VisualCV Blog

Job Seeking Online

By Pierce Resler, Director of Marketing, VisualCV

A few months ago we worked with the good folks over at Sway, Inc. in Milwaukee to get some new primary research on people’s views of online resumes. We actually found Jason Weaver, the company’s CEO, because he’s a member on VisualCV. One of the great byproducts of VisualCV is the ability to connect with professionals across industries. Back to the survey…

We commissioned Sway to survey over 500 people to get insight to their job seeking habits online. Here are some highlights of the findings:

We found that Americans are increasingly turning to the Web instead of the newspaper when it comes to seeking employment opportunities. 50% of all respondents currently have an online resume, have a resume posted online or have a professional profile on a job or career website.  While 68% said the reason they post an online resume or create a professional profile was to find a job, more than a third do so in order to network. 

In addition to  searching the web for job information, career seekers also look for expert advice.  For those individuals who connect with other professionals online, the top reasons are to learn skills or get educated on skills that would help them as a professional and to research other professionals’ knowledge and experiences.  Word of mouth referrals and career boards are the most popular sources for learning about a job but they certainly aren’t the only ones.  According to the study, Americans are most likely to leverage the following sources when seeking information on job opportunities:

Sources for Obtaining Information	% of Americans Agreeing
General Job Board	58%
Friend or Colleague (i.e. Word of Mouth)	52%
Company Web Site	47%
Newspaper Classifieds/Print Ad	41%
Google/Internet Searches	35%
Craig’s List	27%
Staffing Agency	22%
Career Fair	20%

With one in four stated they are currently looking for a job, Americans are in need of tools that will give them a competitive advantage and help them stand out from the competition.   While the look of the resume is clearly important when selecting an online resume tool or establishing a professional profile, individuals also want a solution that is easy to update and whose privacy can be controlled:

Sought After Features of An Online Resume Tool or Business Profile Website	% of Americans Agreeing
The appearance of the resume on the screen	75%
The link to your resume is automatically updated when you make changes	73%
Control of the privacy of your online resume/business profile (i.e., share one-to-one via e-mail, make public to anybody, etc.)	70%
Being able to track views to resume (i.e. the number of views and where they came from	70%
Ability to stand out more than with a traditional resume	68%
Portability: the ability to access it/use it anywhere online	67%
Ability to search for jobs on the same site your online resume/profile is hosted	64%

 
We learned a lot more from the survey but we were glad that the features VisualCV offers like privacy, presentation, access, tracking and control, are meeting the wants of consumers when it comes to online resumes.

Technical details: Sway conducted the online survey in mid March 2009 using an online panel from MarketTools.  The data has a tolerance of +/- 4.4%.

What are you looking for in an online resume or profile? What does VisualCV lack that you need?

New on VisualCV

You may have noticed a new look when you logged into VisualCV.  We have reworked parts of the site to make it easier for you to navigate.  Don't worry; we have not touched your VisualCVs.  Read below for a description of the new and improved VisualCV. If you're looking for something in particular, jump ahead in the post.

Meet Your Streamlined VisualCV Dashboard
We have completely redesigned the VisualCV dashboard (think homepage) to make it easier for you to  manage your VisualCVs and track your VisualCV’s activity. You can display your VisualCV dashboard from any VisualCV page by clicking the You link.

Here’s a quick peek at some of the new dashboard features:

• Current VisualCV: At the top of your new dashboard, you’ll see information from your VisualCV. You will also see (and can change) the present privacy setting for this VisualCV, as well as learn how close this VisualCV is to being complete.
  
  If you have more than one VisualCV, you can easily switch your dashboard view to another one using the menu above the progress bar.  

• Progress indicator:  A VisualCV that is closer to being 100% complete is more likely to be found in search results and will likely provide enough information to show recruiters and employers that you are a good fit for the opening they have. So, it's a good idea to add sections to your VisualCV. As you do, we'll show your progress in a "% complete" bar.

• Activity details: Has someone viewed your VisualCV today? Shared a VisualCV with you? Have you applied for a job on VisualCV? Each day, we'll report all of this type of activity, and more, on your dashboard. Not interested in a particular entry? No problem—just remove it!

• Job openings: There are hundreds of job postings on VisualCV, and you can now get to them with one click from the Jobs section on your dashboard.

Viewing and Applying for Jobs Just Got a Whole Lot Easier

Matching great jobs with great candidates is one of our goals, and we've made the process a lot easier. There are many places within VisualCV to find employers and recruiters, view job listings, and apply for jobs. Here are just a few to get you started:

• View job openings and apply for jobs from the Jobs section of your dashboard or from the Get Hired menu.
• Research employers and recruiters, and view their job listings, from the Get Hired menu.
• Track applications you've submitted from the You menu.

