Online CVs

[new recruit]

Hi there,

I'm currently living the dream! I'm unemployed in London! I'm not begging for a job here, but I wanted some advice. I've registered with a temping agency, and they asked me to create an iProfile. I was wondering if people had heard anything about it? I'm all for getting a job quickly, but I was wondering which way was the best.

Many thanks

NewRecruit

[TheFaQQer]

I've seen iProfile, and some agencies keep emailing me to tell me to fill one out.

Never had one yet, so I can't see why I should bother now.

Get your CV on some job sites - jobserve, job site, monster, et. al.

[kirk]

Spring IT use iProfile, I've just had to fill one in - it was quite strange actually, somehow it gleaned from my CV that I was an expert with Cisco Works - it's not mentioned anywhere on my CV and I've never used it in my life!!!

[FarmerPalmer]

I use linkedin and cwjobs - I have my CV on both.

[new recruit]

online CVs

Thanks for the replies,

I was wondering how the iProfile compares with other types of online CVs. What does it really do that makes it special for Hays (who I signed up with) and Spring to use it. Does it come with anything else - or is it easier for recruiters to assess?

Cheers

[XLMonkey]

If you're looking for a contract, iProfile compares pretty badly with just about anything.

It was a nice idea in principle - if lots of recruitment agencies could settle on a single standard for capturing information about candidates, then it would mean that you only had to enter the information once and your details could get searched by all of them.

But, its a bit of a waste of time in practice, for the following reasons:

1. You can't tailor your profile to specific jobs. This is a total pain in the arse, as most clients do need a bit of help to spot the relevance of your skills to their situation. So do agents. So, there are lots of false negatives and you will not get considered for contracts that you could do.
2. It doesn't track availability and is rubbish at dealing with your location/role and industry preferences. So, there are also lots of false positives and you will get asked about contracts that you aren't available for/aren't interested in.
3. The market is too fragmented, and too few agents use it. So, you still have to punt your normal CV around as well.

The good ole MS Word CV, tailored to the contract, wins every time.