53 Responses

1. Christopher S. Penn

   08|Oct|2007 1

   Now here’s the $64,000 question – how do you write that intro paragraph so that it snaps just as hard as everything else? Right now, the social media resume is innovative – just having one sets you apart. What’s the game plan for the road ahead, as they become more common, to keep yourself distinct?

2. Scott Monty

   08|Oct|2007 2

   The first instance I saw of this was Rohit Bhargava’s Social Media Bio. It’s a great concept to consolidate all of your online presence in one place.

   But in my experience, recruiters and employers still want something for their files – and a hard copy resume is part of that. While an online page such as the one you’ve created are essential, I think we need to find a way to bake some of this content into a traditional resume as well.

   I don’t think we should banish the traditional resume any more than we should banish the traditional press release or the print edition of the newspaper. My mantra with new media is that it doesn’t replace old media, it complements and enhances it. As I mentioned in our podcast interview, you never know how your audience prefers to consume information, so it’s wise to give them a wide range of options from which to choose.

3. Mitch Joel - Twist Image

   08|Oct|2007 3

   I really (… REALLY) love this idea. I think Scott has a point, but that’s easily solvable with two little apps on your page – one that says “printer friendly version” and one that says “email this to someone who should hire me.”

   I can tell you this: if someone sent a cover letter explaining the Social Media Resume to me with a link to theirs, my guess is that it would rise to the top of the HR heap.

   I don’t handle HR at Twist Image, so you know anything that gets me excited about that process has to have some levels of merit.

   Thanks for the post Bryper, I’ll be Blogging about it later.

4. Take Responsibility and Fire THEY : [chrisbrogan.com]

   08|Oct|2007 4

   [...] Kill your resume and build something that DESCRIBES you. (Example, Bryper’s Social Media Resume). [...]

5. Six Pixels of Separation - Marketing and Communications Blog and Podcast - By Mitch Joel at Twist Image

   08|Oct|2007 5

   Marketing Yourself In A Connected World – Is It Time To Kill The Traditional Resume?…

   I’m surprised by how many people still don’t see the direct correlation between developing your Personal Brand and Digital Marketing. Companies are leveraging every facet of Digital Marketing, but the true power that is driving the success of Social …

6. Rob Clark

   08|Oct|2007 6

   One suggestion I would make for the SMCV…
   Avoid the photo and avoid any video of yourself. From a legal point of view, HR does not want to know anything that can open the company up to a discrimination lawsuit.

   As well, I’d direct you to the hResume microformat in the works http://microformats.org/wiki/hresume

   Might be a thought to incorporate that – or at least the hCard format – into the SMCV.

7. Lisa

   08|Oct|2007 7

   Bryan – this is a great post and a refreshing concept. Social media resumes tend to display more insight into personality than traditional resumes and I hope I see more of them in the near future. Finding a culture fit is very important, especially on a small team, so if I can learn more about your personality and your passions, and see more of your writing, this will help me determine more quickly if engaging in a conversation makes sense.

   Scott – as a recruiter for a communciations agency I can tell you I’d love to banish paper resumes completely! My world is online: my filing, my tracking, and my notes. Life is much easier when I can keep all this info together in one place. I’m very surprised when my fax machine rings and a resume comes through – this happens about twice a year, and at least once a month a resume comes in the mail.

   I do agree with you that traditional resumes can’t be abandoned just yet – the format is still fitting for displaying certain skill sets and backgrounds. I’m more drawn to the social media resume because it demonstrates that the candidate lives in the world my agency lives in.

8. Bryan

   08|Oct|2007 8

   Thanks to you all for your comments.

   A couple of notes:

   @Scott Monty: One of the elements that Christopher Penn included in his social media resume (and that I might have included in mine) is a link to a PDF version of his work history that could be printed out and filed away. In Chris’s case, the PDF was generated from his LinkedIn profile, but it could just as easily could have from been a one- or two-page text resume.

