BMKT 405 e-Portfolio Assignment

Approximate time: 30 min. - 1.5 hour

a) Retrieve or create your resume

If you already have a resume (hopefully, most of you do!), you just need to find your file and move to the next steps where you will modify your regular resume to create a "Web-friendly resume".

If you have a resume but it is not in MS Word (e.g. if it's in a different program like Corel WordPerfect, MS Publisher, etc.), you will need to save / export to a MS Word compatible format in order to complete the following steps.

Here are a few resources that might help if you need to convert your resume to MS Word format from another application:

WordPerfect to MS Word

Opening various file formats in MS Word

If you don't already have a resume, you will need to create a resume using MS Word.

Here are some resources to help you create or improve your resume.

Resume tutorial from workopolis.ca

Other resume resources from workopolis.ca

Here are some samples of different types of resumes (e.g. functional, chronological, etc.).

Sample finance related resumes

Sample marketing related resumes

b) Ensure personal privacy

While your usual print-based resume would normally contain your full contact details like phone number, home address, it's better to modify your contact details for your web-based resume. The previous steps where we changed the privacy settings so only those who you invite will be able to see your e-portfolio provide a lot of privacy protection but it's still a good idea to keep your contact details to a minimum.

Of course, you need some contact info for potential employers to be able to reach you. You may want to just list your email address and telephone number and leave out your home address.

If there is anything else in your resume that you feel is particulary sensitive, you can take that material out as well.

c) Create keyword list

The next step is to use MS Word's indexing functionality to create a Keywords List section at the end of your resume. Approximately 50% of employers use electronic keyword searching of resumes to find or shortlist their potential employees (i.e instead of reading and sorting through a big pile of print-based resumes, they often require job seekers to submit an electronic copy of their resume... they then search all their electronic copies of the resumes to find keywords of specific skills or designations they are looking for).

If there are important skills that you have that you think employers might search for, make sure those words are included on your resume since the computer program that automatically searches for keywords normally can't read "between the lines". If there are some keywords that you think are especially important to employers you may want to include those words in your resume several times. This will increase your "keyword density". Of course, you want to still make your resume readable and not overdue it with repeating the same words.

Another benefit of adding a keywords list and considering your resume's keyword density is that it will make it easier for search engine "robots" to search your site and appropriately index your website, increasing your chances of someone finding your e-portfolio when typing your name in a search engine (because we have set up the privacy settings so people must be invited before being able to access your e-portfolio, this benefit will be reduced however).

Here are some examples of keywords you may want to have on your resume (by sector, e.g. marketing, finance) provided by workopolis.ca.


The first step of creating an index in MS Word is to "mark" all the words that you want included in your keyword list. If you forget how to mark up words for an index, use the MS Word help menus to guide you (hint: you access the index dialogue box from Insert Reference Tables and Index).

At the end of your resume, you should then create a heading that says "Keyword List" or something similar (e.g. "Keywords", "Skills summary" etc.).

Below this heading, you can then create your index. Again, if you forget how to create an index, use the MS Word help menus for guidance.

Here is an example of a keyword section at the end of a resume...



Here is the MS Word file of the sample above. Notice how the words in the index (keywords list) have been "marked up".

Resume sample with keywords section

d) Add your e-portfolio URL to your resume

It's a good idea to add the URL of your e-portfolio to a prominent place on your resume. A good place is with your contact info on your first page. Alternatively, you could add something like: "to view my e-portfolio, please contact me at name@email-address.com". You can then send that person an invitation to access your e-portfolio (since the privacy settings are set up to only allow people to view your e-portfolio by invitation only).



e) Spellcheck your resume

There is nothing worse than having spelling errors on your resume! Before we create an HTML version (Web version) of your resume, you should use MS Word's spellcheck functionality to ensure you don't have any spelling mistakes. You may also want to use the grammar check.

f) Save your resume to HTML format

Now that you have finished modifying your resume, you should save to HTML format. To do this, go to File Save as Web Page. Make sure that the extension being used for your file saving is htm or html (either will work in a Web browser).

g) Upload your HTML format resume to your file hosting space
h) Create a page element link to your resume from your e-portfolio by modifying your template and adding a list that includes your resume (you can do this from the Template Page Element screen).

You now have a Web friendly version of your resume on your e-portfolio adding value to your e-portfolio and increasing the chances that search engines will find your important keywords and index you on their search engines accordingly.