Your future employer is going to look you up online! Create an online CV to present yourself professionally. This blog post contains DOs and DONTs of online resumes collected from Microsoft recruiters and hiring managers.
I spend a lot of time at events with students. Because I work at Microsoft, I am frequently asked how can I get a job at Microsoft? In this age of easy access to information, you can be sure that any potential employer is probably going to look you up online. Creating an online cv to complement your paper cv can help show you look your best to a potential employer.
I reached out to a number of managers and recruiters at Microsoft to ask them for some DOs and DONTs for online cv. Of course every hiring manager is going to have different opinions, but I share some of the opinions here to help you put together a strong online resume. But in the end remember, the only absolutel rule of resumes is there are no absolute rules. You should always apply your best judgement given your personality, your skills, and the job you are applying for when creating any cv online or paper.
With that caveat, here are some guidelines you can consider when creating an online cv
Do Include Links To Your Work
This is one of the best things about an online resume! You can add hyperlinks to different examples of your work to showcase your skills. Consider adding links to
- Apps you have published
- Websites you maintain
- Conferences you helped organize
- Work completed on internships
- Blog posts or articles you wrote
- Class projects
- Competitions or hackathons you entered
- Prizes or awards you have won
- Code you have shared on GitHub
- Videos of you presenting or showcasing your work
Don't Just Cut And Paste Your Paper CV
Paper CV's can and should be tailored for each job application. Read the job description and make sure the resume you submit addresses the points in the job description.
Online CV should complement your paper CV, you aren’t going to create different online cv's for each job you apply for. Any potential employer may read your online CV, so it needs to be more generic than your paper CV.
You can have a link to a paper CV on your online CV website so potential employers can print it if needed. Wondering why anyone would print out something available online? Some recruiters spend a lot of time travelling and may read over CV's while in transit where they have no internet access.
Do Ensure Your Online CV Looks Great On Different Devices
Your potential business could be seeing your online resume from a desktop, tablet or phone. Ensure your site is dynamic and shows well on various screen sizes. On the off chance that you are utilizing WordPress this implies you have to pick a format that supports components, for example, media questions. In the event that you are making your own particular sites it might mean investigating media inquiries or bootstrap for your site.
Don't Have A Paper And Online CV That Present Two Different People
This one can be somewhat of a test however it's important! In the event that you will tailor your paper continue for various occupation applications, and a business will take a gander at your online CV, it's important they don't present two altogether different people. In the event that they do run over any other way the business is probably going to decipher it as "this candidate is trying to say whatever they think I need to hear, will the genuine candidate please stand up!" If your online CV says you cherish everything in regards to Microsoft Technology and you apply for an occupation at Google with a paper continue that says I adore everything in regards to Google, clearly one of these two proclamations will be suspicious. Make sure to keep your online cv somewhat more non specific.
DO Include Testimonials
More often than not there isn't room on a paper cv to incorporate testimonials, yet since an online CV can incorporate separate pages or tabs you have the alternative of including extra 'on the off chance that you are intrigued' information. Testimonials are an incredible in the event that you are intrigued piece to incorporate. I wouldn't put it on the front page, yet having a connection to remarks and testimonials can be a decent touch. Let another person discuss how wonderful you are. Conceivable hotspots for testimonials may incorporate
- Reviews from past managers
- Kudos for volunteer work you completed
- Compliments from faculty you worked with doing research or as a teaching assistant.
It is a courtesy to ask permission from someone before you quote them on your website
Do List Your Programming Languages
While applying for any specialized employment, the enlisting chief will need to realize what programming languages you know and how much experience you have with every dialect.
Posting your languages from most to minimum capable is a simple approach to show ability levels.
When you say ventures you have worked on, you ought to determine what programming languages you utilized on the venture
Be careful when ranking your programming skill from 1-10. There are a few reasons to be cautious:
- If you list yourself as a 9 or 10 skill level, some managers may be skeptical and think you are overrating your skills
- If you list yourself as a 1 or 2 a manager might wonder why you bothered listing that language at all
- The biggest risk however is the way a numeric ranking is open to misinterpretation. When you fill out a survey at a restaurant. If you are asked to rank service out of 5 do you rank it 5/5 because there weren’t any problems with the service, or do you automatically give a 4 unless the service was outstanding? If an employer asks you to rank your coding skill from 1-10, if possible ask the employer what they consider a 7, an 8, a 9 and a 10? If you can create classes using inheritance and polymorphism and manage error handling is that a 6 and 8 or a 10? Your interpretation of the 1-10 scale and the employer’s interpretation of the scale may be completely different.