   Secondly, I recognize that this format is not a good fit or appropriate for all industries. Still, for the creative fields, I’d like to think that recruiters will need to begin embracing the social media resume (or something similar) as a way of continuing to attract top talent.

   @Rob Clark: The inclusion of a video/photo can be tricky from a legal standpoint, and it’s an issue we’ve heard about from recruiters at Monster.

   But again, in the creative space, how does someone who videoblogs or regularly posts images to photo-sharing sites like Flickr not include some of those visuals in a representation of themselves to an employer?

   I’ll also have to study the hResume microformat a bit more. Of course, the beauty of the social media resume is that it will continue to evolve and incorporate the latest and greatest online tools.

9. randell

   08|Oct|2007 9

   I like it. I’m going to give it a shot. My actual resume doesn’t reflect my actual real life ability at all. Thanks!

10. Christopher S. Penn

    08|Oct|2007 10

    A followup thought:

    Ultimately, if you’re proficient at building your personal brand and marketing yourself, you probably won’t need a resume at all. Your employment, such as it is, will probably come from the strong network you already have.

    Don’t get too hung up on the resume, social media or otherwise. Better to invest your time in building your personal network.

11. Herb

    08|Oct|2007 11

    I couldn’t agree more and have been leaning towards creating some similar for myself – thanks for the suggestions on what to include.

    For the musing of thoughts – how would you react, weave the idea of thought leadership and the problems of thought leadership mentioned here – http://inhouse.sites.subhub.com/articles/20070622

12. The Waving Cat » Blog Archive » Social Media Resume: Better Than The Traditional Stuff

    08|Oct|2007 12

    [...] I’d like to quote the headline of Bryan’s post to summarize up front. His blog entry is titled “Die, resume! Die! Die! Die!” [...]

13. mdy

    09|Oct|2007 13

    While I agree 100% with Chris Penn’s comment (#10) about not getting too hung up on the resume and spending more time on growing the personal network, I think there’s a lot of value in going through the Social Media resume writing exercise.

    IMHO, the act of condensing your life experience into a few short pages (web or otherwise) has a way of making you rethink your priorities, accomplishments, and life direction. It forces us to look critically at the choices we’ve made and the way we spend our time.

    Really enjoyed reading this one, Bryan.

    Cheers!

14. Lindsey Pollak

    09|Oct|2007 14

    I could not agree more. I’ve been saying this constantly – that the traditional resume will go the way of the dinosaur and all resumes will be social media profiles instead. It already feels old fashioned to have to provide someone with a paper resume. Great post!

15. Kami Huyse

    09|Oct|2007 15

    Very classy. Show don’t tell. Brilliant really.

16. Bryan

    09|Oct|2007 16

    @mdy, @ChristopherPenn and others:

    I’d like to get to the point where I never have to show a resume to land a job. I’m not there yet, though, and I suspect the majority of the working force isn’t either — even in the creative fields.

    In the meantime, the social media resume does present a more complete picture of the candidate than the traditional one.

    @mdy: you’re also right that condensing your work history into an easily digestable format is important. After all, recruiters don’t want to know every last detail of your entire work history. They’re asking you to give them the highlights. I think, though, that a good social media resume is doing just that, but doing so in a rich and more interactive way than a traditional resume ever could.

17. Marcom Blog · An Innovative Way to Build An Online Resume: Hint, Your Blog Can Help

    10|Oct|2007 17

    [...] his post Die, resume! Die! Die! Die!, he is obviously playing off a theme started by reporter Tom Foremski and forwarded by Todd Defren [...]

18. Social SEO

    10|Oct|2007 18

    This is another aspect of Reputation Management, a growing discipline in the SEO industry.

    In the past, for a few positions we only interviewed people whose names we could find in Google.

19. Awais

    10|Oct|2007 19

    Great idea, I agree that an SMR gives a more complete picture of
    what a person is like and gives a better idea of their abilities than what a traditional one does.

