Forget Your Resume and Invest In This Instead

Forget Your Resume and Invest In This Instead Your resume alone may not be enough to land your next job. There is mounting proof that having a personal website is a powerful way to differentiate yourself and even attract potential employers. 67% of the human resources professionals surveyed for a Domain.ME study said a personal website provides more insight into a candidate than a traditional resume alone. Heres why you need a personal website: Let Your Personality Shine Through Companies receive hundreds of resumes for a single job posting. A personal website provides you with the opportunity to separate yourself from the crowd and highlight, in greater detail, the assets that make you a desirable candidate. According to the Domain.ME study, nearly one third of the 300 HR professionals surveyed agreed that a personal website can provide a competitive advantage for job seekers in the market for a new job. A Website Makes You More Human A resume is a sterile document, often void of personal information that shows your interests, how you process information and what motivates you. Due to limitations on how long a resume should be â€" either one or two pages â€" the resume also lacks the space necessary to tell your full story, unlike the personal website. 68%  of the surveyed HR professionals want to learn more about you and are looking for personal qualities that arent easily evident on a resume. Furthermore, half the survey respondents believe a personal website helps to humanize a candidate. A Personal Website is a Tie-Breaker Lets say you have a personal website listed on your resume, and another candidate with similar qualifications doesnt. What helps recruiters make a decision on who to call? Four in 10 surveyed recruiters would be more inclined to contact a candidate with the personal website when considering two candidates with seemingly equal qualifications. Write Your Way to Your New Job If writing is a strength, and perhaps a major component of the jobs you are pursuing, flaunt it. Providing samples of your work is evidence recruiters can see and evaluate. You can add written content to your personal website, submit an article to a professional association you belong to or even add a long post to your LinkedIn profile. According to the study, more than 25% of recruiters feel self-authored articles relating to work or volunteer activities could boost a candidates chances. Increase Your Odds of Being  Discovered Many recruiters find themselves searching online for the perfect candidate. When you have a personal website, that small piece of digital terrain you own could turn up in a recruiters search results. Savvy recruiters realize they cant completely rely on a resume database, and the survey findings back this up. More than half of recruiters conduct an active online search in addition to considering online resume submissions. An Online Presence is the Wave of the Future Get a jump start on this growing trend. Research shows that only 4% of people currently have a personal website, so youll stand out as an early adopter of the trend. Plus, youll learn a few new skills along the way. The  survey also found  83% of HR professionals believe  their jobs will become more dependent on online content over the next five years. If you are ready build your brand and personal website, you should know that its simpler than ever to create a website with easy-to-use tools, such as About.me, Squarespace, WordPress, Weebly and Wix. These are just some of the platforms available that dont require a lot of technical know-how. You can order your copy on Amazon now! And see how easy it is to build your online presence and infographic resume! This post originally appeared on US News World Report