Brand yourself: How to create a successful professional website with your resume

NWjobs | NWautos | NWhomes | NWsource Classifieds | seattletimes.com

September 29, 2010

Brand yourself: How to create a successful professional website with your resume

2 Comments |
E-mail |
Print
- Share:

By Kristen Fife
NWjobs

Q: My professional history has been turbulent over the last two years. I started working as a contractor in 2009. Thankfully employed, but grossly overqualified for the work I do, I don't have much job security, as my contract can end with very little notice. I've been toying with the idea of setting up a personal website that would expand on my abilities and accomplishments. I envision having my resume as one of the main pages with links from each job duty expanding on the description. Your thoughts?

Kristen says: I think this is an excellent idea; here are a few things to consider. The first is to study a lot of similar websites to find the "look and feel" that appeals to you. If you can afford it, I recommend having it done professionally by a web designer. I'd also recommend you incorporate a blog that you keep up with on some sort of regular basis that has to do with your industry.

When you register your domain name, there are two things you can do. If you anticipate doing any independent consulting and are "Doing Business As" (dba), use the business name to create a brand. If not, stick to your name as the URL (look at authors' websites to get an idea of this). Keep in mind that your URL is going to become synonymous with your professional brand. You will always have your name.

It is a sad, but true reality that hacking and identity theft are alive and well in our digital age. To that end, when you put your resume online, take out your contact information (keep your city and state only). Have a "Contact Me" section with dialogue boxes that interested parties can fill in to have forwarded to you.

Make sure that your LinkedIn profile has a link to your website on it, and use social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn updates to promote your website when you update your blog, or post a change to it. Consider investing in Google Ads for SEO purposes, and possibly a Facebook ad targeted to recruiters in your industry.

2 Comments |
E-mail |
Print
- Share:

2 Comments

ALAMIN on October 8, 2010 10:40 PM | Reply

Ah mate thanks a lot. I’ve been looking for a lot of jQuery tutorials regarding charts and i stumbled upon this.Just wanted to say thank you for the help.

Ashleigh on February 16, 2012 8:35 PM | Reply

The blog is cool

Brand yourself: How to create a successful professional website with your resume

2 Comments

Leave a comment