    One suggestion I have for the SMR – what about adding an audio/video interviews with one of your references to it?

    I know the resume formats in the US are a little bit different from the European ones, but here in Scandinavia you *have* to include a couple of references on your resume when you apply for a job – or else they won’t consider the application. I think it could be a good idea to add a short 1-2 minute long interview with one or two of your references to the SMR.

    Also, I like Mitch Joel’s suggestion about adding the two apps. If you’re using something like wordpress to make the SMR, it shouldn’t be too hard to find a plugin that helps you to do that.

20. Game over – Blogs als Karrierekiller ... auf Karriere-Bibel

    11|Oct|2007 20

    [...] Mitarbeiter der Jobbörse Monster postuliert gerade das Ende desselben unter dem Titel “Die, resume! Die! Die! Die!“. Stattdessen plädiert er für ein selbstgebautes Social Media Resume – eine Art [...]

21. Carlie Flossberg

    11|Oct|2007 21

    Thanks Bryan! Not only was it fun to create my own SMR – but a true learning experience. I think it’s important to add a pdf format of the traditional resume. Although I did edit out my personal information. This is also makes keeping your resume updated very simple.
    Great Post!

22. Social Media Top 5, #5: Social Media Note From Your Mother Template « Gischeleman’s Blog

    12|Oct|2007 22

    [...] by Tom Foremski and others led to efforts to create a social Media Press Release (SMPR); then, Bryan Person applied the same idea to the resume (SMR). Now– presenting, the Social Media Note From Your [...]

23. blogstring.com » Social Media Top Ten - Vacation Edition

    15|Oct|2007 23

    [...] founder Bryan Person calls for “death of resume,” wants a social media resume [...]

24. Shannon Whitley

    17|Oct|2007 24

    To truly call this social, you must allow comments on your Social Media Resume. The Community should have the opportunity to develop conversations around you and your work performance. I also see the opportunity for mashups. Of course you’d have to include a Creative Commons license for that.

25. John Johansen

    17|Oct|2007 25

    Great post. I’ve been thinking about how I’m going to update my resume for my next job search. 4 bullet points under a job title just doesn’t really seem to be enough.

    The idea of creating a microsite for your resume is excellent. It’s like a landing page for recruiters. I’m definitely going to start working on mine.

26. Bryan

    18|Oct|2007 26

    @Shannon:

    Two very good points, and you’re right. I’ve added a Creative Common license to it, and also linked back to this post for people to add commentscomments.

    Unfortunately, I don’t know of a way to enable comments directly to the resume itself, which is built in Google Pages.

27. Geoff Livingston

    18|Oct|2007 27

    Resume, who needs a resume? Google search should do the work.

28. Bryan

    18|Oct|2007 28

    Geoff, I see this as the next step to eliminating the resume altogether!

29. Daily Bookmarks 10/19/2007 « Experiencing E-Learning

    19|Oct|2007 29

    [...] Experiencing E-Learning Building Experiences through Instructional Design and E-Learning « Daily Bookmarks 10/18/2007 Daily Bookmarks 10/19/2007 October 19th, 2007 Die, resume! Die! Die! Die! by The Bryper Blog [...]

30. Huzefa L

    20|Oct|2007 30

    Great post! I feel that the concept of taking your resume to the next level applies to more than just those that work as online advertisers, digital marketers, or social media-focused PR pros.

    With the rich media available out there, its becoming easier and easier for people to make their resumes speak to employers.

31. Chris @ Blog for Jobs

    23|Oct|2007 31

    Bryan I am a strong believer in SMR. In fact I think the blog (or varioations of it) should be the defacto resume of every person graduating college today. See http://www.blogforjos.com for many examples.

