposal takes the job seeker through a series of questions and research to help them put together a proposal for a company they want to work for. The idea is that this proposal can completely replace a résumé. Imagine you’re a busy hiring manager. You’re facing a plethora of business problems. You have a stack of résumés, and one of them is a well-researched proposal focused exactly on solving your problems. Seems to me that such a proposal will get read.
Testing your smarts with Smarterer
Sometimes what people say they can do on a résumé isn't always true, and employers know that. That's where Smarterer comes in (http://smarterer.com). Smarterer is a platform of tests, many of which are crowdsourced, meaning that the questions come from other expert-users in the platform, not from some authority. When you do well on a test, you can post your results in the form of a badge on your website for credibility building. If you don't do so well, it's okay, because you've just learned about an area that needs some improvement. Think you know Photoshop, Java, or French? Test your skills and let the world know you can do what you say you can do.
Claiming Your Simple One-Page Portal
There’s something to be said about simplicity. This next batch of websites leverage design (color, photos, and layout) to communicate your brand. Though they’re sparse on detailed information, sometimes employers just want a quick snapshot of who you are.
These websites are great as personal portals for your domain name (see the final section in this chapter). Just link your LinkedIn profile and other social media pages to one of the profiles I discuss in the following sections to direct people to find out more about you. You’ll have a strong online presence that aggregates all your other online profiles in one visually appealing page.
It’s all about you with About.me
It has often been said that simple is better, and About.me (http://about.me) takes that to heart. It allows users to create a minimalist one-page website all about themselves. You write a brief bio, upload a photo of yourself for your background, include links to profiles on up to 21 other sites including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and WordPress — and voilà, you're done!
The free service also allows you to measure and track different page metrics, like number of visitors and what people check out on your page. You can also allow people to e-mail you directly without giving up your private e-mail address.
Suiting your taste with Flavors.me
Flavors.me (http://flavors.me) allows for more customization than About.me, offering seven layouts, 222 fonts, and the ability to link to 35 other sites. One feature it lacks that About.me has is the site analytics; however, if you purchase the $20-per-year premium version, you can track and measure site metrics in real time and use customs domains. Both free and premium versions incorporate content from your social networks directly on the page rather than just linking to it.
Consolidating your social media with PRESSi
PRESSi (http://getpressi.com/) brings all your social media accounts together on a single clean page, essentially creating a digital magazine of your life. You can link to Facebook, Google+, Instagram, and Twitter and add RSS feeds from those accounts. Glossi has a cool shuffle feature that lets you find and subscribe to fellow Glossi users who interest you.
Breaking the ice with Hi, I’m
Hi, I'm (http://hi.im) lets you write a brief snippet about yourself and upload a background image for your page (or use any of the provided templates). You can add links to their other social networking and personal sites. The service also features statistic analytics so you can monitor what visitors look at on your page.
Organizing your sites with ItsMyURLs
ItsMyURLs (http://itsmyurls.com) is very straightforward: The free service brings all your social networks and personal sites together in one place. You can upload a profile picture and background image as well as use site analytics to find out which of your links and profiles are the most popular. It makes it easier to put one link in your e-mail signature, on your résumé, and anywhere else rather than the many that makeup your complete online presence. Employers are going to Google you anyway, so why not present your links to them on your own terms?
Assembling your social networks with Follr
In addition to assembling your various social networks on a single page, Follr (http://follr.com) lets users combine all their contacts from their different networks into one Connections list. You can also incorporate your Twitter and blog into your free site (or a blog that you follow), so the latest tweets and posts appear as soon as they're published.
Keeping track of your posts with RebelMouse
Sometimes what you say on social media is more important than what you write on a profile. RebelMouse (http://rebelmouse.com) creates a social front page where your posts are presented in a newspaper-like fashion. RebelMouse currently links to Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, RSS, Tumblr, and Google+. After you link to your profiles and create a custom name, RebelMouse creates a Pinterest-like page of your posts with your tweets and statuses appearing as headlines. The platform is in its early days, but you can already embed RebelMouse sites and pages onto your own blog or website. There is also paid program for $9.99/month which just powers your entire website. RebelMouse is being used by celebrities, big media companies, brands and high profile individuals, but it's available for everyone. Since the platform is in beta, it's still being developed and introducing new features, like slideshows, newsletters, and more to further enhance your "social front page."
