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Increasingly,
jobseekers are setting up their own website
or blogs. There are some excellent reasons,
after all: your site will pop up if employers Google you; you don't have to
send attachments to employers (which may be stripped by their servers); you
can reach a larger base of people; etc.
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But what should be included in your website or blog? Here are the 10 essentials:
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Good
URL. Is it easy to
remember? Professional? Good and good. You don't have to
purchase a domain and create a "dot com," though you can get one
inexpensively at Godaddy.com.
A free Blogger.com
account will suffice (your URL would be something like www.blogspot.yourname.com).
Don't try to be funny with the URL - just stick to your name or
initials. It comes across much more professionally.
Email
address. Employers need a way to
contact you, after all (and putting your phone number and snail mail address
online is only inviting trouble). Like your URL, it's important to
make your email address easy to remember and professional. A word of
caution on putting your email address online: spam artists have spiders crawling the web for email addresses and, if you put
yours on in "standard" format, you'll soon get tons of unwanted
email. An effective technique is to spell out the "at" and
"dot" signs (e.g. "Steve AT domain DOT com) - the spam
spiders won't read that as an email address.
Resume. You already have a resume, so why not
turn it into a web page? In most word processors, you can click
"file" then "save as" and then choose "HTML"
or "web page" in the "file type" from the drop-down
menu. Eliminate your snail mail address and phone number, however, to
ensure privacy. Also format your email address according to the
guidelines above.
Portfolio. Show off your work by including your
portfolio online (see our other posts on portfolios). This allows
hiring managers and head hunters to see your work without the need for you
to send files as attachments. It's a kinder, gentler way to let
employers see examples of what you do.
Regular
updates/posts. Regular
updates will increase the search engine ranking of your site or blog. This lets more people discover you.
It's also more convenient to post a little every day than a lot all at
once.
Informational
content. Show what you
know by demonstrating your industry knowledge. Give a tip of the
day. Subscribe to an RSS or Atom
feed to update your site automatically. People tend to come back to
sites that have quality content.
Brief
bio. Here's your chance to
tell the world a little about you, like where you did your undergrad and
grad work, how long you've been in your industry, etc. Keep it short
- due to the nature of the web, things are much shorter. And, of
course, focus on your career rather than your personal life.
Multiple
pages. It wasn't too long
ago that single-page websites were acceptable. Those days are gone,
however. If you've got virtual real estate, then employers will
expect you to have a few pages of content. That's not to say you have
to have several hundred pages, but you should have more than one. For
a site, gear for 10 pages; for a blog, every
entry will have its own "permalink"
(a.k.a. URL), so you'll likely hit the 10 page threshold within two weeks
or so.
Links. Linking to other sites is good. It
helps increase your site or blog rankings.
It's also a great way to associate yourself to
organizations, groups and individuals. Are you a member of an industry-related
or community group? Link to it. When mentioning past employers,
link to them, too.
Decent
design. Decent design is
largely subjective. Your site or blog
should have a uniform feel to it, however. And have a few friends
take a look at your online entity before you go "live."
IN
THE CARAVAN: Follow these 10
essentials for a successful job hunt website or blog.
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The Lion’s Pride: Resumes
