Commercials, newspapers, relationships, communities—are just a few examples of traditional ideas moving “online.” Your resume is up next. Conventional resumes are becoming less and less common and in its place we find the ever illusive, “ePortfolio.” An ePortfolio allows you to format your personal “pitch” in a web-savvy, visually appealing way. It also enables you to show off rich-media based projects such as video clips, audio clips, etc. An ePortfolio isn’t just about the objectives you list, but the portfolio itself becomes a testament to your skill and motivation. We all know how competitive the job search process can be, but putting together a clear and professional looking ePortfolio is a great way to gain an advantage on your competitors. There are a number of easy-to-follow online tools that can aid you in the creation of your portfolio. Other things to keep in mind when getting started—

• Keep your information & experience clear and readable
• Don’t over stylize with graphics or images
• Make the portfolio easy to navigate
• Don’t include irrelevant information for the sake of content

With all of that said don’t forget the key advantage to creating a portfolio online—it’s a great medium in which to express yourself. It’s perfectly appropriate to add some color, some design details, and even some informally-toned content, basically anything that rings true to who you are as long as you still remain professional. Now I am not suggesting that ePortfolios have killed the traditional resume, but I do believe that in the years to come you will see more and more applicants submitting them. With every new concept come the transitory mistakes, so we have listed out some things that you might forget when attempting your first ePortfolio:

1. Test out your ePortfolio in multiple browsers to make sure that all content looks good no matter where you send it, or what system they are working on.
2. Include lots of links to your social networks, blogs, basically any place you have a presence online to demonstrate your reach.
3. Test ALL links multiple times before sending out to make sure you aren’t linking to a bad URL. Make sure you include and test your contact information as well as any references’ contacts you have included.
4. Spell check just as you would if you were typing up a resume, but also have someone read through it to make sure you aren’t using the wrong version of a word for example.
5. Have someone navigate it to make sure they can get through it with ease. You do not want to make it difficult for those reviewing you.

Although I don’t believe you will ever apply for a job that ONLY accepts ePortfolios (at least not in the near future) but I do think it’s just another tool for your bag of tricks, and we can all use more of those.