Do Include Your Contact Information
Each online CV ought to give an approach to contact the hopeful. In the event that you are an understudy you might need to give an individual and a school email address. Some of the time a business sends an email amid a school break and you can miss an opportunity since you weren't checking your school email.
What About My Social Media Accounts?
You can give connects to social media also, yet ensure you are just connecting to social media channels that speak to you as an expert. On the off chance that you utilize twitter to do only grumble about terrible motion pictures and tell improper jokes, you likely would prefer not to connection to your twitter account. On the off chance that you utilize twitter to survey items or to share tips you've figured out how to show signs of improvement at hockey or coding, at that point you might need to give a connection to your record regardless of the possibility that you have the periodic connect to a senseless webcomic you like. Demonstrating your enthusiasm for sharing and adapting, notwithstanding for non specialized substance could leave a decent impression.
On the off chance that you give a connection to a LinkedIn account, ensure your LinkedIn Profile is avant-garde and sends any messages to a present email account
Facebook is frequently utilized for simply individual reasons. You may wish to refresh your security settings on Facebook so nobody outside your companions can see your Facebook page. In the event that you have a Facebook page you keep up for a coding club, or a meetup that may be an appropriate page to impart to a business.
Do Pay Attention To Details
On the off chance that you have any companions with an eye for detail, right now is an ideal opportunity to approach them for offer assistance! Is the content adjusted? Do you have any spelling botches? Did you inadvertently change the text dimension on the headings part of the way through the page? Is the separating steady? Are the colors complimentary or diverting?
A few people are visual. In the event that something on the page is conflicting it occupies them from the substance. I have worked with supervisors who just couldn't read and process content unless it was outwardly efficient. It took me numerous times of taking in the most difficult way possible, that occasionally essentially giving great substance is insufficient, it needs to look great also. With regards to an online resume, you need to be meticulous and set aside the opportunity to make it look great!
Don't Create It And Forget It
You take a seat and make an online cv today, however what impression does that leave on a procuring director when in two years they read your resume and it says the last venture you finished was two years back and doesn't specify any innovations from the previous two years? Make a promise to refresh your online resume no less than twice per year. Give innovation a chance to work for you, set yourself up a logbook update so you remember to refresh it!
Do Use The First Person
Paper resumes are often written in the third person. Blogs and online profiles are usually written in the first person
Instead of “Shelby developed a phone application”
Try “I developed a phone application
Do Show How You Learn And Grow
On the off chance that there is one consistent in life and work it is change. The innovation abilities required for a jo you apply for now will change in the following one to five years. At the point when a business is thinking about you for an occupation, they need to know you can stay aware of the evolving innovation. Demonstrating your capacity and enthusiasm to learn and develop is an extraordinary approach to demonstrate a business that you will learn and develop with the organization. How would you demonstrate that in an online CV? Offer what you showed yourself outside class and offer any circumstances where you connected what you realized in the class outside the classroom.
Do Provide Team Player Examples
Employing chiefs anticipate that you will have the capacity to work well on a group. On the off chance that you can give particular cases of working on a group and your part inside that group, specify that in your resume. You may have specified a class extend you worked on, determine what number of people worked on that venture and be get ready when you get to the meeting to discuss your part on that group, clashes that emerged and how they were settled. Working on a group is tied in with demonstrating you can work with various sorts of people, once in a while you might be made a request to go up against an influential position, now and then another person may lead the pack. Did you know involvement with improvisational comic drama is by and large observed to be an indication of a decent cooperative person? A large number of the guidelines of enhance satire convert into aptitudes and strategies that assistance people work in a group domain. Improv performers need to remain positive, move with the progressions, and concentrate on making the group instead of themselves as an individual effective.
Do Provide A Professional Photo
A photo on your online CV is a nice touch, but make sure the photo quality is good and that your photo looks professional.
If you don’t have access to a photo studio with good lighting, take a picture outside on a cloudy day for the most flattering light
Make sure you take a high resolution picture and display a smaller version of that image on your site so the photo looks crisp. Don’t use a low resolution picture and enlarge it, or the picture may look.
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