MSU alumnus creates multimedia résumé Web site

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Students whose professional résumés include video, audio and pictures might be able to showcase their work with the help of an MSU alumnus.

Anthony Grinblat, a 2008 advertising and telecommunication, information studies and media graduate, started his own Web site, cybfolio.com, which allows users to create cyber portfolios able to display works of video, photo and audio. Instead of creating separate DVDs or CDs, the site allows users to upload work directly to the site and reference potential employers to a personalized Web site.

The site launched Monday, but has been accepting profiles since Sept. 8 and already has 15 members. Grinblat said the site is useful to professions such as artists, actors, engineers, advertisers, reporters and copywrighters who have visual and audio work samples.

“More and more people are attaching URL’s to their résumés,” Grinblat said. “I think that’s the biggest for students — they will have their own site to cater to all their portfolio needs.”

Currently, membership to the site costs $29.95 per year.

Kirk Domer, the acting chairperson of MSU’s Department of Theatre, is promoting Cybfolio in his seminar class as an alternative to a paper résumé. He said for a student to create a multimedia résumé from scratch it could cost between $200-$500.

“Having a Web site that can showcase your résumé, the places you’ve worked, your talents (and) your roles … is a great thing,” Domer said.

Domer said he and other professionals in his field are moving away from hard copy résumés and accepting Web links.
Although the Web site is new, the idea for online multimedia résumés is not. Other sites, such as visualcv.com, also allow members to post a résumé with video, audio and photo files for free.

Grinblat said he’s trying to compete with those sites by working to offer his services free of charge by utilizing advertisements on portions of the site.

He said he currently is in the process of building a feature so employers can post job openings on the Web site. He said part of the site would include advertisements to fund the site, but that advertisements would be kept off pages containing peoples’ résumés so as not to distract employers looking at them.

Although Wendy Coduti, a career services coordinator in MSU’s Career Services and Placement suggested students whose résumés needed video get an online résumé, she also cautioned about putting personal information on the Internet.

“Info online is online forever,” she said, “I think there’s a big safety issue that students need to consider.”

Eric Kern, a 2008 human resources graduate, already has found employment through the Internet and did submit his résumé online. However, he does not have an actual URL to give an interested employer. If he ever does, he said he’ll get a private site rather than utilizing another site’s services.

“I’m not going to put my personal info on a site that’s shady,” Kern said.

Although Kern was wary of the site, music education senior Grant King said he can see himself using a service such as Cybfolio in the future.

”I think most résumés that people get are paper copies and if you can show them something that’s different and unique and show that you have a knowledge of technology … that might help you stand apart from everybody else,” he said.

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