Privacy Settings — Giving You More Control
We renamed the VisualCV privacy settings to better reflect who can view your VisualCV.

• The Internet setting is now called "Anyone" and means the same—that is, anyone with an Internet connection can view your public VisualCV.
• The Members setting is now called "People I share with." VisualCV members can view your VisualCV when they log in, and you can share your VisualCV with non-members via email.
• We have combined the Private and Offline settings into a single setting called "Only me." With this setting, nobody can view your VisualCV until you select another setting.

We have also introduced new privacy settings, which you can view and set on the Privacy Settings page (click More Privacy Settings from the privacy menu to get there). You can now control who sees your personal contact information, or that of your references, on your VisualCV from this page. You can also specify whether you want your public VisualCV to show up in search results requested by professionals or employers within VisualCV, regardless of your VisualCV’s privacy setting.

Don't Like Your VisualCV's URL? Change It!

Although we still build your VisualCV's URL from your login name initially, you can now change the portion of the URL following "www.visualcv.com/" to anything you want, as long as the finished URL isn't already taken. Change your VisualCV’s URL on the Privacy Settings page. 

Hey, Where Did That Go?

Wondering where we've moved things? All of the great features you've come to know are still present:

• Account settings: The My Account link at the top of the dashboard is where you can change your contact information, set your email notification preferences, change your password, or cancel your account.
• Portfolio: To access your portfolio, just click  to the right of the You menu and then click My Portfolio.
• VisualCV privacy settings: To change your VisualCV's privacy settings, select a setting from the privacy menu in the middle of your dashboard.
• VisualCV activity: The new Views and Shares sections summarize how many times your VisualCV has been viewed and shared, and how many other members have shared their VisualCVs with you. For details, click any of the links in these sections.
• Career interests: Specifying your professions and target industries is as important as ever to help recruiters and companies find you, to more easily network with colleagues, and to identify relevant job search results for you. To select your career interests, click  to the right of the Get Hired menu and then click Career Interests.
• Sharing a VisualCV: The Share menu at the top of your dashboard is where you can share your VisualCV via email, with contacts in your social networks, with employers, and with other VisualCV professionals.
• VisualCV Marketplace: To view the VisualCV Marketplace, click to the right of the Get Hired menu and then click Marketplace.
• Your VisualCVs:  If you have more than one VisualCV, you can easily switch your dashboard view to another one using the menu above the progress bar.

...and more!

These are just some of the most visible new enhancements we've made to VisualCV.  We've made many other improvements throughout the site.

Have a look around and let us know what you think.

Helping Veterans Find Their Next Job with VisualCV

by Katrina Kibben, Social Media Marketing Manager, VisualCV

When my parents were active duty, we were moved from base to base, state to state and now that I’m in my professional life I can’t imagine the same lifestyle. Picking up everything I have to move for 6 months then packing again? Definitely not! Despite my whining back then, my parents always told me that whatever we did or wherever we moved, it was for the greater good of all the soldiers overseas and stateside so today, in advance of Memorial Day, I wanted to be sure to thank our veterans and active duty soldiers for all their hard work and sacrifice.

Unfortunately, watching the news I constantly see stories about veterans that are having difficulty transitioning to civilian jobs from active duty because of the economy.  While the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the national unemployment rate is currently at 8.9 percent, according to RecruitMilitary – a company owned and operated by veterans to help military members find civilian jobs – the veteran unemployment rate is even higher and hovers at approximate 11.9 percent.  Because our veterans have their own language of acronyms and unique titles to describe their skills, they are in need of tools that can help them translate their experience to the right civilian occupation to make it easy for recruiters to understand their work history and related accomplishments.

One of our members, US Army Lieutenant Colonel Deborah Richardson, is currently assigned to the Pentagon and preparing to retire from the Army after more than 25 years of service.  Classified a “Program Analyst” by Army standards, LTC Richardson is searching for a senior level accounting or financial officer position, but faces the same challenge as most military veterans; how to articulate her military career in a way that recruiters without military experience can understand.

LTC Richardson explained that “Leadership and data analysis are functions anyone can understand, but it is more difficult to articulate the complexities of military pay and appropriation law, which can be filled with jargon quite unique to the military. I think VisualCV helps veterans really communicate their skills better, because it enables you to embed multiple pictures and products that enhance your accomplishments and show much more depth than a paper resume.”

