Video resumes: Yes or no? Definitely no, right? I’m having trouble finding a job, and I wish I had some way to differentiate myself from all the other unemployed San Franciscans out there. Any ideas?
Unless you’re applying for a job that requires a show reel (and maybe even then), most headhunters say video resumes are a definite NO (check out this montage of crappy video resumes if you need further convincing).
I do understand the desire to go above and beyond the standard resume, though – the other day I was helping a friend hire interns and was so impressed by one girl’s snazzy looking resume that I told my friend to hire her right away. After actually looking at the information on the girl’s resume, I realized she had barely any experience – she just knew how to make a sick resume.
While trying to answer this question I came across DoYouBuzz.com, a free, extremely easy to use online resume service that will make you look tech-savvy even if you’re the kind of person that hates Facebook and doesn’t know what Foursquare is. And I think it might be what you’re looking for.
“People should be able to promote themselves, just as companies do,” explains Evy, COO of DoYouBuzz, Inc. (I swear she didn’t pay me to rep her site so hard – I sought her out because I think DoYouBuzz is such a great tool!) “Companies can’t succeed without having a website – it should work the same way for people.”
According to a January 2010 Microsoft survey, 89% of recruiters and HR professionals consider professional online data when assessing a candidate. Companies aren’t just on the lookout for drunken photos or other gaffes; 85% of recruiters say that a positive online presence has an effect on hiring decisions. Turns out being unGoogleable might actually hurt your chances of getting a job – who knew? Whether you’re more concerned with controlling your name’s search engine results or simply with putting yourself out there, it’s a great idea to be the one responsible for your online persona.
As I said before, you don’t need graphic design skills or CSS prowess to make an impressive-looking DoYouBuzz resume. After signing up for free, you choose a theme, add written content under tabs like “experience,” “skills,” and “education, ” and can upload multimedia. You can also track your resume’s performance with detailed traffic statistics, import your LinkedIn profile, and add automatically-generated downloadable Word and PDF versions of your online resume.
If you shell out $49/year, you get unlimited storage space and more design template options – but, most importantly, you can register a domain name like “JohnSmithResume.com,” which means your DoYouBuzz resume will most likely come up first in search engine results and that you’ll look really legit.
I’m willing to bet that one day in the not-so-distant future online resumes will be the norm. Spending the small amount of time and effort that it takes to create a resume on a site like this is an incredibly easy way for even the least technology-adept people to get ahead of the curve and impress prospective employers.
Note: When applying for jobs, I’d recommend sending a traditional resume along with a link to your online resume. There’s a chance that your prospective employer prefers doing things the old fashioned way and would rather read about you on paper.