Building a Résumé as a Website
Do you want complete control over your online résumé? Do semi-cookie-cutter templates like Innovate CV, DoYouBuzz, and Bragbook strike you as too limiting and unable to do your personal brand justice? If you answer yes to either question, you just may be the right candidate for a website résumé, which is a static site that simply displays your résumé elements visually on a set of web pages. It doesn’t require the care and feeding that a blog does (see Chapter 6 for the scoop on running a blog), and it can be the central hub of your job search. Even better, because you design it, you control every element of its look and feel. The following sections explain what makes a website look like a unique résumé and walk you through the process of creating one and supplying it with content.
Buying the right domain
A domain is the website address you use to get to a site. Google looks at the domain name when calculating a website’s relevance to a particular search. So if someone is searching your name and you’ve used your name as the domain name of your résumé website, the chances are quite high that your site will show up in the recruiter’s search results.
You need to decide upfront what your domain name is going to be. Choose www.yourname.com, if possible. Another option is to choose the name of the position you want. If you go this route, an even better approach is to make your domain name www.positionlocation.com. Many recruiters search for job title and location when trying to fill a position. So if you choose a domain name like www.portlandCPA.com, you may start to rank in Google for those terms as well.
If you decide to use your name for your domain, be aware that someone may have already purchased it either to use for themselves, or more nefariously, to try to sell to you for a lot of money. This situation happened to me. Someone purchased the domain name www.joshuawaldman.com just waiting for a Joshua Waldman to make him an offer. But whoever has it can keep it! Generally, domain speculators won't even consider selling you back your domain name until you start offering thousands of dollars. So here are some ways around burning a hole in your pocket while still taking advantage of Google's search algorithm:
If .com is taken, consider buying .net or .me. (My own website is www.joshuawaldman.net.)
Use your full name (Samuel) instead of a shortened version (Sam) or vice versa.
Use your middle initial, but do this only if you’re prepared to use your middle initial in every profile and domain you use as well.
Add the word résumé to the domain, as in www.joshuawaldmanresume.com.
Employing easy website tools to create your personal design
You have literally thousands of options to choose from when building your own website, from premium HTML templates to raw code. But the key to your job search is to spend as little time doing the back-end stuff and as much time networking as possible. The following sections present three easy solutions for building a custom website for your job search.
WordPress
WordPress is an open-source (read free) content management system, or CMS. This means your content is separated from your site’s design, allowing you to post new content without worrying about layout. More than 60 percent of bloggers use WordPress. And literally thousands of people around the world develop themes (which control the look of a website) and plug-ins (which control the website’s functionality). All you have to do is find the theme you like (they’re usually free or less than $100) and fill in your content. Separating design from content makes it easy for you to focus on writing great web copy instead of fussing over code. Install your chosen theme on WordPress and then build the pages you need to show your résumé. (For details on how to install WordPress, flip to Chapter 6.)
The following are some of my favorite paid themes packages:
Creative Market: https://creativemarket.com/themes/wordpress
Elegant Themes: www.elegantthemes.com
Templatic: http://templatic.com
ThemeForest: http://themeforest.net
WooThemes: www.woothemes.com/product-category/themes
Here are some premade résumé themes that look pretty good right out of the box. I recommend starting here for design options. In order to see the theme in action, click the Live Preview or Demo button on the following sites:
From ThemeForest: http://bit.ly/resume-theme1
From Elegant Themes: http://bit.ly/resume-theme2
From Creative Market: http://bit.ly/resume-theme-3
Get inspired by these job seekers’ WordPress sites
To get a better sense of what your site could do for your employability, check out some of these creative WordPress sites from other job seekers.
