Miguel Merino’s online resume has the usual rundown of work
experience and education. But the University of Miami senior music
performance major takes it a step further by letting visitors
listen to his tracks, read critics’ reviews, see a list of upcoming
gigs and watch videos of his performances.
Miguel Merino’s online resume has the usual rundown of work experience and education. But the University of Miami senior music performance major takes it a step further by letting visitors listen to his tracks, read critics’ reviews, see a list of upcoming gigs and watch videos of his performances.
“It’s the first time I’ve had my own Web site that I’ve put some work into,” said Merino, 22. And it’s worth the $20 a month as a personal promotion tool, he says: “It’s super important.”
Merino was pushed to create the site, migimusic.com, because of a class assignment. But multimedia resumes work for more careers than those in the performing arts.
Recruiters say having a professional online presence is becoming more crucial. Vital bits of information on candidates are found through Internet searches as the market shifts to passive recruitment, and Google searches as background checks have become common in the hiring process.
Paper and electronic resumes are not extinct, but they are only the beginning. Getting a job offer may depend on social network profiles, personal Web sites, blogs and YouTube videos. It’s about your online footprint and the management of your personal brand.
Joe Laratro, president-elect of South Florida Interactive Marketing Association, has been hearing the term “reputation management” tossed around recently in marketing circles.
Do you know what comes up when you do a Google search on your name? Reputation management is getting the links you want people to see to show up on top.
“You don’t want someone searching your name and seeing you passed out drunk somewhere,” Laratro said.
And if you think bosses aren’t searching for information about you, think again. A November 2007 survey by career media company Vault reports that 44 percent of employers are logging on to sites like MySpace and Facebook to examine the profiles of job candidates, and 39 percent have looked up the profile of a current employee.
“There’s no doubt that myself and my team certainly scour the Internet for the past experiences of an individual,” said Dan Alpert, a manager at the digital marketing services firm Avenue A Razorfish, and SFIMA president.
“You want to be very sensitive to what type of brand you put forward – one’s own personal brand identity. If it’s not tasteful, it shouldn’t be online.”
But you don’t have to be a Web whiz to create a professional online identity. LinkedIn.com is a social network that revolves around making business connections and updating resumes. Creating a profile there is a small step in boosting your online professional appearance.
“If you are in the professional world and you want yourself to be seen by the best companies out there, using a social networking site is almost as important as having a degree,” said Dion Taylor, an account manager at Technisource, a Fort Lauderdale, Fla., recruiting firm.
About 30 to 40 percent of the resumes Taylor’s department gets have some sort of Web link, and he says clients are clicking on those links.
He’s also seeing more people turn in video resumes. Many of them, however, are lousy.
“Most of the ones we see are just YouTube-ish. They put on a shirt and tie. My name is Bob. My strengths are this,” Taylor said. “I think a lot of people miss the mark with them.”
Recruiters interviewed have all said the same thing: Having a video resume alone doesn’t make you more likable or stand out more. If anything, it can be risky.
Charles Caulkins, managing partner at employment law firm Fisher & Phillips in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., lets his corporate clients know that by accepting videos or photos they open themselves up to the possibility of accusations of discrimination based on looks. He added that having applicants fill out a standard application makes it faster to review them all.
Videos, he said, could be a deterrent to a busy recruiter who may think, “Now I have to click on this video. How long is it? Are they going to get to the point?”
“I think HR people for the most part are sticking with the tried and true, sticking with the paper resumes or electronic PDFs,” Caulkins said.
VisualCV.com, a site that hosts free multimedia resumes with videos, suggests in its tips guide that an online portfolio shouldn’t take the place of a traditional paper resume and application. Louise Kursmark, author of the guide and president of Best Impression Career Services, wrote it’s best to think of an online resume as an add-on for networking and a relationship builder, so bias shouldn’t be a concern.
Debra Bathurst’s human relations team at Oasis Outsourcing in West Palm Beach, Fla., sifts through social networks when head hunting, especially because the market has shifted to passive candidate recruitment, she said.
“We would be behind if we weren’t using LinkedIn or ZoomInfo,” Bathurst said. But she added that much of her candidate base still comes from job board sites and employee referrals.
Every so often she gets a resume with Web links, and a few have photos.
“If it’s not something that really is related to the job, I think it’s a curiosity factor and it’s not going to hold a lot of weight,” she said. “We still get a few resumes with pictures on them. You have to wonder why people still do that.”
Amy Diepenbrock urges students not to share more info than necessary. As Barry University’s director for career services, she said students don’t think it’s a big deal to have very personal information posted on a public profile.
“The reaction that I’ve heard from students is, ‘Don’t they know I’m a college student?’ And, ‘What does this have to do with my job? Are they really looking at it?'” Diepenbrock said, adding, “We tell them don’t give out any information that is illegal for any human resources representative to ask you.”
But on the flip side, for recruiters who see hundreds of resumes a week, something like a photo or Web site can help that candidate be more memorable.
Marla Kastel, director of human resources at law firm Katzman & Korr, received her first resume with a digital photo attached last week.
“It was interesting. I think it’s a great concept. Let’s face it, all recruiters would love to put a face with a resume,” Kastel said, adding that she could have thousands of resumes in her drawer, and this one will stick out in her mind.
“We have to embrace the nontraditional ways of looking at candidates,” Kastel said.