32. Marcom Blog · Daddy, what do you do?

    01|Nov|2007 32

    [...] A commitment to lifelong learning is a must; not only for their own professional development, but because their passion for their work drives them to learn and grow far above any monetary consideration of what a particular training course might mean to their resume (Bryan Person—aka ‘Bryper’—has a particularly good Social Media resume). [...]

33. Recruiting News Worth Reading » StandoutJobs.com

    10|Nov|2007 33

    [...] Die, resume! Die! Die! Die! – Bryan Person works at Monster, but he’s sick and tired of bland, old-school resumes for creative professionals. As he points out, “The traditional resume just does a woefully inadequate job of telling your career story and showcasing your brilliant work to a recruiter.” [...]

34. eric conrad

    14|Nov|2007 34

    Yes I agree with you. Web 2.0 Resume is hot! Its IN. Have you heard about the video resume? Its hot right now. Im not saying this will replace the traditional way of writing a great resume but i find this beneficial for people seeking job overseas.

    Heres the definition a video resume: A video resume is a short video created by a candidate for employment and uploaded to the Internet for prospective employers to review. The video resume describes the individual’s skills and experience and is is typically used to supplement a paper resume.

    A video resume can be created by a professional or you can create your own.

    My personal tips: It is important to use an appropriate introduction and closing for the recording. Your introduction should be short and sweet, explaining who you are and the purpose and format for the online video. Your closing should provide a very specific next step for the employer to follow in making direct contact with you. Always include your written resume folded and attached to the recording. I think thats it!

    Take a look at this website. Check it out.

    http://videoresume.friendswinonline.info – this website provide a means for users to incorporate video resumes into their profiles.

    One more thing a job applicants must use a keyword or tags correctly if they are creating online resume. The benefit is you will have the advantage over other applicant. Some people ive known have benefit a lot on this book. check it out: http://tinyurl.com/2tvdth

    I hope you find it beneficial! Good Day! =)

35. Chelsea Good

    26|Nov|2007 35

    Your social media resume stimulated our PR Campaigns class at Kansas State University to create similar on-line resumes. It really is a great way to display actual examples of communications work. In my case, most of my examples are more traditional media but it still worked great to link to magazine articles. Here’s what I ended up with http://chelsgood.googlepages.com/home. Thanks for the inspiration!

36. Bryan

    27|Nov|2007 36

    Chelsea, I’m flattered that your PR class has taken my idea and run with it. I like what you’ve done with your social media resume, too, and am curious to see what some of your classmates have done! Good luck in your own (I presume) job search!

37. Christopher Penn, Financial Aid Podcast

    27|Nov|2007 37

    One way, of course, to build a social media resume that is more tailored would be to use Wordpress and a custom page – that would require a little more coding that Google Pages’ drag and drop interface, but would also allow comments, tagging, and all the goodies that Wordpress delivers.

    Chelsea: too bad you don’t live in Boston or I’d hire you!

38. Bryan

    27|Nov|2007 38

    Agreed, Chris, that we need to find a better way to make the social media resume more social. Maybe a smart person could write a SMR plugin for WordPress?

39. Awais Sultan

    28|Nov|2007 39

    Chris and Bryan, what wordpress plugins would you recommend for a SMR? I think that using Technorati tags and a plugin like Gregarious is a must, any others you can think of?

40. Social Media as Personal Power : [chrisbrogan.com]

    10|Dec|2007 40

    [...] from simple things like finding a job (lots of us use our blogs as a sort of living resume (see Bryan Person’s post on this here). It can help you find great social causes. Of all the benefits building a community of active [...]

41. Rick Mahn

    10|Dec|2007 41

    Bryan, great post that really gets a person thinking. I also had read and followed Christopher Penn’s lead and created my SMR a few months back. I happened to build it on a page off my blog (http://rickmahn.com/resume) instead of a secondary site.

    While I wanted an online resource, I also tried to create a hard-copy version based off the ideas of Shift’s “Social Media Release” and my own twists on using my content. I made sure there were download links for a hardcopy in PDF, XPS, and DOCX formats.

