VisualCV.com is a relatively new company offering what looks like a terrific product, and it’s free to job seekers. Check it out. They call it “A better resume, online. Include video, pictures and a portfolio of your best work samples. Securely share different versions with employers, colleagues and friends, and control who sees what.”
Working from text versions of your branded executive resume and other documents, you literally cut and paste chunks of content into the appropriate places on Visual CV. When you’re done, all your documents are together in one place, and you pick and choose which ones you’ll distribute and to whom.
Essentially, you can include the URL or link to your Visual CV in an email message, in your email signature, on your business card, etc. With one click, people can easily access your complete branded career portfolio: resume, bio, achievement summary, reference dossier, case studies, cover letter, and any other documents and information you choose. No need for them to open attachments.
Not just for job seekers, I can see this being a handy tool for networking, landing new business, online social networking sites, posting to online job boards and other career management sites, and including on your blog.
They offer some pretty nifty visual components (including video and audio) and it’s set up to connect job seekers with recruiters and employers on an ongoing basis.
In other words, you can share your Visual CV with appropriate employers and recruiters (or anyone else you choose) and continually update and stay in touch with them over the years. It’s your choice whether to be public or private and is really designed for lifelong career management.
The company indexes your public Visual CV in major search engines (Google, Yahoo, etc.). I’ve noticed that someone’s Visual CV ranks very high in the results when you search their name.
Adding relevant key words to your Visual CV, which all your career marketing documents should be loaded with anyway, will optimize being found in searches. The more relevant the keywords, the more likely you will stand out when an employer or recruiter searches the system for job candidates. And don’t forget that there are lots of other people out there Googling your name to find out about you.
The process of creating a Visual CV takes some time and can be tedious. I offer my clients this service, at a small fee, once we’ve finalized their career marketing documents.
As with any online activity, before you go ahead, read their privacy policy and be sure it aligns with your privacy and security needs.
I think this is going to revolutionize online resumes and personal marketing. And it’s free!
