Recruiter Top 10: Tech Tools to Help You Boost Your Personal Brand on the Job Hunt
Welcome toTop 10, Recruiter.com’s weekly rundown of the best of the best in recruiting! Every Friday, we release a list of some of our favorite people, things, and ideas dominating the industry. From awesome tech tools and cool companies to great books and powerful trends, no stone in the recruiting space will be left unturned.
This Week: Top 10 Personal Branding Tools for Job Seekers
If you want to get a job in our digital age, you’ll need more than just a resume. Don’t get us wrong – resumes are still important. In fact, a few of the tools on this list are specifically meant to help you build a better resume. But your resume can no longer be the crux of your job search strategy; instead, it needs to be one piece of your overall branding strategy.
Job seekers with strong personal brands get noticed. They make names for themselves. And they get the jobs they want.
If you want to be one of those job seekers, check out the list below for a little help:
1. StandardResume.co
There’s nothing wrong with putting a lot of work into your resume’s design, especially if you work in a creative field. However, some of us just want something simple and clean that puts the focus on the content, not the form. Standard Resume is the best place to turn if that is the kind of resume you’re looking for.
Standard Resume is a free resume builder that produces a clear, crisp document that works everywhere. It can pass through an ATS, be shared via email, and even be skimmed by an on-the-go recruiter using a mobile phone.
No frills. Just a good resume.
2. UpToWork
Looking for something a little less spartan in the resume department? Try UpToWork’s resume builder, which offers a wider range of templates, expert advice, and a tracking function that helps you keep tabs on how many people are reading and downloading your resume. You can also publish your resume online directly through UpToWork, giving you a custom URL you can share with recruiters and employers.
3. Jobscan
Once you’ve made yourself a nice resume with Standard Resume or UpToWork, optimize it with Jobscan.
Jobscan allows you to compare your resume with the description of the job to which you are applying. The platform then rates how well your resume matches the description and suggests ways to improve your score by adding certain keywords, following certain resume conventions associated with successful resumes sent to similar roles, and making sure your demonstrated skills reflect the requirements of the role. You’ll never have to worry about being unfairly filtered out of the running by an applicant tracking system again.
4. Grammarly
Before you send your sparkling new resume out to any potential employers, run it through Grammarly.
Grammarly is no simple spell-checker. In addition to spelling mistakes, it will also catch things like improper verb tenses, extraneous words, diction mistakes, and more. The app also features “context-optimized synonym suggestions,” which can help you punch up your language without breaking a sweat.
5. MindSumo
If you’re a college student, you might not even be ready for a nicely formatted, keyword-packed, error-free resume just yet, simply because you don’t have enough experience to populate such a document.
Enter MindSumo, which connects college students with Fortune 500 companies through one-off projects. Companies post challenges, and students submit their solutions for a chance to earn some money and build some much-needed experience. Not only does MindSumo give college students the opportunity to flesh out their resumes with real-world work experience, but it also offers a direct connection to some of the biggest companies in the world. What better way to catch your dream employer’s eye than by helping them solve a problem right off the bat?
6. One Mob
Resumes are great for showing off your skills and abilities – but your personality? Not so much.
Why not supplement your resume with a video from One Mob, then? The app lets you record and share HD video – ideal for creating a short introductory video to yourself that you can then share with recruiters and hiring managers. The app also lets you add text and filters to your videos, allowing you to customize your content to your personality and profession.
As with any non-traditional job search technique, you do need to be careful about whom you share your introductory video with. Not every employer will appreciate your out-of-the-box thinking – but that’s too bad for them. Find a company that appreciates you as a person, not a seat-filler.
7. Visualize.me
Speaking of good ways to showcase your personality, Visualize.me allows you to turn your LinkedIn profile into a sleek infographic resume. The site is still in beta, but its customizable designs are definitely top-tier. Especially if you work in a creative field, Viusalize.me is a great way to highlight both your unique personality and your quantifiable accomplishments in one document.
8. Portfoliobox
Yeah, an infographic resume is nice – but you need something more. You need a way to show employers all the great creative work you’ve done throughout your career.
Sound like you? Then use Portfoliobox to set up a gorgeous online portfolio. Your portfolio is totally customizable, no coding skills required. Add galleries, a blog, even an online shop – Portfoliobox has you covered.
9. Anthology
Your resume is perfect. Your portfolio looks awesome. You’re ready to start spreading your personal brand message far and wide.
There’s just one problem: You don’t want your current employer to catch wind of your job hunt.
What’s great about Anthology is that it’s a totally anonymous way to find new opportunities. The platform pairs job seekers with openings based on how well they match up – but neither the employer nor the job seeker knows the other’s identity until both parties have decided they want to move forward.
And then you can show off that strong personal brand you spent all that time building – without setting off alarms for your current boss.
10. Haystack
Haystack is a digital business card app that lets you design custom, creative business cards to share online. They’re perfect for networking opportunities, industry conferences, and anywhere else you might meet someone who could potentially offer you a new role. They’re also much easier to share and keep track of than physical business cards. Just send an email – and you won’t have to worry about your dream employer accidentally leaving your card in a hotel room somewhere.