    I’m sure there are many better ideas than what I came up with, but it’s an example of a working resume: I do point people to that site when they want a copy of my resume.

    Regards,
    Rick Mahn

42. Interesting post about resumes « Bella-Venture

    12|Feb|2008 42

    [...] C.E. @ 1:38 pm Tags: blog, resume, social media Even though this post first appeared in October, “Die, resume! Die! Die! Die!,” on The Bryper Blog, I thought it worth mentioning because I found it both comforting and [...]

43. Cameron McGrane

    21|Mar|2008 43

    Hey Brian

    Using the requests and links from this conversation, I have created a Wordpress social media custom template.
    It does not have a pdf hard copy link, send to a friend or use the hresume microformat but could be easily tailored to do so.

    Because it is Wordpress it does allow commenting (which is cool) and extend flexibility of the “new media resume” style format.

    http://growing.grassrootnetworks.com/index.php/wordpress-new-media-resume-template/

44. Growing Grassroot Networks » Don’t bother having a resume just be remarkable

    21|Mar|2008 44

    [...] about. Enter the “New Media” type resume, the brain child of Chris Penn, extended by Bryan Person and morphed over to Wordpress by [...]

45. Warren

    31|Mar|2008 45

    Bryan,

    A great concept that’s long overdue. I’ve followed your template and created my own, I’d love your feedback, by the way. One thing that really intrigues me about your page and Chris Penn’s is how you got the SEO ranking so high. Any tips that you can share?

    Thanks,

46. Bryan

    31|Mar|2008 46

    Warren, it’d be great if you could share you link so that I could have a look!

    Chris Penn’s SMR and mine rank so highly because we have several inbound links to them from other sites. Google likes links!

47. Warren

    31|Mar|2008 47

    Oops, here you go, http://sukernek.blogspot.com. I also sent an email to your bryanperson.com account by the way.

    Thanks,

    Warren

48. links for 2008-04-28 « Public Relations Matters

    27|Apr|2008 48

    [...] Die, resume! Die! Die! Die! by The Bryper Blog Well, the time has come to declare the death of the traditional resume for the creative professional. If you’re an online advertiser, digital marketer, or social media-focused PR pro, then you know that the one- or two-page resume that you’re suppose (tags: resume jobsearch blog socialmedia SocialMediaResume) [...]

49. Bill Smith

    30|Apr|2008 49

    Thank you for the insight, I am finding my job search is getting stale and I am planning to get a social media resume up and running to compliment my word document version for more conventional minded employers.

50. Web Worker Daily » Archive The Social Media Resume: Making Your Mark in a Web 2.0 World «

    28|May|2008 50

    [...] landscape involves more networking, connectivity, and collaboration. Then, I heard about the social media resume – which is more than a collection of dates and job descriptions. In fact, a social media resume [...]

51. Resume 2.0 « The Secret Diary of a Bonafide Marketing Genius

    27|Jun|2008 51

    [...] wheel?”). I found Chris Penn’s landmark example and the ubiquitous Bryan Person’s famous “Die, Resume! Die! Die! Die!” blog post (which, conveniently, included his own example and ‘how to’). There’s Rohit Bhargava’s [...]

52. aarnio / john » Blog Archive » Introduction

    15|Jul|2008 52

    [...] http://www.bryper.com/2007/10/08/die-resume-die-die-die/ [...]

53. Teena Rose

    02|Jun|2009 53

    Hey Bryan. Yes, not the title I’d expect from a Monster.com employee. =-]

    Your comments do raise a question.

    What is Monster.com doing to prepare itself for the possible demise of the traditional resume? There is certainly plenty of chatter online about “death to the resume,” and I’m curious what job boards are thinking/doing in light of services such as LinkedIn and FaceBook getting so much attention about potentially replacing the traditional resume.

    Your thoughts?

    Regards,
    @teenarose