Are you in the market for a new job? If so, it’s time to enter the modern age because printed resumes aren’t as relevant as they used to be. More than ever, people apply for positions online. That means your resume needs to be online if you want potential employers to see it. You need to build a resume website.

You can post your resume on job-seeking websites like LinkedIn, and that can certainly be useful. Having your own resume website sets you apart from other candidates, though, and it also gives you an easy way to show companies your qualifications and experience when applying for roles on the web or by email.

Building a resume website is a great way to stand out when you’re trying to land an in-demand job, and it’s actually much simpler than you might think. Here’s how to do it. 

Use a Content Management System

If you’ve never built a website before, the easiest way to do so is with a content management system or CMS. A CMS is responsible for storing your website’s content and displaying it to users in an attractive form. It also provides an easy way for you to manage that content with a graphical interface that looks a bit like a word processor. Another benefit of using a CMS is that you’ll probably have no trouble finding a resume website template. Using a template allows you to focus on the site’s content instead of worrying about the visual design. A good web host will install the CMS for you, and you can simply log in when you want to work on your site.

Consider a Custom Domain Name for Extra Professionalism

Although you can find many companies that will host a one-page resume website for free, that hosting method has two problems. The first is that the host will probably display advertisements on your website, and the second is that the host’s domain name – not yours – is the one that visitors will see. A domain name like “BobSmith.com” looks considerably more professional than “BobSmith.GetFreeWebsites.com.” Even if the company hosting your resume website doesn’t have a built-in feature allowing you to link a custom domain, you can achieve the same effect by setting up a redirect with your domain registrar.

For extra search engine visibility, it’s worthwhile to consider putting your line of work in your domain name if you’re looking to get hired in a specific industry. If you want to make a living selling vapes, for example, a domain like BobSmithVapes.com might be worth using.

Format and Write Your Resume

A resume should typically be no more than one or two pages. If it’s overly long, chances are that a prospective employer won’t read it. In addition to clearly displaying your contact information, your resume should list the things that most clearly make you the best candidate for the role you want to land. Those things will typically include:

• An introduction that summarizes your qualifications in one or two sentences.
• A list of your main skills, qualifications and core competencies.
• Your work history, including key things that you accomplished in each position.
• Your educational history.

There’s some room for creativity when you write your resume, but you should keep in mind that employers might have limited patience for anything that deviates too far from established norms. Your resume should avoid fluff and overused buzzwords, and it should get to the point as quickly as possible. Remember that a prospective employer will probably skim through it before deciding whether to read it more thoroughly or not.

Consider Whether AI Is Right for Your Resume

Increasingly, job seekers are turning to AI for help writing their resumes. There are benefits and drawbacks to this approach. The biggest benefit is obviously that you can have the AI do the writing for you, which means that you don’t have to labor over every word. The drawback, though, is that millions of other job seekers are doing the same thing. Since resume writing is all about getting to the point quickly and keeping the word count low, the end result is that thousands of other resumes might look very much like yours.

Although you can almost certainly do a better job writing your resume than an AI could, there’s a counterintuitive possibility that using AI could actually increase your chance of landing an interview. That’s because so many companies are now using AI to screen resumes before a human even looks at them. There’s a chance that an AI-written resume could contain exactly the words and phrases that the potential employer’s AI screening system wants to see. You’ll have to weigh the pros and cons of both approaches and consider what’s right for your situation.

Optimize Your Resume Website for Search Engines

In many cases, people will see your resume website because you’ve personally contacted them and sent the link. You never know what companies might be out there looking for qualified individuals, though, and that means you need to make sure that your site is discoverable on Google. We’ll close this article with a few tips to ensure that your resume gets found by the right people.

• Give your resume website a strong title tag. The title tag is displayed by Google on search results pages and should summarize you in just a few words. An example of a strong title tag might be something like “Bob Smith: Professional E-Commerce Website Developer.”
• Create a compelling meta description. Google may also show this on search results pages, so you should use it as an opportunity to pre-sell your resume and encourage people to view it. An example of a good meta description might be “Professional resume and portfolio of Bob Smith, e-commerce website developer for 12 Fortune 500 companies.”
• Use keyword-rich file names and alt texts for images. For example, a good file name for a headshot image might be “bob-smith-website-developer.jpg,” and a good alt text might be “Headshot of Bob Smith, a professional website developer.”
• Structure your resume logically with headings. The main title should have an <h1> heading, and subsections like “Professional History” and “Education” should have <h2> headings. A logical heading structure can help search engines understand your resume website’s content.