With competition for job vacancies at an all time high, it is becoming increasingly important to make sure you vividly stand out from your competitors. While there are many ways of going about this, in this post I will show you how you can create a stunning online CV (for free!) which will help you on your way. A CV which stands out when an employer has (in some cases) hundreds to go through is much more likely to get its creator an interview.
Zerply is a website which will take all the hassle out of creating a CV, simply sign up with some basic information and before you know it you are well on your way to creating your digital CV. Zerply is both a tool to create your CV and a social network to allow you to share it, similar in manner to LinkedIn.
Creating Your CV
When you begin the creation process you are asked for a bit more information about yourself. For example, fill in a ‘one-liner’ which suitably describes yourself as well as a short biography and up to five ‘tags’. Tags are just another way to describe who you are; writer? Journalist? Scientist? Simple, one word descriptions, you get the idea.
Also expected of you is some information about your education and previous employers, this is a CV after all. You are able to add any skills you believe you have and as this is an online service, I’d make full use of connecting your ‘sites and services’ (such as Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, or maybe even your own website) as it is then so easy for employers to follow the links. Of course, if you don’t want to share what you get up to on Facebook or other social networking sites with potential employers, make sure you have the correct privacy settings in place – or just don’t add those links!
To make this process easier, you are able to import information, with one click, from either Facebook or LinkedIn. If you’ve already set up profiles for these sites then this will save you having to retype everything for yet another social network.
Add, alter and update all your information from the profile page
The Magic Part
Once you’ve filled in your profile, I’m sure you will be eager to see what it looks like to other users and potential employers. There are currently three designs for you to apply to your CV, my favourite being ‘The Poster Child’ by Mike Kus which looks something like the image below. (Or you can see it live, in action over at my public profile [recommended]).
The Poster Child, a stunning CV design by Mike Kus
The other two available themes to choose from are ‘The Conservative’ by Elliot Jay Stocks’ (below left) and ‘The American’ by Rogie King (below right). Click either image to see it in full screen.
For a free service, all these themes are quite magnificent, but once you’ve created them what do you do next?
Getting Your New CV Seen
Your profile comes with a ‘public profile’ address such as zerply.com/profile/jameswatts1990/public. This is the link you’d want to share with your potential employers, however, if you are looking for something a little more personal, you can use your own domain name for instance <yourname>.co.uk. However, as this is part of Zerply’s premium service, you will be required to upgrade your account (at a cost of $15 per year). You will also need to own your domain name but this is relatively cheap, for instance a .co.uk address can be bought for as cheap as £2.50 a year.
The social network side of Zerply allows you to connect with people you may share similar experience or skills with. Other Zerply users may also endorse your CV which will increase its credibility.
Final Thoughts
For a free service, Zerply is a truly amazing tool and the current themes which you can apply to your CV are stunning. If you aren’t sure of how to create your own CV style website such as this, then Zerply is for you as no technical knowledge is required. If your serious about making the switch from a paper CV to digital, then the premium upgrade may be something you want to look in to as your own domain name will give your digital CV that extra edge.
Your Thoughts
How do you feel about making the switch to digital? Would you use a digital CV instead of a paper, or would you use them together? If you have any questions on how to get started, getting your own domain name, or even how you would make something like this yourself don’t hesitate to leave a comment below!
