An online résumé can be searched and discovered by job recruiters looking for talent, so having several of them increases your odds of being found. (Receiving a random call from a recruiter who found you online and who was so impressed that she wants an interview is a very nice feeling!) The beauty of online résumés is that you don’t have to be a web designer to enjoy their benefits.
At the very least, you should have a LinkedIn profile and a video résumé. If you want to have more than just these two online résumés, good for you!
Writing an online résumé is very different than writing a résumé that you intend to print out and hand to someone. Don’t think you can just copy and paste one into the other. (If you try that, your online presence can look stuffy, old fashioned, and hard to understand.)
Why LinkedIn?
LinkedIn happens to be the highest-leverage tool for professional networkers today — period. With it, you have access to more information about companies and people than previous generations ever did — even if they paid for it! Study after study has shown that LinkedIn is the primary resource for hiring managers and recruiters to fill positions. If you aren’t using it daily, you’re making a huge mistake.
Of course, if you aren’t using LinkedIn the right way, that’s a mistake. First, you need to make sure your profile is 100 percent complete (meaning it shows your photo, at least three recommendations, and a few work experience and education details). You also need to make sure the following parts of your profile are as appealing and informative as possible because these three parts are where recruiters look first:
Your profile picture
Your professional headline (the line of text that appears below your name)
Your profile summary (the larger text block that appears below your personal information)
To get the most benefit out of LinkedIn, don’t just treat it as an online résumé. Instead, treat it as a professional networking tool. In fact, use LinkedIn as your networking hub.
Sure, it may be easier to cruise job boards, but by regularly adding new people you meet to your network and getting so familiar with LinkedIn that you can use it in your sleep, you’re going to have a better shot at finding a job at your target company.
Why video résumés?
Not every recruiter or hiring manager is going to spend time watching video résumés for fun. However, if someone already likes your application and wants to know more about who you are, offering him a video résumé is a great way to demonstrate your personality and communication skills.
The ideal video résumé addresses three key questions:
Who are you?
What motivates you?
Can you do the job?
After you’ve produced a résumé that addresses each of these points, you’re ready to upload it for hiring managers’ viewing pleasure. In particular, try uploading your video résumé to OneLoad (which posts to YouTube). OneLoad allows you to share your video résumé on multiple sites with one simple uploading process, and YouTube is the second-largest search engine today.