Whether you’re a fresh graduate looking to land your first job or somebody who has been in the workforce for quite some time and is looking for new opportunities, you need a well-built resume to land the job that you’re aiming for.
While it’s good to maintain profiles on professional networking sites like LinkedIn, building your own personal website can make you stand out. It will differentiate you from stiff competition coming from fresh graduates, seasoned professionals and career switchers in your industry. With a good resume builder, you can market yourself and build a personal brand online.
Resume website building made simple
Fortunately, it doesn’t take technical expertise to build a website these days. All you need is a resume builder website, carefully crafted content that will market your skills and a bit of creativity to make a standout online resume.
As a leading internet company, Strikingly empowers individuals with powerful resume builder websites that enable them to showcase their talents and skills to the world. With more than 3 million users worldwide, this beautiful resume builder gives you freedom to build a personal website that will differentiate you from your competitors.
With that being said, here is a quick guide to building your own personal site using a resume builder like Strikingly.
1. Choose an appropriate template
One of the best things about resume builder sites is that you don’t need to write a single line of code to get your site up and running. Resume builder templates are designed to provide the basic framework for your page. Your choice of template greatly depends on your content needs as well as the nature of your industry. For instance, professionals working in creative industries will most likely need a section where they can display their work portfolio. Note that your website is a reflection of your personal brand. The look and feel of your website will state the kind of image you will convey to potential employers and clients.
2. Research on keywords you should target
When preparing to write content for your resume website, we highly recommend that you read various relevant job postings, study the job descriptions and look for keywords that are widely used in the content. These are the buzzwords that your own online resume should contain. Resume builder sites like Strikingly will typically come with built-in SEO tools to help you optimize your content for these keywords. Use them all over your content including your website title, image alternate tags (alt tags) and meta descriptions.
Amy Chambers
SEO is important even for online resumes because you want your well-built page to show up when HR managers and recruiters look for people in your industry. The main role of your website is to help you build your online presence. Some companies may run due diligence on their potential hires and you want your website to show up when they look up your name online. This is why optimizing your website for search is crucial.
3. Use professional typography
Typography reflects your personality so your choice will also dictate the image you will convey to your audience. Choose a font that is suited to your industry. For instance, if you’re in an industry where you need to highlight reliability, credibility and professionalism - e.g. accounting, law, medicine or academics - you want to choose a more formal type for your website. Meanwhile, if you’re in the creative industry, you can have a bit more fun in your choice of font but make sure that you don’t sacrifice readability over aesthetics. Typography should be able to clearly convey your message and not distract readers away from it.
4. Do not include all work experience
Hiring managers do not have the time to read through every single job that you have done in your life. If you’re an artist, for instance, you want to highlight your best projects and include only those that you are especially proud of. Use Strikingly’s gallery section to display your work and give readers an idea of the scope of your skills and talent.
Jacob Tomas’ site is a good example of how you can display your work experience in a clear and concise manner. He starts with a brief description of the kind of jobs he has done so far and then followed up with some of his most notable job roles including logos of the companies he has worked with in the past.
4. Proofread before publishing
Your website, just like a traditional resume, should go through several rounds of proofreading before it goes live. Take all the time you need to go through every single detail on your website. Make sure all the links are working properly. While Strikingly websites are all designed to look great on most devices, screen sizes and browsing environments, it’s still wise to test it out for yourself to see if there’s anything that you will want to tweak before you proceed to publish your resume website.
Ready to take that crucial step towards landing your dream job? Build your own online resume with the best resume builder today.
