Went from printing 50 resumes to sending a single link for my last job switch

Back in 2019 I was dropping off paper resumes at places around Portland, probably handed out 30 of them and got maybe 2 callbacks. Last year when I was looking again I just put together a simple portfolio site with past projects and a short bio, sent that link to 5 companies I actually wanted to work for. Got interviews at 3 of them and took an offer from the one that paid the most, saved me a ton of time and paper. Anyone else ditch the old school paper resume approach and see better results?

2 comments

2 Comments

luna89113d agoMost Upvoted

That's rough about the Portland drop offs, I remember doing the exact same thing a few years back and feeling like I was just throwing paper into a void. Getting only 2 callbacks out of 30 is brutal, I think I had something like 1 callback out of 40 one time. It's wild how much the game changed, like now you can just show what you did instead of trying to explain it on a single page. Really happy for you that the link approach worked out so well, feels like companies are finally catching up to how people actually apply now. Do you think the quality of the interviews was better too since you already knew they were interested from the link?

thomas.tyler13d ago

lol the part about 30 resumes and 2 callbacks hit home. I had almost the exact same ratio back in 2018 dropping papers off at cafes and shops. Switched to a simple link with my portfolio and got way more responses too. It's crazy how much less effort gets way better results now.