With VisualCV, veterans like LTC Richardson can take control of their career management by enabling them to deliver “first interview” content to hiring managers and recruiters right from the start and communicate more than their paper resume. 

The whole VisualCV Team thanks LTC Richardson and we wish her all the best in her job search (and for a great retirement party!). We know that her VisualCV will help her take the next step to a great civilian job.

Happy Memorial Day to all the veterans out there! We hope you have a great day and that your VisualCV is helping you get hired!

8 Hot Tips to Build Personal Branding Into Your Executive Resume 2.0

By Meg Guiseppi, CEO of Executive Resume Branding

A really great resume – one that captures attention, gets interviews, and lands jobs faster – has always been all about differentiating that job seeker and their promise of value from others competing for the same jobs. Personal branding is the best career marketing tool today to get you there.

Resumes these days often take the form of an online profile or part of an online career portfolio. Whether online or on “paper”, follow these 8 tactics to brand and power up your executive resume:

1. Lead with a personal brand statement.

Forget about an anemic “objective statement” outlining what you want in a job. Nobody cares what you want. They want to know what you will do for them. Use this prime real estate, the first thing people will see, to tell them about the unique value you offer that no one else does.

Instead, place a brand statement at the top of your resume and immediately draw the reader in with a spotlight on your value proposition and ROI.

If you need help uncovering and building your personal brand, see my post 10 Steps to Uncovering and Building Your Authentic Personal Brand.

2. Format your resume with the readers’ needs in mind.

More and more hiring decision makers are reviewing resumes on the go – on PDAs, netbooks, or other small screens. Brief, brand-driven statements of value surrounded by enough white space to make them stand out will have the greatest impact. Long, dense paragraphs make it hard for the reader to quickly access and digest important make-or-break information about you.

3. Tell your story above the fold.

People reviewing your resume may have to look at hundreds or more resumes for any given position, so they don’t have much time to spend on each one. In fact, they may only give your resume 10-15 SECONDS to capture their attention.

• Showcase your most important and compelling information at the top of page one, since this is the first, and possibly only, section that will be read. Consider this: if you tear off the top of the first page, it should stand on its own as your career branding communication.
•  Include 2 or 3 achievement statements or standout contributions you’ve made to companies, leading each with the quantified WOW! results. Show them the numbers!
• It’s okay to move certain information from the second page to above the fold on page one, such as special training, hot certifications, or career milestones – especially if they’re relevant to your job target. If you have an MBA, don’t hide it at the bottom of the last page. They may never get there!

4. Keep your resume to 2 pages.

It may be difficult and painful, but you can do this. The purpose of your resume is to generate interest in you, compelling decision makers to want to talk with you. A resume is not a comprehensive career history covering every job you’ve ever held. It’s a career marketing document that needs to say just enough about you to do its job. So precision-writing is the key. And in most cases, there’s no need to go back further than 10 to 15 years.

5. Highlight your key areas of expertise just once.

Instead of taking up precious space repeating obvious lists of responsibilities under each position, consolidate them in the form of relevant key word phrases at the top of the first page. Either position them in formatted columns, a shaded graphic box, or sprinkle them throughout your achievement statements.

For the header “Professional Experience” or “Work History”, consider using a relevant keyword phrase, such as “Senior-level Management Experience” or “IT Management Experience”. Fill out the section with short statements of key contributions to each company and achievements that provide evidence of the value you will bring to your next employer.

6. Transform your executive resume into a VisualCV.

Recruiters and hiring decision makers are searching online to source candidates and to pre-qualify those they’re considering. If you’re invisible online, you don’t exist to them.

A VisualCV is a great way to extend the value of all your career marketing communications (resume, brand bio, achievement summary, leadership initiatives, etc.) while building online presence.

You can simply cut and paste a text version of your resume into the main column of your VisualCV. Add a keyword-rich headline at the top under your name. Fill the sidebar with graphics, white papers, relevant documents, accolades, etc. Take advantage of VisualCV’s interactivity and the ability to embed all kinds of files.

7. Your branded executive resume = an on-brand LinkedIn profile.

If you’re in an executive job search, you need to be on LinkedIn. LinkedIn offers endless networking benefits and online identity-building power. Everything in your branded resume can be copied and pasted into appropriate sections of your LinkedIn profile.

Shorten your personal brand statement for your LinkedIn professional headline. Once your profile is all done, LinkedIn lets you easily convert it to a PDF file. Include a link to your LinkedIn profile on your resume, along with your contact information at the top.

8. Take advantage of Google Profiles’ search results power.

In April Google Profiles trumped LinkedIn and other social networking sites for building brand-solid search results, by adding a customized listing that includes your photo on page one of results for “your name”. Check it out by typing “meg guiseppi” in a browser window and scrolling down the page until you see my photo and link to my Google Profile. That’s an attention-grabber!

