Blog Post: Cool Tools: 3 ways to build an online portfolio for free

In many industries, demonstrating that you’re savvy about how to use social media and present yourself online can make the difference between being considered for a job and being left behind in the pile of resumes destined to receive “thanks, but no thanks” letters.

I recently ran across three tools that can help you present yourself more professionally online, and none of them cost a penny.

Visual CV is a free, secure service that allows users to transform their paper resume into a multimedia presentation of their skills, knowledge and abilities. Video, audio and printable PDF files can all be embedded within a user’s CV (curriculum vitae, aka resume), and users can reate multiple Visual CVs, each with a unique purpose and secure privacy setting. Information in the CV can be shared publicly or privately, via a unique URL, and personal information can be designated to be shown or not, depending on the level of security desired.

A good place to start is looking at the many Visual CV samples on the site. Both famous and ordinary people are represented, and work experience levels range from students to corporate executives. It’s easy to grab ideas from these pages that could work on your CV page.

If you work in fields where visual display of your work is crucial and you want to show samples of your work but don’t want to wade through pages of code, you might want to build a portfolio on Carbonmade. The site allows users to design the look of their portfolio page, upload images, video, even Flash-based animations to showcase their work, and track visitors to their site via Google Analytics. As noted, the site is used mostly by designers of various sorts, but there are also portfolios on the site representing those who do marketing, copywriting, information architecture and photography.

Finally, if you just can’t bring yourself to create ANOTHER site you’ll have to monitor and maintain, you may just want to beef up your LinkedIn profile by using a couple of applications that have a friendly relationship with the massive career-centric social network. Box.net has a set of tools for LinkedIn users that allows storage and display of various types of samples. Using Box.net’s Files application, LinkedIn members can organize and manage files to share with other members; share documents, presentations, photos, videos and audio right on their profile page; send files stored on Box.net seamlessly with other users through LinkedIn’s messaging system (including potential employers); collaborate and connect with LinkedIn members through project files and folders.

The second LinkedIn tool that cyber-savvy job-seekers may wish to utilize is its SlideShare application. SlideShare.net is a site for sharing PowerPoint-type presentations, Adobe PDF Porfolios and Word Documents online; if you have a slideset you’re particularly proud of, or better yet, a slideshow with audio from a webinar that you’ve created, you can display them on your LinkedIn profile page (this slideset shows how). 

Basic training

If you’re new to the whole e-portfolio concept, here are a couple of links to get you started.

Portfolios for Employment

From About.com. A very simple overview with some helpful links to additional resources and examples.

Create a Successful Online Portfolio

Smashing Magazine’s guide is aimed at designers but the basic advice applies to any career seeker wanting to set up a portfolio.