Some feel as though the era of paper resumes has gone the way of the wire recorder, and from the way things are trending, it certainly appears that way. Now it seems that more and more people-particularly college students-are beginning to create electronic resumes as opposed to the plain, old-fashioned paper ones.

Most students at UNA who have tried applying for on-campus jobs have more than likely gone through the process of posting an electronic resume, but what about an online one?

“I encourage people to have an online presence,” said Dr. Gregory Pitts, professor of Communications and Portfolio Preparation. “The other thing you want to do with your resume is to make it distinct. Your story is not a template story,” Pitts said.

Techno-savvy students can upload videos, photos and text to a blog, giving their online resumes a different feel from the paper ones that people a generation before are used to.

Free services for online portfolios abound, and soon the ease of digital resumes may supplant the need for traditional ones. In a Forbes online post, Dan Schawbel predicts that in about 10 years, there will be no need at all for paper resumes.

But don’t go tossing out any printout drafts of resumes just yet. Pitts acknowledges the advantages of online resumes, but said, “A paper resume takes a little bit more time to put it together. It demonstrates the ability to organize yourself, and it conveys to the employer a sense of respect for them.”

While people may boast about the ease of online resumes, there is still a lot of work and revision involved.

Melissa Medlin, director of UNA Career Planning and Development said, “The resume is a serious job-search tool. It is not a hoop to jump through. I think people sometimes just slap it together. They don’t take the process seriously enough. Any student will tell you: you don’t just sit down and put it together.”

Pitts also advises students to revise, revise, revise before they send their resumes out to employers, whether electronic or paper.

“It’s nice also to have somebody look at your resume,” Pitts added.

For more information regarding resumes, contact Career Planning and Development at 256-765-4277.