Google makes it very easy to set up a Google account and put your profile together. In fact, it’s much easier than LinkedIn. Cut and paste your resume into the body of the profile, add your photo and an on-brand headline under your name, and pop in links to your other online profiles, websites, blogs, etc.

Google Profiles is now a must-do online branding strategy and another great way to extend the value of your executive resume.

For more in depth strategies to brand and differentiate yourself in your resume, see my series of posts, Think Like an Executive Resume Branding Expert.

© Copyright Meg Guiseppi, 2009. All rights reserved. Used with permission. To find out more about C-level executive branding, see Meg's VisualCV and visit the Executive Resume Branding Blog.

Meg Guiseppi is a Certified VisualCV Creator and one of only a handful of careers professionals to hold both the Reach Certified Personal Branding Strategist and Master Resume Writer credentials.

A 20-year careers industry veteran, Meg helps C-suite executives ─ CEO, CMO, CIO, CTO, COO, CFO, CBO, etc. ─ crystallize their personal brand message, then create and strategically position their brand-solid career marketing communications, online and offline.

So how have you powered up your resume to create an online presence?

Feedback from VisualCV members

By Nathen Harvey, Senior Director of Operations, VisualCV

We're hoping to make this a regular blog post.  We'll share some feedback from people like you that are using VisualCV on a regular basis.

Do you have some comments, tips, feedback or suggestions?  Drop us a line!

How can I export my VisualCV to Word?

Export to Word?  Blasphemy!  The whole point of a VisualCV is that it's online so that you can maintain control over it.  Exporting to Word would mean that the recruiter or hiring manager you send it off to gets that version.  If you make an update, there's no easy way to update the one they've got on their hard drive or in their database.  That's one of the reasons we created VisualCV!

OK, so it's really not that simple.  Many employers are still old-school and really
want the Word version of your VisualCV.  We appreciate that and have provided an option for you to export your VisualCV as a PDF.  Everyone should be able to accept a PDF, right?  I suppose if that were the case, you wouldn't ask the question.

Enter nitro's PDF to Word service.  It's a free service that's in Beta at the moment.  We've played with it some and have been very happy with the results.  They make it very easy to transform a PDF into a Word document or a Rich Text File.

 

Save your VisualCV as a PDF then head on over to http://www.pdftoword.com to give the service a try.

Kenneth writes:

It would be nice if the drop down menu for "current" clearance provided a blank, or "none" option.  My clearance is not current - however, having had the clearance in the past is worth mentioning.

Excellent point, Kenneth!  We'll add this to our list of improvements to make.  In the meantime, you could use a Custom section to achieve a similar result.

We can't possibly include sections for all industries or professionals.  That's why we include the Custom section.  Custom sections are extremely versatile- change the title and include any formatted text you like.

Daniel writes:

In the References section, I can specify a relationship.  Other than "Peer","Superior","Professional","other" and "professor", how about adding "Customer"??

Thanks, Daniel!  You'll see that you can now indicate "Client" as the relationship with your References.

Emily writes:

I just tested out the "share" feature, by utilizing the email function on VisualCV.  When I received the email, the subject was, "Emily would like to share a VisualCV with you."  While this is fine, I believe that there may be a better introduction that could be used in the subject line, such as "Emily's resume, courtesy of VisualCV."

Emily, thanks for the feedback!  In our next release, you'll be able to include whatever subject line you like on the share emails.

Have a question, suggestion, or feedback?  Let us know!

Give Mom the Gift that Keeps on Giving - A Free Online Resume Makeover

By Pierce Resler, Director of Marketing, VisualCV

Remember the days of #1 Mom Awards and homemade gifts? Those heartfelt gifts showed your mom just how much she means to you. Bring back the thoughtful homemade gift by helping your mom create her digital presence with a VisualCV.  

One of our members, Jillian Koeneman, a social media expert at Effect Web Media, wanted to create a memorable gift for her mom Cynthia Fargo --a special education teacher based in Michigan.  With an abundance of patience and compassion for students who need extra assistance, Koeneman’s mother has worked as a special education teacher and most recently was the Education Director at Sylvan Learning Center in Grosse Pointe, Michigan.  However, due to the current economic climate in the hard-hit area of Detroit, the owners of her center have decided to close the doors and Ms. Fargo will soon be unemployed.  In an effort to help her mom stand out from the crowd and get back to doing what she loves best, her daughter set out to create  a very memorable Mother’s Day gift; an online resume that would demonstrate her mom’s accomplishments and her ability to help children learn and grow.

