Some parts of resume writing have changed in 2022, and some parts have not changed.
Table of Contents
Paper Resume or Level 1 Resume — How long should it be?
I consider the paper version of the resume the Level 1 version of the resume. It is like a sales brochure for you that you use to try to convince the person to find out more information about you. The length should be 1 physical page. The following 3 options are acceptable.
- 8 1/2 x 11 one sided
- 8 1/2 x 11 two sided
- 11 x 17 folded two sided
With the third one, think of it as a book. You have the front cover. The person opens the book to see a two page spread. Then you have the back page. A majority of the content is going to be on the two page spread. The last page can include more information, or it can be mostly blank, but visually appealing. The same with the first page.
The second major point to consider is that the paper resume may be scanned, so always test your resume to make sure that it can scan into a program like Microsoft Word as expected.
Don’t worry too much about including every detail. If the reader likes what they see, you very clearly direct them to your online or Level 2 resume that contains everything and anything that a potential employer would want to know about you (within reason). The goal is to allow them to easily “search” you (get more information about you) without them needing to do a full-on internet search about you.
That is why, in 2022, you need to view your Paper Resume or your Level 1 Resume as a teaser to get them to view your Online Resume (what you want them to see about you).
Online Resume or Level 2 Resume — How long should it be?
As opposed to the paper version of your resume, your online resume does not have a space limit. That is because when a person looks at your Online Resume or Level 2 Resume, they already know that they want to know more about you. Now you want to convince them to call you and schedule an interview.
Now is not the time to tease them. Now is the time to “strut your stuff”. You are showing them the best of you.
Online Resume, LinkedIn
One option for an Online Resume is LinkedIn. With LinkedIn, a person enters their work history, but besides seeing the work history, which is very similar to a traditional paper resume, there is not much extra on LinkedIn. LinkedIn provides a means for people to connect with each other. But other than including what would most likely already be included in your paper resume, there is not much more to show yourself off. Also, LinkedIn is owned by Microsoft, if that matters to you (good or bad).
Online Resume, GitHub or GitLab
Even if a person is using LinkedIn to cover the basics of their resume, if you want to “show off your work”, you are going to need a place to store this data.
If your area of expertise is in software development, digital images, digital books, etc., creating a GitHub or GitLab is worth looking into.
GitHub and GitLab are very similar. GitHub came first. At first, it was its own company, but in June 2018, Microsoft bought GitHub.
Shortly after that, GitLab was created for people who wanted to use a service like GitHub, but did not want to put their private projects on Microsoft owned servers. Although a lot of features are similar between GitHub and GitLab, there are some differences besides the biggest — one is owned by Microsoft and the other is not.
Sorry, but ever since Microsoft, Google, and Apple coordinated together to shut down Gab, put Gab out of business, I will never (nor would I ever recommend to another) put important data on a server owned by Microsoft, Google, Apple, Twitter, or Facebook (Meta). By my definition, “important” means anything that you care out. It could be a business, a hobby project, or a cause you believe in. Once “Big Tech” was given the power to shut down “a competitor” with a simple flip of a switch, it is game over for “freedom of speech” and “open competition”.
But there are a lot of companies that will only accept resumes when they are submitted through LinkedIn (owned by Microsoft), and will only accept electronic portfolios submitted on GitLab. So sometimes you do not have a choice. Yea, it sucks. But putting that aside, let’s look at some technical features.
Both GitHub and GitLab run on top of Git, which is a simple text based software repository system and version control system. So all basics that exist in Git, exist in both systems.
if the area of expertise is software development, digital images, digital books, etc.
GitHub
GitHub is a collaboration platform that helps review and manage codes remotely. GitHub has been around longer than GitLab, so it obviously has more projects than GitLab. GitHub is also owned by Microsoft. I do not think that impacts the decision for regular developers to add their projects to GitHub, but I would guess that it might impact the hiring manager’s decision to only accept GitHub as a portfolio presentation option.
How to create a custom profile on GitHub?
To create a custom profile on GitHub, create a repository on Github by the exact name as username. This repository then becomes your profile repository. The README file is the main file to store either HTML code or Markdown code. Both work. This means that anything that you can do with HTML or Markdown can be used to create your profile page.
This is a feature that LinkedIn definitely does NOT provide. So even if you are not a programmer, because you can include text, images, video, and audio files in your GitHub portfolio, it becomes a better, more custom way, to show off your skills for a potential employer.
GitLab
GitLab is majorly focused on DevOps and CI/CD. DevOps is a set of practices that combines software development and IT operations. CI/CD or CICD is the combined practice of continuous integration and either continuous delivery or continuous deployment. GitLab is newer than GitHub, but it is its own company. It is NOT owned by Microsoft.
How to create a custom profile on GitLab?
Creating a custom profile in GitLab is very similar to creating a custom profile in GitHub. In GitLab, the same as with GitHub, you create a new public profile that is the same exact name as your username. So if your user name is “allaboutme”, then your profile project will be named “allaboutme”. Just as with GitHub, you can add images, videos, and audio files. The REAMDE file can be created with several different markup languages:
- Plain Text
- Markdown, GitLab has a few added features, but for the most part, it is standard Markdown syntax.
- reStructuredText, markup text that was developed by Python
- AsciiDoc, text markup language
- Textile, text markup language
- Rdoc, ruby markup language
- Org mod, emacs markup language
- Creole, wiki markup language
- MediaWiki, Wikipedia’s markup language
So essentially, you have a large number of different markup languages to choose from, and all of them will accept links to pictures, audio, and video files. I have not tried linking to other pages, but I would suspect that it can handle that as well.
Online Resume, WordPress
WordPress is used by 60% of all content management systems, and 35% of all blogs. Creating a person blog can be great for showing a potential employer several things:
- You know how to write to a level that somebody else can understand.
- You keep up with current events in your industry.
- That you want to share your knowledge, big or small. Figuring out how to create a custom keyboard may not be a “big project”, but if you post the information on a blog page and you get a history of a lot of hits, it becomes another piece of the puzzle of your whole skill set.
Also, WordPress is not just for writing traditional blog articles. It can also be used for:
- Creating an online store, e-commerce website, or entertainment website – like Jackpot Capital Bonus.
- Membership website
- Online course
- Podcast
- Business directory
- Classified Ads website
- Auction website
- Forums
- Social Networking
- Knowledgebase
If you are just trying to show your skills, these features can include a small dataset. But remember that the sample data that you choose, will show something about you. Word of advice — there are three areas where you should keep private life and business life separate: Religion, Politics, and visiting websites that different people will have different views on them.
Online Resume, MediaWiki
If you like a style of large articles modified and updated over time, then a MediaWiki style website might be the right choice to show yourself off.
Unlike WordPress, MediaWiki is best for a knowledge base and documentation. These can either be a single user website, a small group of editors, or a full blown wiki. If is expected that the articles are going to be modified, updated, and linked to each other, then Mediawiki might be the right choice to show yourself off.
Summary
You are the best you, so show yourself off to potential employers in the best way to show you.