As part of what I am calling Job Search 2.0 (see post just below this one) - there is a push for creating a standardized way for people to control their resume data. Instead of having to enter their resume into numerous job boards in a million different formats - there is a standardized online format that has been created and is gaining in popularity called hResume.
What the heck is hResume and why should you care?
hResume creates a new page in your blog specifically designed to present your resume in a visual form that is viewable by people and computers. The hResume Project has developed an hResume plugin for WordPress (sponsored by SPUR) that automatically embeds semantic markup as specified in the hResume Microformat. Microformats are a set of simple, open data formats built upon existing and widely adopted standards. By using this semantic markup, resume content can be read by computers operated by employers and employment websites. Additionally, the format will allow search engines to easily index resume content and return resume data in search results.
New and progressive sites like Emurse already accept hResumes. If this gains in popularity - it may force the big boards to accept resumes in this format as well. This puts the control of the content back in the hands of the job seekers. They are free to include only the information that they are comfortable sharing publicly. There is no *required* info to submit. Resume content can be housed and updated in ONE place (and then just ping job boards to advise of an update - just like posting a new blog post).
Given the ease of indexing the content - the adoption of hResume formats by job seekers would be quite a windfall for recruiters and sourcers. You can see how it works on our EXCELER8ion blog. Take a look at the nav bar at the top and you will see that there is now a tab that says ‘resume’.
Technorati Tags: microformats, hResume, semantic markup, job boards, emurse
EXCELER8ion is where Julian and Shannon Seery Gude write on Social Media, Interactive Marketing, Technology and Internet Business Topics. 
6 comments ↓
Microformats in general are really exciting for users. They represent a chance for us to take control of our information and do what we need/want/like with it.
At Emurse, we’re really excited about hResume in particular. Our focus is on improving the users job hunt, and we feel information ownership for the job seeker is a critical piece of that. It’s still all in the early stages (as is our service altogether), but great things are surely ahead
Best,
Alex Rudloff
Emurse.com
Shannon, thanks for the pointer to the hResume project and the plugin! I am really interested to see how these microformats “compete” with large initiatives such as HR-XML.
One last point 2.0 is so last week
Alex & Michael - thanks for the comments! Alex, emurse seems to be a tremendous offering for job seekers and I hope that it thrives. Michael - 2.0 IS so last week. Julian and I came across a great quote:
— Tim Berners-Lee
Shannon
Interesting post. Way back in 1999 i.e. before this millennium! we (my old company) built http://www.one-cv.com that was doing some of what Emurse are now wanting to do. The site still exists but hey, no flack please on the design!!
We then got involved with HR-XML but have since seen few real HR-XML integrations; in fact I have seen very few decent system integrations between ATS/job boards etc in the UK even today. Web 2.0 (and I like this term) will push a lot more new ideas and force more mash-ups and maybe, eventually, sometime soon, the ATS vendors and job boards will get it. In the meantime, we (my latest very small start-up) are doing some pretty cool stuff with jobs, tracking and integration. I may have to give up the day job though to make it big…….
Peter
I have to say, HR-XML is really well designed (imho). There are aspects to it that I really wish hReusme had. The cool thing is, hResume is still in draft mode and all those involved are open to debate/consideration (as with any of the microformats).
I think they can kind of co-exist. I know on Emurse we’ve built in support for both, but for different situations (hr-xml on the api side).
And just for the record, Emurse is Web 3.14, which is entirely different than 2.0.
Hey Shannon, I think you are correct! Those are definitely “recruiting(s)tools!” And, so is hResume - love it and your new ‘resume’ tab at the top.
I think I need to get one for my site. But I wonder if my team at T-Mobile would get suspicious?!
Original post: Comment on hResume - Microformats and Job Search 2.0 by Alex Rudloff by at Google Blog Search: alex job search Blog tag: Alex job search Technorati tag: Alex job search
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