Photo: (Moses Lee)
If you're a recent college graduate or a college student planning to graduate in the next year or two, you've probably got one thing on your mind: FINDING A JOB! And we know a site that can seriously help you!
With unemployment rates soaring, it's no surprise most young adults don't know where to turn for support. Where should you post your resume? What's the best way to find a job online? How can you get prospective employers to look at your work?
Seelio, a new online portfolio network, hopes to answer some of those questions. Seelio, a combination of the words "see" and "portfolio," is geared toward job seekers who see themselves as builders and doers. The format of Seelio is highly visual, offering users a chance to showcase their work and build an online brand in a way that a resume or cover letter isn't able to do.
Although the company, founded in late 2011 and officially launched last August, is relatively new, hundreds of companies including Facebook, Twitter, Rent the Runway and Yelp are already using Seelio to recruit talent.
MTV Act spoke with one of Seelio's founders, CEO Moses Lee, to find out more about the site and why it's worth a closer look:
ACT: How will Seelio help students and recent graduates find jobs?
MOSES: Seelio lets students and recent grads, who often have limited work experience, literally show what they can do. Employers and graduate schools are looking for people who can demonstrate their skills, competencies, and a track record of accomplishment. Seelio lets students display these in ways that a resume or cover letter simply can't.
At this point, however, we're not eliminating the resume. Rather, we're complementing it. Students are putting their unique Seelio URL on their resumes so that potential employers and graduate schools can look beyond the bullet points to see who they are and what makes them tick.
Photo: Whoa, robots and a student's portfolio on Seelio! (Seelio)
ACT: Why did you feel the need to build the site?
MOSES: As an educator at the University of Michigan, I get the chance to see firsthand the incredible talents and passions of students every day. What has bothered me is that their talents often go unseen and unnoticed by many -- peers, employers, graduate schools, and alumni.
We built this site to celebrate and showcase students' talents, passions, and projects. Our hope is that students will be empowered to authentically share who they are and what they have done -- and gain exposure for their abilities on our network. The current tools out there, particularly for employment, are just inadequate.
We also started Seelio in response to what we heard from many employers and graduate schools -- that they want a more holistic view of a person when making hiring or admissions decisions. Looking at someone's work to understand how he or she thinks is more important than whether or not a person can write a great resume.
ACT: The site is very visual. Why is that?
MOSES: The students who have been using Seelio consider themselves to be builders and doers. They are the students who are constantly creating and doing things on their campus, whether it's running a sorority, building new technologies, launching student initiatives, or trying to start the next Facebook. For these students, text alone can't fully describe or convey who they are or what they have done.
And for most people, this is true. A visual representation of yourself can go much farther in showcasing who you are. On Seelio, students can easily add any digital document from their computer or from the internet to their portfolio. You can upload a marketing presentation, a creative writing piece, a video of your engineering projects, images from your volunteer experience, or a research paper.
Photo: Homepage of Seelio, a site where you just might find your next job! (Seelio)
ACT: Do you have any advice for job seekers given the current state of the economy?
MOSES: You've got to be proactive in putting yourself out there and networking with employers and alumni. A job or internship isn't just going to fall from the sky; you've got to go get it.
Along with that, employers want to know that you want to work for their company. Make sure you do your research on a company before approaching them. Showing excitement and deep interest in an employer goes a long way towards landing a job.
ACT: Can you share any success stories from the site?
MOSES: One of the most powerful moments for me was when one student told me that she didn't think she was very talented but found encouragement and affirmation from the Seelio community. The empowerment from the community gave her greater boldness to talk about her talents and skills more openly. These kind of stories excite our team and give us motivation to keep working to build a better Seelio.
If you want a new way to showcase your achievements and examples of your work, be sure to check out Seelio. If you're already taking names at your current job but want to rack up some good karma points, consider donating to CrowdRise's JobRaising campaign going on now and help put Americans back to work.
