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Why You Should Consider A Custom Website As Your CV
We discuss how you can benefit from a custom CV or portfolio website, even if you don’t have a business.
In a previous article, we explored how a well-designed custom website can help small businesses that operate without one.
In this article, we will discuss how you can benefit from a custom website that serves as your CV or portfolio, even if you don’t have a business.
For most people in the job market, the CV is perhaps the single most important career document, and for good reason. A CV can make or break an application. What exactly makes a great CV is a subject of debate, but what is clear is that a CV’s presentation and design can be just as important as its contents, if not more.
To make matters worse, in our experience, the job application process has become increasingly complex and convoluted. A standard paper CV with a cover letter used to be enough to get considered, but things are changing.
With the advent of technologies like AI, sifting through résumés is increasingly becoming the job of algorithms, not humans. Writing cover letters with AI is on the rise, too. An entirely new culture has developed on places like LinkedIn, complete with its own set of rules and expected behaviors. Companies can now access convenient databases where they can filter through applicants quickly and efficiently.
All of these are reasons why, to survive in the job market, professionals are building personal brands to stand out, and one of the best ways to do that is a custom website to serve as a CV.
A website can function as a platform for you to showcase your work, skills, accomplishments, interests and more. In that way, it can serve as your digital business card to communicate who you are and what makes you unique. You can do so by utilizing multimedia elements like pictures, videos and podcasts, detailed case studies of prior projects, blog post articles, testimonials, as well as links to your various social media profiles. More on that later.
As we will see, everyone can benefit from a website CV, but especially if you’re a professional in one the following fields:
- A Creative Professional (A Designer, Photographer, or Artist)
Your work is all about visuals, and a personal website lets you present your portfolio in an engaging and polished format. It’s the perfect platform to showcase your best projects, whether through galleries, case studies, or even videos.
- A Freelancer or Consultant
Your website can act as a 24/7 marketing tool, building trust by featuring client testimonials, a clear breakdown of your services, and successful case studies. This makes it easy for potential clients to find you and understand what you bring to the table.
- A Developer or IT Professional
Showing off your technical projects, live code examples, or completed apps through a personal site demonstrates your skills in a way no traditional CV can.
- A Writer or Content Creator
Your words are your product, so having a site where you can showcase your writing, blogs, or multimedia content helps establish your expertise. It’s a powerful way to make an impact and attract new clients or projects.
- A Marketing or PR Professional
You know how to build a brand, and a personal website is your opportunity to show that. Display successful campaigns, highlight your strategies, and show potential employers or clients that you have the skills to do the same for them.
- A Job Seeker in Competitive Industries
In industries with high competition, a personal website sets you apart by showing potential employers your creativity and dedication. It gives you the chance to demonstrate more than what a typical résumé can hold.
- An Academic or Researcher
Your website can serve as a central hub for your publications, research projects, and academic accomplishments. This makes it easier for colleagues, students, and collaborators to discover and connect with your work.
- An Entrepreneur or Startup Founder
Your personal site can communicate your mission and vision, share your story, and connect with investors, partners, or media. It can the best way to build credibility around yourself and your business.
- A Public Speaker or Coach
With a personal website, you can easily share your speaking engagements, media appearances, and workshop details. Plus, it gives event organizers a direct way to reach out and book you.
- An Actor, Musician or Entertainer
A personal website is the perfect platform for sharing your demo reels, performance videos, and upcoming events. It helps agents, casting directors, and fans get to know you and your talent better.
- A Project Manager
Showcasing your detailed project case studies, methodologies, and client feedback on a personal site lets you stand out from the competition. It gives potential employers or clients a deeper understanding of your approach and the value you bring.
In summary, as we have shown in the examples above, a website CV can benefit you in several key ways:
With thousands of applications per vacancy, particularly in highly competitive fields, it can become nearly impossible to stand out with a standard paper CV or social media profile.
This is where having a website CV to complement your application can instantly differentiate you from other candidates and tip the scales in your favor. That is because having a website demonstrates that you’ve gone the extra mile, you take your career seriously and are willing to invest in it. It is a signal of professionalism, creativity, and attention to detail.
If it is well-designed, a website can tell your story in a much more engaging and effective way than a standard CV ever could, helping you create a lasting first impression. This is becoming all the more important with hiring professionals Googling candidates before looking at their applications.
If you’ve tried Googling yourself, you’re probably familiar with the anxiety of what you will find in the results. It’s likely that you’ll be greeted by social media profiles, some of which are out of date and old pictures of you that might not show you in the best possible light.
