Ask HN: Do you have an online resume? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Do you have an online resume?

7 points1986v6 comments

I have often just sent my resume via email (from Google Docs) when people have asked about employment or partnerships however, I am thinking about moving to an online format. I have viewed endless templates, I have seen people do things in a more creative manner such as with YouTube videos or Facebook time-lines. I understand the effectiveness of your resume is in the resume itself, but presentation can be a nice touch.

If you have an online resume would you mind sharing it? Also, would you suggest keeping it private (viewer must request a password, mainly to track who is viewing it) or do you just keep it public? How often do you update the page, I have viewed a few that utilize a blog and actively post as well. if you have done something unique please share and advise if it gained you leverage with your objective.

Of course the big question is, did you receive more traction with an online resume vs the traditional "here is my resume" approach?

Thanks in advance!

I have multiple online resumes, which I customize for specific job applications. Unique URLs for each with integrated cover letters gives me tracking, and I've had almost a 90% response rate (defined as getting a response and/or first phone interview) with this approach.

Plus, I can design responsive one-pagers easily with my own design tool, which is also coincidentally where I host the resumes. Customization is mostly the cover letter and tweaking specific job history accomplishments to focus on what a job posting is looking for, but often I've done custom designs as well.

One big issue I find is that many online job submission forms still only have an 'upload .doc or .pdf resume' button which accepts a file. Once you get around this and have actual people click the link, the results are usually good. I will usually post a text-only version with a header to the effect of "Hi there - please view this resume online for easier readability & sharing. [link here]"

That is pretty in-depth to what I have seen, very cool! Thank you for sharing

At one point I had an idea for a product that makes it easy for users to do what you're talking about here. Started doubting I could make money off it when LinkedIn gets most of the way there for free (for most people anyway).

Every once in a while I think about spinning that project back up...

I actually just keep one up on Monster. I keep it public and it does get it's fair share of vies. If you pay a small fee they also allow you to track them. I don't really care who views it, only who contacts me from it, so I don't pay. I don't update it often, ever few months I guess. I'd say that having my resume online has saved me tremendous amounts of aggravation since many people contact me for jobs now, instead of me having to search high and low for companies to work for. On the downside, you often get contacted by recruiters for staffing companies trying to get you to apply for some bs job that you won't be interested in. It's easy enough though to just screen them through an email filter.

You may want to look into Linkedin. I find its social networking a complete waste of time, but its a heck of an online resume building / documenting tool.

One part I don't like is to defeat keyword scanning I've always customized my resume. Anyone with more than 6 months real world experience has to leave tons of stuff out of a resume to keep it a reasonable length, so customizing to match an advertisements ridiculous keyword set is perfectly honest. My current job really doesn't care what I did with VTAM on MVS although my future one might.

Github is pretty much the only resume you need these days if you're a developer.

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