CMU School of Drama


Tuesday, January 31, 2017

How to Make Your Resume Website More Interactive

business.tutsplus.com: When you set out to build a website for your resume, one of the primary goals is to stand out among your peers and get noticed. With so many websites created on a daily basis, it’s tough to beat the competition.

But, there is a way to make your website more memorable and add personality to your brand. The quickest way to do that is to make your resume website more interactive.

5 comments:

Sarah Boyle said...

I agree with the articles over all premise, that resume websites should provide more information than a paper resume, and that interactive elements keep the viewer engaged and on your site longer. Obviously, it could backfire with too many elements and transitions, but simple slideshows or timelines are more enjoyable to browse than a dense paragraph of text. I’m unsure, however, about some of the communication tips. For example, adding a blog with a comments section. I assume that all comments sections will end up with some spam and nasty commenters. Maybe if it was an outside link, but it strikes me as something that could make the resume website unprofessional. I don’t think that letting people view your calendar would be such a good idea either. Even if it were blocked out so potential interviewers couldn’t see what your other appointments are, I feel like they might start drawing conclusions from the calendar. (It’s too open, that seems like a bad sign, or it’s too full, there will be too much competition.) Though perhaps I am overthinking it an employers really just want the convenience.

Unknown said...

This is a really great, really informative article. Even as a computer science major, I have never had an interest in making an online resume until now. Some of the tips really jump out at me, such as the live chat one. All of the examples given in this article are also immensely helpful because they help me see a legitimate example of what I could potentially do on my own website. The examples also show the reader that the writer of this article really did her research. My favorite image was probably the “Bjorn Meier” one, but just the upper black section, due to its incredible creativity, crispness, and near-flawless design.

Seeing all of these tips and examples really makes me want to jump on Sublime and begin coding my own, unique page. I never quite understood the point of putting your paper resume online in a slightly different form, but this article’s point of user interaction changes a boring resume read into a solidly fun, informative, and memorable experience. I have heard that, on average, recruiters spend seven seconds looking at each individual resume – I wonder how popular going to check online resumes is and how long recruiters spend on those.

Claire Krueger said...

While all of the tips were completely valid and smart this article came off as more of an advertisement. With adds between practically every paragraph on the left side of the page and a host site that also sells website temples. While the article is super informative it just reads like a money grab. Besides that I really like all of the ideas especially the appointment form, but some of those, even the appointment one, only works for certain types of businesses. The blog and podcast tips belong under a social networking article not a website article. Towards the end it really just felt like they were trying their very hardest to hit an even 10. Making the website interactable is new angle but I would be afraid of turning away older clientele who might be frustrated or overwhelmed with a website that requires you to look for information instead of a simple, classic, clean-cut website format.

Article Rating:
3/10
Notes:
Gets low gas mileage, passenger seat isn’t adjustable.

Cosette Craig said...

This is next level personal branding. Some of these options are completely doable with very little web design skills too like popping a cool video in the middle or adding links. I think it shows that you’re connected with the world in other ways when you can be brought to the projects published from other sources. Based on my basic understanding of search engine optimization as well, adding links to reputable sources boosts your position in searches for more general topics i.e. “technical theater pittsburgh”.

I wonder how some of these effects come across on mobile devices. Of course it has to do with how skilled of a designer you are but in my website building days, I always ran into trouble with scroll overs etc. when programming for mobile sites.

A lot of these apply to businesses and freelancers a lot more than normal plebian folk but I’ll still consider adding some of these.

Tahirah Agbamuche said...

This article reminded me of two things;
First of all, just how much our society is changing and that if you do not keep up, you will rapidly be left is the dust of your competition. As a college student preparing myself for a future career, this is becoming of more importance. Which brings me to my second point. I really need to get on the whole digital resume ship. A vast amount of my classmates all have websites and my paper resume and portfolio currently does not stand a chance. I am glad this article came up because it reminded me to bump this to the top of my “to do” list. That being said, This article was extremely helpful in helping me get an idea of what type of website I would like to create. Thinking back to websites that stuck with me, they have always been some sort of visually appealing and interactive website. I can really see how having an interactive website can really help. I am making a firm resolution to have a personal website up by the end of spring break this year.