You can save yourself the embarrassment by ensuring that hiring professionals will see your beautiful custom website at the top of search results instead. That way, they will be exposed to your personal brand before even getting in touch with you.
As we said earlier, a professional website is one of the main venues for creating, developing and maintaining your personal brand.Put simply, your personal brand is the image or identity you project to the world, particularly in a professional context. It not only includes what you do, but how you do it, and why.
In a previous article, we provided a comprehensive guide on crafting a memorable brand identity. In it, we said that a visual brand consists of multiple elements tied together by a common vision: your logo, color selection, typography, the imagery you use, etc.
A personal brand is no different. A website will allow you to greet visitors with your branding, which, if done properly, will instill in them the feelings you want them to feel so they will begin to associate you with positive traits like reliability, dependability, quality, etc.
Much more than a traditional CV or a social media profile, a website will give you the tools and freedom to shape the narrative. You will be able to highlight your story, your mission, and your unique approach to work through various means.
First, you won’t be constrained by bullet points or character limits. You won’t need to fit all of your information in pre-defined, limited sections that look just like everyone else’s. Imagine telling your story with a custom animated timeline, complete with images and videos that appear as you scroll through the page.
Have a gap in your CV? There are multiple ways to creatively explain it, and not just in words. On your own website, you won’t be limited to listing jobs that start on one date and end on another. You won’t be forced to add job titles, either. Instead, you can be creative in how you draw attention to specific aspects of your professional history. You can highlight personal projects, how you helped people and what you learned.
You can share insights in blog articles, podcasts and videos, either housed directly on your site, on popular platforms like YouTube and Spotify, or both. All of these elements will help create a richer, more engaging experience for your audience and allow you to communicate your skills in a way that a résumé simply can’t.
As an added bonus, your newfound freedom of expression can make you appear tech savvy and sophisticated. Even if you didn’t build the website yourself, you signal that you understood the value it creates, you knew what you wanted, found the right partner to make it happen and effectively managed the process.
These are skills that organizations around the world value and are willing to pay for.
If we’ve managed to convince you that getting a website CV is a good idea, the next question we need to tackle is what the best way to get one is.
There are a few ways you can go about this. First, you can use a free or low-cost template and try to build the website yourself. We don’t recommend this option, especially if you don’t have experience in building websites. Whie this option is the cheapest or outright free, you get what you pay for.
A cheap template-based website will constrain you, it will likely be difficult to maintain and prone to bugs, or may outright stop working. In that case, we think that having no website is preferable than having a bad one. Remember, you’re trying to leave a great first impression.
One alternative is to hire an experienced graphic designer or agency to create the brand and website for you. In that case, if you choose the right partner, you will be paying for experience and quality, which should show in the website. You will also be able to focus on what you do best and leave the website in capable hands.
Turning a website project into a success requires much dedicated effort and careful planning. If you choose to work with us on your CV website, as an experienced brand and web agency, we will consult and support you every step of the way.
Our process begins with getting to know you and your needs in detail. Based on your brief, we will ask questions about what you want to achieve. Next, we’ll design your visual brand, which includes your logo, color palette and typography.
We will then incorporate it in the initial designs for your website. Whether you want a sleek, minimalist look or something more creative and bold, we’ll make sure your website is a perfect fit for your style and industry. Once you’re happy with the design of your website, we will go about building it in Webflow. We’ll ensure that your site is easy to navigate, mobile-friendly, and optimized for search engines.
Once the website is created, we will remain at your service to continuously update, develop and maintain it. We’ll be there to answer any questions you may have.
As we have shown, a website CV can be a great way to differentiate yourself from other applicants and improve your chances of getting hired. While anyone can benefit form displaying a strong personal brand on a CV website, it’s a particularly powerful tool if you are, for example, a creative professional, consultant, public personality, developer, or writer.
A CV website functions as your digital business card, helping you to leave a great first impression with hiring professionals. It achieves this by allowing you significantly greater freedom than a standard CV or social media profile in terms of what you show on it and how you show it. With a custom website, you can make use of diverse elements and tools like graphics, videos, podcasts, blog articles, testimonials, animations, and many more.
Creating a strong website CV is not easy. Although free options are available, we recommend working with an experienced graphic and web designer or agency for the quality they can provide.
If you choose to work with us on your website CV, send us your brief and we’ll get back to you!
Get in touch today!
