Unique Ways to Get Your Resume Online AND Seen By Employers

Getting your resume online is becoming crucial for young grads or those looking to find a job. As our Presidential candidates have continued to remind us over…and over…and over again these last few months—the job market isn’t easy. Students do not want to have to move back with their parents and struggle to find a job just after school. And to that I say: No kidding!

As a 2011 graduate myself, I know that the job market isn’t easy, but I realized quickly that getting your resume online was key. You need to give yourself every opportunity to get your resume seen, and this entails putting it online in any way possible. After all, the Internet is one industry that isn’t struggling in today’s economy. Employers are online, sometimes looking for candidates, as much as the next person, so you want to make sure you’re easy to find.

Different Places to Put Your Resume Online

The first thing to understand is the idea that the resume is changing. You will no doubt have a professional, traditional looking resume, but this is no longer the only resume. In essence, a resume is a way for you to show potential employers your skills and accomplishments—the medium and the layout has never been the most important part.

Below are a few different ways you can help get your resume online:

  1. Job Boards – This is of course not new information. Posting your traditional resume onto different job boards is a great way to help potential employers find you online. However, what you really need to be watching is which job boards you’re posting your resume. It can’t hurt to put it on the large career websites like Monster or Career Builder, but try to find small job boards that are focused specifically on your niche.
  2. LinkedIn – Being that this site is essentially an online resume, it is an absolute must-have when it comes to getting your resume online. LinkedIn is one of the largest social networking sites, and it gives employers even more information than they could find on a traditional job board (connections, photos, links to websites, groups, etc.).
  3. Personal Website – This is a bit less popular way to get your resume online, but it’s surely one of the most impressive. Creating a personal website is a great way to show that you have a handle on the online world. It means that you understand web design and how a website works, and this knowledge is valuable in any industry. Have an “about me” page that has a link to your traditional resume (or post the entire resume if you’re feeling confident!). Those who see your website will surely click.

So how do you get the resume seen? It’s all about search engine optimization, or SEO.

How To Make Sure Your Resume Gets Noticed Once Online

At this point, your resume should be down pat in terms of the basics—experience, education, special skills, and honors and awards. However, even a great resume like this can get passed up when talking about any of the mediums discussed above. Whether you’re working with a job board or just trying to get your LinkedIn profile in front of the right eyes, you’re going to need something more than just great content.

This is where SEO comes into play. You should try to optimize your resume as much as possible by utilizing keywords that describe the job you’re hoping to find. If you majored in finance and you want someone searching for “financial analyst” to find you, be sure that you have that term all of your resume and/or profile. When it comes to a personal website, you’re optimizing for Google, so the competition is stiff, but the search bars that are being used to find you on a job board or on LinkedIn are much smaller. Put your keyword in your description, heading, and content, and you’ll likely pop up at the top of the list when someone searches for “financial analyst.”

How do you get your resume online? Have you found that some mediums work better than others? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

Photo Credit: fresnoms.com

Amanda DiSilvestro gives small business and entrepreneurs SEO advice ranging from Google Analytics How-To’s to AdWords best practices. She works as a ghost writer and freelancer at amandadisilvestro.com and Coastal SEO Consulting, and works as the Marketing Manager for a Travel Company, Discover Corps, full-time. Visit her website to learn more!


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2 responses
  1. David Bradley Avatar

    “Personal Website – This is a bit less popular way to get your resume online, but it’s surely one of the most impressive. Creating a personal website is a great way to show that you have a handle on the online world. It means that you understand web design and how a website works, and this knowledge is valuable in any industry.”

    What year did you write this? 1995 or thereabouts?

  2. Amanda DiSilvestro Avatar

    Hi David. Thanks for reading. Do you think personal websites are from 1995? I just graduated in May 2011, and all of my professors pushed this ideas, and so many of us created personal websites. I have many friends–in the year 2012–that run successful personal websites. They’re coming back!

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