While popular services such as Monster and CareerBuilder may have some job postings (the Internet doesn’t truly list all the openings), they also make you jump through lengthy account-creating and advertisement hurdles in order to get a chance at creating or uploading a resume.
If you’re uploading a resume that you created the painful way through Microsoft Word, you’ll also have to go through the hassle of converting your resume to PDF in order to prevent the potential employer from seeing the squiggly red lines in your resume indicating that your last name or your most recent employer’s isn’t grammatically recognized, among other formatting risks. Save yourself all the trouble (and time!) and let Y Combinator-funded JobSpice help you build a free resume online in 15-20 minutes!
As JobSpice is built in the actively developed Javascript library, jQuery, you can definitely expect it to be very speedy and easy to use.
What to Include When You Build a Free Resume Online
Like we said before, once you hop onto JobSpice.com, you can literally get started right away because it shows you four placeholder so you can begin typing your basic contact information. Alternatively, you could try adding the resume sections first and then typing away.
By clicking on Add new section on the left sidebar, you can pick from any of the existing sections (Contact Info, Objective, Education, Coursework, Experience, Achievements, Clubs and Affiliations, Skills, Publications) or add your own (Custom Section). Reorder any of the sections with ease.
Fill the Sections Out
After you’ve chosen your sections, plug in your bits of information. To add multiple entries, click on the green (+) icon; to remove them, click on the red (-) icon instead. Even if you accidentally clicked on the other tabs in JobSpice (e.g. Preview or Styles), your work is saved even if you don’t have a JobSpice account (which only takes about 5 seconds to create since you only need an username and a password; no activation email needed).
Preview in Select Templates (”Styles”)
There’s about a dozen Styles in which you can dress up your resume – see yours in a new style instantly in the Preview tab or browse the rest in the Styles tab. If you’re well-versed in HTML and CSS, press on the blue sticker in Styles to make your own or customize a style for an unique look!
Export As PDF or Save Online to Share with Others/Access Resume From Any Computer
To have your freshly composed resume in your machine, JobSpice will deliver the goodies to you in .PDF format when you press on either Print or PDF, while you can also use Save (for which you’ll need an account that you can create by just providing an username and password) if you want to have a copy online in case you want to send your resume from your non-primary computer. The Share function to create your own shareable link (e.g. jobspice.com/anynameyouwant) or add new link names for different resumes. Whoever gets your link will be able to view and download your resume in PDF format.
Manage Your Links and Change Background Color of Your Resume Page
Now that you have an account, you’ll have the ability to view your resume from any computer and manage your links to different resumes, which you can create in Share, so you’ll have customized resumes for different recipients. Say, you’re applying to a job for which you think a nicely elaborated Objective would enhance your chances, but you don’t regularly include that section. You can store all of your current and past sections (e.g. Objective, Skills, etc.) with the Show/Hide function.
As JobSpice offers many customization options, you will also have the ability to change the background color of the resume you are sending to others. On the Manage tab you’ll see when you’re logged in, click on the Background Color palette and see the instant change when you click on the link above the palette. Here is a quick demo of the results.
If you’re having any trouble or have questions on any functions, try tweeting your question to @jobspice. When I expressed a problem that I had with one of the new features i.e. changing the background color, JobSpice staff fixed my problem within 10 minutes.
As you can see here, JobSpice makes the process of building a free resume online a lot more fun and makes a great update to other resume-hosting websites, and template-gifting sites. Let us know in the comments if you have tried or plan to use the service!
