A bit off topic from SEO and Web Design, but we have been seeking a full time web designer and have received over 80 resumes and portfolios.  I’m one of those people that looks at the portfolio first and then reads the resume to see experience, etc.  The portfolio truly speaks for itself: I look for a very particular talent and know it when I see it.

As I placed the online web posting for the job, I was quite clear about one thing: Please send us both your resume and portfolio, we will not consider incomplete applications.  Pretty self explanatory right? The first application we get has only a portfolio attached. No resume.  I emailed the applicant back and asked for the resume: his response: I don’t currently have a resume.  That was it: no, ooops, sorry, i forgot to attach, or it will be over within an hour, just I don’t have a resume.  Wow.  Here’s another: One applicant sends in an email that says: I believe my portfolio speaks for itself.  That’s it: nothing else, no resume, no contact info, no nothing.   I click the link expecting to see works of art and marketing genius only to see one of the most unprofessional, unpolished pieces of garbage I’ve seen in a long time.  Unreal.

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