Small business owners aren’t the only people who can benefit from their own website. You can create one to get a leg up in your job search as well. A resume website or personal website can help people in a variety of fields stand out to recruiters, potential employers, and potential clients. 

Why Create a Resume Website?

Sure, creating a personal resume website takes more time and effort than a traditional resume that you send as a PDF or print out. However, there are a lot of reasons it could be worth the effort, including: 

1. More room for self-expression

An online resume has more opportunities to show off your work style. The website template choice, the color scheme, the fonts, the copy, and the way you display your work are all ways to let hiring managers and potential clients who look at your resume website know what you’re all about. In a pile of boring, plain text PDFs and the occasional static resume template, this will grab attention and make your experience memorable.  

A bio can do the job of a cover letter by explaining your story and what you bring to the table without having to take up space buttering up the hiring manager and talking about why this job is your dream. 

An Abstract painting on a canvas with brushes and paint nearby

2. Evidence of your computer skills

Why tell recruiters how good you are with computers when you can show them? If your resume website is high-quality, user-friendly, and interactive, this directly demonstrates your skills. If you want to demonstrate that you can code a website or design one from scratch, do that. If not, use a template on a website builder and demonstrate the computer skills relevant to your field. 

A person using a desktop computer with a series of charts in the background

3. Display your online portfolio

The typical on-page resume doesn’t offer a way to display samples of your work without navigating elsewhere. A personal website can double as an online portfolio by displaying work samples. Be sure to include your best work and show your range of skills. 

A repeating pattern of portfolio folders

4. Display references and testimonials

Whether your potential employers check up on your references or not, a testimonials section can make a great addition to your online resume website. By reading the great things your previous employers have said about you, they’ll see that you’re a reliable narrator when you talk about how great you are. 

Two people in business attire shaking hands

5. A website grows with you

A personal website is more than an interactive resume. As your career grows and expands, so can your website. Unlike with a traditional resume, you’re not limited to one standard page to elaborate. Different growth stages of a sunflower in order

Who Should Use a Resume Website? 

A variety of professionals can benefit from using a resume website, including: 

  • Photographers
  • Videographers
  • Actors
  • Models
  • Musicians
  • Artists
  • Copywriters
  • Sound Engineers
  • Developers
  • UX designers
  • Other freelancers

 

A photographer behind a camera

 

What Should Be on a Resume Website?

An online resume should contain the same information as a traditional resume, including: 

  1. Skills
  2. Bio
  3. Portfolio
  4. Social media and contact information
  5. Case studies
  6. Work experience

You can either organize it all on one, scrollable page or split it up into several pages. If your portfolio needs a lot of space, go for a multi-page site, otherwise, keeping it at one page will create a better user experience.

Bullet Points with lines next to them

How to Build a Resume Website

  1. Set up your site
  2. Select a cover image
  3. Upload a logo
  4. Choose your site colors
  5. Select a font style
  6. Enter your contact details
  7. Set up your pages
  8. Edit your homepage 
  9. Edit your other pages
  10. Publish
A computer displaying a document and gears

Examples of Resume Websites

Take a look at some of the best resume websites from a wide variety of professionals 

Martin Ringlein

 

The homepage for Martin Ringlein's resume website. The text reads "Hello. I'm @smarty. Angel investor, entrepreneur, troublemaker, and aspiring mayor of the white house." There is a sliding timeline at the bottom of the page.

Vladimir Gruev

 

A page from Vladimir Gruev's resume website. The text reads "deep into identity and brand design, web presence, and digital products." Each item in that list is accompanied with a small square icon.

Pascal van Gemert

The homepage for Pascal van Gemert's interactive resume, featuring a comic book-style illustration as the background.

Andris Gauracs

Andris Gauracs' resume website featuring an animated self portrait next to the text "I am a full-stack web developer. My main areas of expertise include Javascript, Typescript, Node.js, HTML, CSS, php, and Python."

Gary Le Masson

Gary Le Masson's resume homepage, which is modeled after Google's homepage.

Sean Halpin

 

Sean Halpin's homepage with a black background and pastel gradient features. The text reads "Hi. I'm Sean. A Designer. I'm also a front-end developer and general doodler with a keen eye for engaging UI, bringing products to life."

Brandon Johnson

 

The about page for Brandon Johnson's website. Image is of a meteoroid, text reads "I am an Associate Professor in the department of Earth, atmospheric, and planetary sciences at Purdue University. My research is focused mainly on impact cratering, which is arguably the most pervasive geologic process in the solar system."

Sergey Designer 

Sergey Designer's experience page. The highlights include animated ads, web animation, and motion graphic videos. The background image is of 3D, abstract blobs.

Ximena N. Beltran Quan Kiu 

The bio page for Ximena N. Beltran Quan Kiu, a communication consultant and writer based in Chicago. The image is of an article about her next to a pair of shoes. The bio details the highlights of her political communications career.

Amanda Rach Lee 

Amanda Rach Lee's about page featuring a photo of her, smiling with a pen pointed at her cheek. The bio highlights the history of her art video career.

Lisa Elias

 

The home page for Lisa Elias' website featuring simply her name and a button that reads "view work" over a large black and white photo of her metal shop.

Helena Bowen

 

The homepage for Helena Bowen, speaker coach and speechwriter. Design is minimal. Text reads "It's not just a speech. It's the next step in your career" above a pink "book your call" button. The bottom banner highlights stats about her clients.

Emily Hogarth

 

The home page for artist Emily Hogarth. The headline reads "Making the everyday magical. A series of images of her work link to other pages including "Illustration work," "Papercut commissions", "Shop", "About", "Contact," and "Instagram."

How Sav Can Help

No matter what your career is, your website should be the center of your online presence. That’s why our user-friendly, affordable website builder strives to make creating your own website as easy as possible. Start building with us today! 

 

Luca Harsh

Luca Harsh

Luca Harsh is an in-house content writer for Sav. They live in Chicago with their cat, Polly. Yes, Harsh is their real last name.