Jillian told us, “My mom is the most unselfish and dedicated person I know - - consistently offering her students, her friends, and her family unfailing compassion and understanding. She has persevered through many tough times and has never lost her passion to help others, and I wanted to take this opportunity to give her a gift that would allow her demonstrate her personality and skill sets so she can land a job that she is so good at and that means so much to her.”

What a great gift from Jillian to her mom! The whole VisualCV Team wishes Cynthia all the best in her job search. We think that her VisualCV will help her stand out from the tough competition.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there! We hope you have a great day and that your VisualCV is helping you stand out from the crowd.

VisualCV in Plain English

Watch this video for a quick overview of VisualCV to learn why you would want to create a VisualCV and how it can help you in the job search.

Welcome!

Welcome to our new corporate blog. It may have seemed odd, given the focus of our company, that until now we didn't keep a blog. We wholeheartedly agree, and while it's a little lame for us to say this, well, we've been busy. Since launching just over a year ago we've been focusing hard on how to provide the web's best vehicle for professionals to represent themselves and their unique qualifications. And we've been quietly building capabilities for the growing list of employers (800 and counting) that want the advantages of accepting VisualCVs directly. We're not ready to declare victory on these goals, but we are ready to broaden our scope a little.

As one of the founders of VisualCV, I am in awe of what our members do with our service. The quality of many of the VisualCVs I see is astounding. It's very gratifying to see people really latch on to the unique ways in which a VisualCV can help them stand out. And like the rest of the team here, I love to hear from members how their VisualCV has dramatically improved their job search. Please keep these stories rolling in!

We're launching this blog for all the usual reasons, but mainly because we want to voice some of our thoughts about all things VisualCV and more generally recruiting, and to get your feedback on the issues we raise. Hopefully this will lead to some great conversations about where resumes, professional profiles, and recruiting and career management are going.

Picture or No Picture?

We were thrilled to see the Good Morning America piece on VisualCV that ran recently. If you missed it, you can catch it here. Tory Johnson, the GMA Workplace Contributor, praised our site for ease of use, and the ways in which a VisualCV help a job seeker stand out from the crowd. And the nice thing from our perspective was Tory didn't delegate checking out our site to someone else -- she signed up and created her VisualCV herself, saying "if I can do it, anyone can do it." Tory has a great website of her own and is a prolific Twitterer, so I suspect she is pretty tech-savvy, but we'll take that as an endorsement.

The one comment I did disagree with was Tory's suggestion that you not include a picture on your VisualCV, because of discrimination concerns. We spent quite some time before launching the site investigating the legal and corporate HR issues relating to use of pictures and video, and we feel safe in telling job seekers they can use one or more pictures on their VisualCV, so long as they are comfortable doing so. US laws say you cannot discriminate, almost (but not quite!) as simply as that. And of course at VisualCV we do not condone discrimination of any kind. But consider that if someone were prone to discriminate on the basis of age, race, country of origin or gender, many of those characteristics can be deduced from a plain vanilla resume. Not to mention that most recruiters and hiring managers will inevitably google a candidate -- and many people today have images of themselves online (think Flickr, Photobucket etc., in addition to Facebook and MySpace). Finally, with the possible exception of age (do I really look over 40?), all such characteristics are immediately apparent once a candidate presents themselves at the first interview.

I think it's worthwhile to put a well chosen image of yourself in the contact area of your VisualCV. Unless you are trying out at a modeling agency, nobody expects you to look like a model. But everyone can look friendly, smart and professional in a well-taken and well-presented photo. I'm not suggesting you go to town in Photoshop, but instead have a friend, spouse or even a professional photographer take a natural head-and-shoulders shot of you looking the way you want employers to see you. If you are looking for a position at a workplace where suits and ties are the norm, wear a suit and (for the men) a tie. If the workplace is more casual, dress more casually. This photo is your first and best opportunity to make your VisualCV come alive, and show some of your personality and/or your professionalism.

Having said all the above, at VisualCV we respect that some members will prefer not to put up a picture of themselves. So not only is it not required, we make sure we don't penalize the appearance of your VisualCV. No ghastly looking question marks, slashes or silhouettes where the photo should be. (We do use a small silhouette on search listings, but we'll be removing these over time.) For those employers whose hiring processes require that no image is seen prior to an interview we make a simple switch available to turn images off. To my knowledge most of our 800+ employers leave it turned on, since they don't consider it a problem.

What do you think? Picture or no picture? And yes, video is another story, one that we'll cover here another time!