Click Here: Adding Links to Your Resume

It’s certainly a good idea to include those extra links, but that doesn’t mean your resume should contain a link replacing every second word: links should be carefully applied to have the right effect on employers and recruiters.

Enhancing Your Credibility and Your Chances

What Should Links Point to and How?

The most obvious information you should turn into a link is your email address, and thankfully word editors usually turn email addresses into links automatically by hitting space or enter after typing the address. If you have your own online portfolio or blog, then drawing attention to these can be hugely helpful to your application. Additionally providing links for the companies you have worked at and universities, colleges and courses you attended will make it easier for the recruiter to find any further info if they want it; in these cases it is enough to link to the homepage of these institutions, but if linking to examples of your work – as with a portfolio – then ensure the link is to a specific web page. Another important element to consider is your LinkedIn profile, where the URL can be the shortened version for convenience and better visibility.

Speaking of the URLs, though, it is better to use a shortened version only if the link remains recognizable: recruiters and employers won’t be clicking on links they don’t trust. In this way you should use one of the better known and trusted link shorteners such as Bitly or Google’s own link shortener. Better still, customizing the shortened URL to something recognizable and relevant to where the link sends you will make it look more appealing in your CV. If the link cannot be shortened then you have no choice but to include it as it is without hyperlinking it; though hyperlinks definitely look better, full URLs don’t lose their purpose when your resume is printed out. Besides, if the rest of your CV is convincing enough, the employer will want to look up those links properly anyway.

QR Codes in Resumes