Posted in Career Advice Generation Y Job Hunting Resumes on February 7, 2008 at 5:12 pm
During my workshops and one-on-one consulting sessions, I spend a lot of time giving people advice about their resumes. Even with the very best resumes, I always find myself wishing that job candidates could express their personalities more on these documents.
I have a hunch that resumes will become obsolete in the next 10 years or so. Instead of cookie-cutter, one-page documents, we will have online profiles that are more robust, including links to work product, recommendations (like the ones you find on LinkedIn) and direct links to the companies listed. I understand the need to compare apples to apples, but hopefully we can find a way to make online resume profiles uniform enough to compare job candidates easily, while allowing for more detailed and personalized information.
I recently learned about a company taking a step in this direction. Experience.com has launched Experience PortfolioTM, which, according to the company, “allows you to showcase your experiences, work samples, career interests, interpersonal attributes, achievements and references to potential employers.” The new portfolio system also applies matching technology to generate relevant job recommendations and advice from the Experience community of universities, employers, students, alumni and partners.
Experience Portfolio is now available in beta version. It’s free to any college student or recent graduate who registers on Experience.com. Here is a link to check it out: http://portfolio.experience.com.
What do you think about the future of resumes? Looking forward to your comments…
[...] has shared her views on electronic resumes on her own blog site. Online formats will “allow job seekers to demonstrate their writing skills, the depth of [...]
[...] 5 steps in determining what to do for your career | Bizzy WomenJob Fair at UNO Takes Place Sept. 23 and 24 | MavericklandThe future of the resume? | Lindsey Pollak Blog [...]
@ William – Thanks so much for reaching out. I checked out your blog and it looks like you provide a lot of good information and job listings. I’ve added you to my blogroll — thanks for the exchange! – Lindsey
Hi Lindsey:
My name is William and I am CEO of the blog, http://www.Joboja.Blogspot.com . I look at your website regularly and I think it is good. In fact I have bookmarked it. I would like to partner and trade links with you. I am based in Chicago and I receive traffic locally as well as from all over the world. I hope to hear back from you soon and if you have any questions please let me know. If you decide to trade links with us please send back your web address and how you would like your site’s name to be listed. Until then have a great day.
Best Regards,
William Parker
CEO, Joboja
jobojablogspot@gmail.com
(773) 835-0188
@ Jared – Thank you for the nice post. Glad you like the blog and the book — keep in touch! – Lindsey
@ Bryan – This is terrific — thanks so much for sharing! – Lindsey
Hi Lindsey,
Thank you for mentioning Experience’s new portfolio feature. We’re all very proud of this new service and I’m sure this will greatly help job candidates share examples of their soft skills with employers more effectively.
P.S. The blog and your book are both fantastic. I’m about halfway through your book and I’ve been taking diligent notes! I hope we’ll be able to use your suggestions to provide more helpful career exploration resources.
Keep up the great work,
Jared Mann
Manager, University Services
Experience, Inc.
Here’s what I think could be the future for resumes, at least for those of us who work in creative industries: the Social Media Resume. Rather than submitting a traditional one-page resume, we submit a web page that links to our various work or personal projects, highlights the blogs or online content we’re producing, links to comments we’ve left on other sites, etc.
The social media resume can offer recruiters a much richer presentation of candidates. I’m hoping the concept catches on!
@ sairacaridad – Thanks so much for the comment. I do hope you’ll come back and subscribe! – Lindsey
Lindsey,
This is the first time I read your blog and I have a feeling I will be checking often. I’m doing research on “first jobs” and the resources available for the transition from student to career and your blog is a great place to start. I agree with you about resumes not providing important information about potential new hires. There are so many qualities that simply fall in categories other than job experience, education, and technical skills.
http://www.secretsofthejobhunt.com/profiles/blog/show?id=866628%3ABlogPost%3A4384
Secrets of the Job Hunt just had a cool post on “5 Ways to Pimp Your Resume”