In 1995, when most people were just beginning to hear about the
Internet, Richard Shin had a personal web site and began storing
examples of his work on what he'd later use as an online
portfolio.
Shortly after creating it, he put it to work in a job search. He
was seeking a position as a project manager at DIRECTV Inc., a
broadcast satellite service provider in El Segundo, Calif. "The
person who hired me at DIRECTV said that my web site was what put me
over the edge because it demonstrated my enthusiasm and interest in
keeping up with current technology -- and using it," says Mr.
Shin.
Later, after he took a year off to finish a master's degree while
working part time, he prepared for a new plunge into the job market.
"I revamped my web site, put my name and web address on a few
job-search sites and by the next day, I had two companies competing
for me," says Mr. Shin. One of the two was Centrifusion Inc., an
e-business consulting firm in Chicago where he's now a project
manager.
Growing numbers of professionals are creating web sites to house
their resume and samples of their work for recruiters and employers
to browse. In April, HomePage.com, an online home page provider based
in Los Angeles, said more than 20% of the more than 100,000 people
who had created home pages on its service included their work
history and resume material. By the end of the year, nearly a third
of its users are expected to provide career-related or
small-business information at their sites, says Tim Cahill, chief
executive officer of HomePage.com.
A resume doesn't tell the story a home page can, says Mr. Cahill.
"A person can do much more than tell their work history and hobbies.
They can give an employer a chance to see samples of work, have
quotes from people they have worked with, set up links with
references and more," says Mr. Cahill. "An employer can really get
to know a person in-depth at their home page. It's proving that it
can tell a complete story."
Michael Kranitz, president of Driveoff.com, an automotive e-commerce company in
Denver, created a personal web site in 1996 when he wanted to switch
from a career in law to e-commerce. He developed a digital resume
that included his legal experience, samples of images and sites he
developed, his business-development and educational background and a
list of honors and achievements.
"The site was broken down into six sections and employers could
go into the information as deeply as they wanted," says Mr. Kranitz.
"I also included an executive summary so they could quickly see my
professional history if they didn't want to browse the entire
site."
Confidentiality
Confidentiality was one reason Mr. Kranitz opted for an online
portfolio. He made his site password-protected and gave the password
to only carefully chosen recruiters.
"Having my own site and giving the password to only certain
recruiters was important to me at the time because I was a gainfully
employed lawyer looking to get out of the profession," says Mr.
Kranitz. "I wanted a change, but I didn't want to damage my
reputation as a lawyer in the meantime."
Keeping an online portfolio can be a low-profile alternative to
an active job-search campaign, says Pat Kendall, author of "Jump
Start Your Online Job Search in a Weekend" (Prima Publishing, 2000).
"A web resume and portfolio is really helpful for executives because
they can choose whom they give their URL to and only those people
will know that they're looking for a job," she says.
Bypassing job-search databases and being selective about who sees
your resume also eliminates the hassle of being contacted by
recruiters for inappropriate job opportunities. Moreover, your
employer won't find your resume while scanning job sites for
dissatisfied employees. Mr. Kranitz says Driveoff.com is one of many
employers that do this routinely. "It's our way of making sure our
employees are happy and if they're not, we can sit them down and try
to work things out so they remain with the company," he says.
Convenience
You'll also avoid the problems of e-mailing resumes. "Sending a
resume as an attachment to an e-mail can be a method fraught with
problems" such as viruses, transmission errors and file
incompatibilities, says Michael Bloom, president of iAmaze Inc., a
web-based applications provider in San Francisco. "By sending a URL,
an executive is simply pointing people to a site where the
information will be consistent and, hopefully, always
error-free."
Another benefit is the ability to update the site as you
accumulate additional experience. "People can allow recruiters to
always see their latest work," says Alan Chang, chief executive
officer of iAmaze.
Most senior executives are likely to hire someone to prepare
their online portfolios, says Wendy Enelow, president of Career
Masters Institute, an executive-consulting firm in Richmond, Va.
"Even if someone is the CEO of a technology company, he or she may
not already have the skills to do it without someone else's
help."
Hiring someone to create an online resume can run anywhere from
$50 to $150, says Ms. Kendall. But if an executive wants an
elaborate web portfolio, it can cost more.
ExecutivePortfolio.com charges $1,800 to develop
web-based portfolios for executive job seekers. "We develop all of
the content for the executives and allow them to keep the finished
product on our site for employers to browse," says Ms. Enelow, who
founded the site. "Each person might have around 10 to 15 pages in
their portfolio including their photograph and short synopsis,
downloadable resume, html resume, executive leadership profile,
career and leadership achievements, technology skills, letters of
recommendation and [an e-mail] link to the candidate."
Do-It-Yourself Options
But if you want to do it yourself, you don't have to be bona fide
web designer to create an impressive, effective site given the
easy-to-use software available. "If someone knows how to type a
document using Microsoft Word, they're halfway there. Learning how
the programs work is very simple and most people catch on very
quickly," says Todd Gitlin, chief executive officer of Career
Creations Inc., a career web site in Sacramento, Calif.
There are also automated resume-writing sites. For example, CareerFolios.com has nine design templates and 80
resume categories to choose from. Many of these automated sites also
act as hosts, allowing candidates to simply refer potential
employers to the site or forward a URL that will take them directly
to their digital resume and work samples. This is a less-expensive
alternative to hiring a professional digital resume writer and
paying a monthly host fee. CareerFolios.com has a one-time fee of
about $40.