How to take your career to the next level with the help of a CV website

Successful people manage their careers with great care. They spend time thinking of them in the short and long term, will consider how particular qualifications and work experience can position them with respect to their next career move. They will build a portfolio. Public figures will hire specialist people to do this for them; the likes of Max Clifford are at one end of the scale.

This area is more commonly known as “Personal Branding”, and as careers become more competitive we need these kinds of marketing tools to project ourselves when appropriate. We need a tool set which we can manage and control, and it is this that we at Accendo have developed. This takes the form of your own career website, which we call your Accendo Life Brand Site, and allows you to present yourself to the market in a controlled manner. It comprises three essential ingredients: a service, a vehicle and a facility.

Service

The most important step is to hone your CV and ensure that it is working as hard for you as possible. We specialise in writing professional CV’s and spend time with our clients understanding where they are and where they are hoping to go next. Our service is to help guide you as an objective outsider. It is very hard to do this alone. Talking through your various career moves and future targets with one of our experienced professional team is the most valuable part of the CV writing exercise – at least according to our testimonials. Accendo will provide your Life Brand Site, its design, write the copy and give you the infra-structure (the site, maintenance for a year).

Vehicle

With the continuing rise of the Internet in the recruitment field we are now promoting the use of a Career Website (which we call an Accendo Life Brand Site). Why? A Life Brand Site allows you to be found, you can be searched for by Google, Pipl and all the other search engines and your website will be found meaning you control the content, its structure and security. By paying attention to details, such as the URL, we can accelerate the process of being found, enhancing the search results of head hunters and employers. Our Accendo Life Brand Sites are created to enhance your CV. Unlike social and business networking sites such as LinkedIn, it is within your control. You can place links to your Lifesite within LinkedIn, Plaxo, Facebook etc. and know that what you are projecting is what you want people to see.

A Lifesite provides a number of unique advantages:

• Most head hunters will read your website if given the opportunity – it is easier for them. Indeed its content is likely to become the core of the head hunter’s interview report to the employer. Allowing you to influence the recruitment process.
• When read by a head hunter or recruitment agent it positions his/her perception of you and subtly puts you in control.
• A Accendo Life Brand Site has a public face coupled with secure areas. We recommend that you keep your CV in the secure area as it contains your contact details.
• When sending your LifeSite to a future employer or recruitment agent you can let them have a password to your CV.
• A Head hunter or employer can contact you email from your Accendo Life Brand Site. This process creates an opportunity for a conversation regarding the role he/she is trying to fill.

Facility

Accendo offers to provide an “always on” projection of your personal brand, supported by a secure area to store your CV. Your CV can be updated at any time, and it is important to keep it up-to-date, with your latest appointment, responsibilities, experience & qualifications. An Accendo Life Brand Site will be present on the Internet to anyone such as a Head hunter or employer who is looking for you or someone like you and there is an email link to allow contact.

Accendo will maintain your website for a year, with excellent up time guarantees. This is all part of the purchase you make. We will contact you inviting you to create a new and updated Accendo Life Brand Site before the end of the year as it is important to update and review your personal brand – a lot can happen in a year!

Accendo will help you to create a professional career website. Once again, doing this alone is hard work. Based on your CV we will help to craft a website that brings out the elements you want to emphasis and highlight the direction you are heading. Once you are happy with the content your career website will be hosted for you and access to the private areas kept secure. Access to your contact details and CV will be password protected.

Finally, consider making a Video CV to complete the picture you are creating. The advantages are outlined in a separate article. As part of your Personal Branding we believe they are invaluable. A Video CV can be hosted as part of your CV and Life Brand Site i.e. within your own career site.