If you have made it to college we can assume one thing about you: that you are smart. This means you are going to be looking for a job after graduating and it won’t be a job flipping burgers. College graduates need a resume to get most jobs that are worth having so you need to set out and figure out how to put one together.
What I am proposing here though is something that couldn’t happen 10 years ago and you are lucky you live in a time when it is. The Internet affords you the opportunity of getting your own domain for a reasonable yearly fee and building your own site and resume for all to see. The Internet has obviously passed all the tests and we know that it is here to stay. Right now, all businesses should have an online presence and so should you.
Whether you decide to buy a domain that has your name in it or some other term is up to you but you now have the ability to showcase your skills and show the world what you are about with your own site online. Most domains now cost under $10.00 per year and you can get good affordable hosting at Hostgator for as low as $4.95 a month. It used to be that both the cost of domains and the hosting were much higher than the prices today, but now having a website is affordable for most everyone.
There are many things you can do with your own website that will help you get a job. You can easily install a WordPress blog template and then use your blog as a resume or a place where anyone can go to find out about you. Students who want to become writers can showcase their writing. Students who want to get involved with politics can express their political opinions. Engineers can talk about what they are learning and any ideas they might have about the future of their field.
The important thing is to keep your website very professional and have it be a place where anyone, including prospective employers, can go to find out more about you. The fact that you have your own website will alone be enough to impress many people. You can decide exactly what type of a blog / website you want: you might prefer just a one page site that lists your jobs and qualifications or you might prefer a blog that you update periodically with your thoughts. The great thing about a blog is that it can have many pages and serve as an online resume as well as a place you can express your thoughts.
The one thing you don’t want to do with a site like this is to veer off course and start putting things that are not relevant to your career choice(s). If you want a website where you talk about how great you are at the latest Nintendo game or how much beer you drank last night, you should get a totally separate website for that. Your professional blog should maintain professionalism at all times and the writing on it should be the best you can do.
Having your own online resume blog is something that college students should do right from the outset. Jobs for college students are going to be hard to find and it looks like things aren’t going to change for a long time. By having your own online job resume, you will be showing your prospective employers that you are a serious candidate for all the jobs you apply to.