Unsolicited advice from Paul

Thinking back to that job offer I got last week… the entire reason it fell into my lap was because I had a resume on my web site. Very few people have their resumes online. Because I did, the staffing agency working with the City Schools found me when they were struggling to find qualified candidates. So in a sense, I made my own luck.

Everyone should have a current resume online. Even if you’re not actively searching for a job, you should put a resume on the Web anyway. You never know when a better job will find you. Being more visible than everyone else is a key to getting ahead in your career.

Not sure how to do it? Three steps.

1) Create a resume in HTML format. If you have access to Front Page or another HTML editor, great. If not, Microsoft Word can save your resume in HTML format (File menu -> Save as Web Page). If you don’t have Word, or if you don’t have a computer, it’s worth spending a couple of hours at a pay terminal to get this done. (In Memphis, Quetzal at Union and Marshall has several terminals. You can also find pay terminals at most Kinko’s.)

2) Upload your resume to the Web. If you pay for Internet service (dial-up, cable or DSL connection), your provider (ISP) may provide you with free web space for personal pages. If not, you can use Geocities or some other free-hosting service to put your page up.

3) Go to Google and submit your resume web page for indexing. Once Google’s robot takes a look at your page and indexes it, your resume will be web-searchable.

Couple more tips –

– Be sure to include all keywords that are relevant to the position you want. For example, if you program in Visual Basic.NET, make sure that phrase appears on your web resume. If the keyword has an abbreviation (e.g. VB.NET) make sure that appears too.

– If people are looking for resumes, the first keyword they will probably specify will be “resume.” So make sure that appears in the title of your web page. For example, “Resume: Paul Ryburn”.

So that’s the unsolicited advice for this evening. Be visible. Get noticed. Let opportunity find you.