To VisualCV or Not to VisualCV. That’s the Question.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LG3kCjSquFY]If you do a Bing or Google search on “resume hosting services,” quite a few pop up, including Hotscripts, ResumeHype, MyResume, MyResumeHere, ResumeHosting and so on.  But, over the past few months, I’ve had a few clients tell me that they’ve put their resumes up on VisualCV.  So, I decided to sign up and do a half-assed, mock one for myself and review it for you.

I confess that as much as I embrace social media and technology I’m always a bit cynical when it comes to marrying new technologies with resume writing.  But, with a few minor exceptions, I think this VisualCV thing is pretty interesting.

First off, it’s easy to use. Their tutorial — which they refer to as “quick start” — is excellent. Anyone who can read and click a button can create a resume using this platform.

But that leaves me to answer the question, who needs to use a VisualCV? If you are a creative person, a writer or producer and have some sort of portfolio you’d like to share with a potential hiring manager, this is an interesting option for you.  You can add multi-media elements to your resume, send someone your own personal URL (i.e., www.visualcv.com/janeturk), or include it in an email as you are applying for jobs.  It’s a real nice way to include portfolio samples, promote any awards you’ve received using visuals (like logos), include audio and video clips as well as other eye-catching elements.  As the site states – it’s a way for you to develop more of a “personal brand” for yourself.

One convenient element that I liked is that you can directly import your information from LinkedIn to get started, which is exactly what I did.   You can also easily create a .pdf to save your multi-media resume on your desktop/hard drive.  And, the site makes it uber-easy to promote your VisualCV on Facebook, Digg, Delicious, Twitter and more than 50 other social networking sites.

Here’s where I think the site falls short.  The very first thing that you are prompted to do once you register is to provide a photo.  I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, your mug’s got no business being on a resume.  Like it or not, people make all sorts of judgments based on looks and you don’t want your picture to be a reason why someone does not call you.

The site also boasts that they have relationships with over 1000 companies advertising jobs on their site that prefer a VisualCV over a plain resume.  So, for the hell of it, I put in my fake job criteria information, did a search and found one measly listing that did not relate to my imaginary field whatsoever.  Lame.

My recommendation is to add this service to your arsenal but make sure to have a plain ol’ vanilla resume on hand as well. Many companies still request resumes in Word or text format only and you gotta play by the rules if you wanna get an interview. Even if you choose to forego the VCV option, take a look at the video. Gotta love the Mac/PC knock-off.

Carpe diem…