Ian Greenleigh (http://daretocomment.com/hire-me-ian-greenleigh)
Shane Barker (http://shanebarker.com/san-francisco-49ers-social-media-why-hire-shane-barker)
Griffin McKenzie (http://griffinmckenzie.com)
Weebly
Weebly (www.weebly.com) offers a free, visual, website-building platform. The paid upgrade opens up more advanced features for about $5 per month. But even with the free version, you're able to make a basic website. To see online résumés built in Weebly, enter "site:weebly.com resume" in your search engine. After you create a new website during setup, you're asked to choose a domain name. If you've purchased a domain, enter it here. Weebly gives you technical instructions on how to change your server records when you're ready to publish.
Choose the design theme you prefer. Then under the Elements tab, you can drag and drop images, text boxes, and even contact forms wherever you want them on the page.
When choosing a theme for your Weebly résumé, the simpler the better. Find simple themes by choosing Design. Then, on the left bar, pick All Themes. Finally, click on the link for Simple. These themes are the best ones for job seekers.
After your site is built, simply go into Edit and change your Site Address to your new domain name. For more details instructions, visit http://kb.weebly.com/faq-site-address.html.
Squarespace
Squarespace (www.squarespace.com) offers the same service as Weebly, but Squarespace uses a different interface and does certain things better. Squarespace isn't free; it offers a 14-day free trial, after which you're asked to upgrade. As of writing this book, it's $8 per month to have a website with this service. However, the templates look more modern and unique than Weebly's. If you're a designer or have an eye for design, you may prefer Squarespace because the interface allows for more detailed customizations. To see some online résumés built in Squarespace, type "site:squarespace.com resume" in your search engine.
If you don’t change the domain name, squarespace will appear next to your name every time you share your link. It looks unprofessional, so you’re better off avoiding it. To enter your own domain, go to Settings and then choose Domain. You’ll be given instructions on how to change your server records for the domain so that it points to the Squarespace page. Even though setting up your custom domain with this website seems like a pain, the advantage is huge.
Writing the right content for your website résumé
After you’ve chosen a development platform for designing your online résumé (see the earlier section “Employing easy website tools to create your personal design”), you can get down to the business of figuring out what to write and what pages to include.
Your goal is to present a more rounded and colorful picture of your professional career than what can be found on paper. Don’t just copy and paste your résumé text onto a website. Here are some guidelines for writing web copy:
Title every page. When people land on your home page, they should know instantly that it’s an online résumé.
Include headlines to help your reader scan your site quickly. Use at least two levels of meaningful headers: a title (Level 1) and subheads (Level 2 or 3).
Link to other pages on your website. For example, your professional summary may have the call to action, “Contact me.” Link the words contact me directly to your Contact page.
Present one idea per paragraph.
Use bold and italics on key phrases to make scanning easier.
Your résumé website should summarize your résumé on the home page and then offer more detail in the subpages (much like DoYouBuzz does; see the earlier section “Using DoYouBuzz to produce your résumé”). Following are the pages to include on your résumé website:
Home: Use your home page to make clear that this site is a résumé and to punch up your key selling points. Think of this page as your extended professional summary. A hiring manager should take one glance at your home page and know what you’re all about.
Résumé: Here, outline the elements of your résumé with links to the corresponding subpages. The subpages can go into more detail. Example subpages include:
• Work History
• Education
• Skills
• Volunteer Work
Social Networks: If you haven’t found a way to display links to your social networks in other locations — for example, via a static sidebar — you should have a page where people can connect with you.
Contact Me: You can include your contact info as a footer or in a static sidebar throughout your site. However, having a contact page is nice as well. You can use a form that people can fill out directly on the page. Don’t just put your e-mail address there or else you’ll get spammed. Tell people what they can contact you about, such as job inquiries, consulting offers, or questions about your work. (I also include what isn’t okay to contact me about, such as get-rich-quick schemes, link exchanges, and sending-money-to-Africa scams.)
To include your e-mail address on your website but avoid getting spam, try an e-mail masking service like scr.im (www.scr.im). Scr.im forces viewers to verify that they're human and also gives you statistics about how many times your e-mail address has been viewed.