If there’s one thing I’ve always hated about job hunting, it’s résumé design. I’m certain that I’m not alone in this – the process of creating a resume is quite possibly one of the most repetitive, mind-numbing pieces of busywork you’ll ever engage in. You’re forced to look through everything that defines you as an individual, every skill you possess, every job you’ve ever had, and condense it down to a few pages. Factor in that some job-hunting gurus (yes, those do actually exist) recommend tailoring your résumé to each job you’re applying for, and…
Well, suddenly writing cover letters doesn’t seem so bad, does it?
Ladies and gentlemen, it is my great pleasure to present you with what is quite possibly one of the most valuable tools I’ve ever encountered online. It’s called Répresent: a simple, easy-to-use, incredibly slick resume builder software designed around the idea that no one really likes putting together resumes.
Using this beauty, you can easily cobble together a professional resume that most organizations would be proud to read.
Do note that it’s not going to enter all the data for you. That’s something you’ll have to handle on your own for the time being. I’m sure there’s a tool out there somewhere to pull your information off of Facebook (and various other social networks) so you can use it to create a work document, but for the time being…you’ll need to do the heavy lifting on your own. Répresent just takes care of the difficult part: the aesthetics.
Creation of a résumé first requires a Répresent account. It’s a simple enough process, but it’s worth noting that in the event that you want an avatar on your résumé, it’ll pull an image straight from your Gravatar. Make sure that you sign up for Répresent with the same email address you used for Gravatar if that’s important to you.
Répresent’s resume-designing interface consists of six different sections: About, Experience, Education, Skills, Contact, and Design. The first five are pretty self-explanatory – they’re the core details of any good résumé. The Design section is what we’re going to focus on here. Here, you can customize how the final document is actually going to look. You can select from five different color schemes, and two different templates. It’s not a huge selection, but it should suffice. After all, we’re putting together a résumé, not designing a press portfolio.
One of the first things I noticed about the app (as well as the résumé template) is that everything is designed from a rather minimalist standpoint. There’s nothing wrong with that, of course. After all, if your résumé is too flashy or garish, potential employers might well think that it’s because you’re trying to hide your lack of marketable skills (or employability).
Plus, the whole thing is rather elegant in its simplicty. Anyway, once you’re done entering all your information and you’ve chosen a layout you’re satisfied with, simply hit “publish,” and you’ll be presented with the document, which will have its own page and URL (presumably to allow for easy sharing). The final product can be changed by clicking on the “edit” button, then saving your work. Pretty standard stuff.
Anyway, if you’re having trouble giving your résumé the look you want it to have, check out Répresent. It might end up being just waht you’re looking for. My apologies for not nabbing more screenshots, by the way – the server currently seems to be stuck in a redirect loop.
Via Make Use Of
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Well, I tried to sign up to join Represent but the site kept telling me that my email address was wrong & to re-enter my password. There’s nothing wrong with my email address so there’s something wrong with their site!
This is appears to be for very short entry level resumes unless I am missing something.