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There’s been a lot of buzz about VisualCV since its launch earlier this year. I got on board with my own VisualCV last Spring, and have been getting good response from it.
VisualCV.com is an online community for individuals and organizations to professionally present themselves and network by creating, enriching, and sharing their VisualCVs.
According to their recent press release, “VisualCV, Inc. has reinvented the resume to make it more relevant for networking, business development and career progression within today's Web 2.0 environment. VisualCV, Inc. provides technology and support for the VisualCV, the VisualCV.com community and ‘Powered by VisualCV’ private-label platform.”
Essentially a FREE online web portfolio, with plenty of nifty features, this is a great way to extend the value of your resume and other career documents. By consolidating them all in one online location, they are easily accessible to employers and hiring decision-makers with one click, no need for them to open email attachments.
Take a look at a sample VisualCV I created for a client, and a sample created by the people at VisualCV, to see how the features and enhancements come together.
You can add sparkle to your VisualCV with pop-ups, embedded documents, images, photos, videos, audio, links to your blog or other online published works, or your LinkedIn and other online networking groups badges.
A few examples:
- Embed a photo of your CEO awarding you the President's Club award last year.
- Show great examples of the clean, elegant software code you write.
- Include your outstanding writing samples, articles, artwork, or designs.
- Embed any of the following type of files: .doc, .pdf, .ppt, .jpg, .gif, .png, .mov, .wmv and more.
Other benefits include:
- Control access to your VisualCVs through privacy settings, and share with recipients you choose – companies, colleagues, customers, and friends.
- Develop as many versions of your VisualCV as you want, each with a unique privacy setting, to share with distinct groups.
- Track who is looking at your VisualCV and when.
- Share your VisualCV with a growing number of major companies and employers who have a VisualCV presence, such as Amazon, Sun Microsystems, Duke University, Dayak, Perot Systems, and Citrix.
- Access the growing VisualCV Marketplace of career services providers – Certified VisualCV Creators, resume writers, career coaches, and recruiters.
Whoever reviews your VisualVC will be aided by real-time, value-add information:
- Mouse over companies listed in your VisualCV and they pop up with live, rich data through VisualCV’s partnerships with Standard & Poor’s Capital IQ and Dow Jones’ VentureSource.
- Mouse over college names to pop up rankings via exclusive partnerships with Princeton Review and QS Quacquarelli Symonds.
- Industry-specific terms describing your experience expand into definitions, with pop-ups from a variety of sources (coming soon!).
Although it can take several hours to build a fully fleshed out VisualCV, it’s not difficult to do and you don’t have to be particularly tech savvy. An extensive online learning center with comprehensive e-book is available to help you through.
By literally copying and pasting from your various job search documents (resume, cover letter, references and accolades, bio, achievement summary, etc.), and adding some of the above enhancements, you can transform them into your web career portfolio. Everything you want people to know about you will be accessible from one web page.
© Copyright Meg Guiseppi, 2008. All rights reserved. Used with permission.
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Meg Guiseppi is a Reach Certified Personal Branding Strategist, Certified VisualCV Creator, and Master Résumé Writer, the careers-industry’s highest designation. She also holds the Certified Professional Résumé Writer credential. With nearly two decades of professional experience, Meg Guiseppi specializes in crafting top interview-generating, brand-focused career marketing communications for executives and top professionals worldwide, and helps them navigate the daunting ins and outs of Executive Job Search 2.0. For a wealth of executive job search trade secrets and more about Meg, visit her Executive Career Brand blog, and check out her VisualCV. Follow Meg on Twitter. You may also download Meg's free ebook, Job-Hunt Guide to Executive Branding and Your LinkedIn Profile.
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