Request For Ideas for Hiring Pond

[Pedersen]

So, a favor to ask of people: I'm working on a web application to help people manage their resumes. As I've gotten further in, I've realized I don't have an actual todo list for it. So, since I'm making this to be used by others, I'll ask everybody here:

What would you want to see? Currently, I've added enough code to allow the program to output something very close to my online resume ( http://www.icelus.org/ ). Next up, I have the following features on my todo list already:

• add docutils to output strings where appropriate (everywhere?)
• add login
• add ability to edit own resume
• add ability to compile new custom resumes
• add ability to output PDF
• add ability to output ODT
• add ability to output DOC
• add generic logo
• add generic photo / head (shadow) shot
• add ability to login using Google, Yahoo, Facebook, etc
• add ability to send resumes directly from Hiring Pond
• add ability to track where resumes have gone
• add ability to track job hunt progress
• add ability to display current employment status (employed, unemployed, contracting)
• add ability to display current employment seeking status (not at all, active, passive)
• add logo to qrcode
• change colors of qrcode
• change color scheme for all of hiring pond to sunset and water
• add fisherman silhouette as hiring pond logo

What else would you all want to see in order to make you want to use this?

[Der Cute]

When in edit, make sure there's a spell check.

Make sure there's a print preview, or some way to view your margins/layouts.

Have a way to save at least 3 versions of the resume, and 3 diff cover letters.

When keeping those cover letters/resumes, be able to retrieve one, edit it, and attach to an outgoing message. And not have to change pages to grab & edit the resume.

Need to be able to save files such as .doc .docx .txt .pdf .gif .jpg .bmp ...but not much else, otherwise will be used as storage unit for everything.

Allocation of storage per user/account would be smart.

Ability to see how MANY resumes have been sent in the last week/month/6mo/year.

Tags, for skills. IT, webpage, sarcasm...things like that.

Friendships? To see other's resumes? Would this use a username to log in but see a Real Name as the resume? How would the external web viewers see things? Would they type in icelus.org/resume and then search for Der Cute, or search for Bob Smith?

Add search engine to web page?

Live links on sides, pertaining to the user's needs; Web Engineer gets DICE links, Cashier gets links to Kroger and other things. This would hook on tags, I think.

[Pedersen]

Many good ideas. One at a time for responses. Anything not quoted is just going to already be added to my todo list by the time my reply is posted.

Make sure there's a print preview, or some way to view your margins/layouts.

No problem. You're going to be able to download your PDF, your .DOC, and your .ODT. Pick your poison and check it out.

Need to be able to save files such as .doc .docx .txt .pdf .gif .jpg .bmp ...but not much else, otherwise will be used as storage unit for everything.

I'm going to allow upload of photos and personal logos, and that's about it. Everything else will be generated content. Eventually, being able to read a resume in an incoming file, and parsing it into something the user can use, would be nice, but that's a ways off.

Allocation of storage per user/account would be smart.

I'm using tags as a way to build resumes. Photos and other pics are limited in size. All in all, limiting users by storage, while a good thing, isn't really mandatory. The actual size of an individual resume is going to be under 10K.

Friendships? To see other's resumes?

Negative on that. This is a complement to monster and linkedin. Making it go social will make it a competitor, and get me stomped. Besides, if you need social, those other sites are better suited for it. This just provides an easy way for people to publish their resume.

Would this use a username to log in but see a Real Name as the resume?

What will be seen will be determined by privacy controls. Pretty much anything can be marked as hidden, and therefore will be redacted for display to the public.

How would the external web viewers see things? Would they type in hiringpond.com/resume and then search for Der Cute, or search for Bob Smith?

Bits of all of the above. If you go to Google, you'll be able to search by the info that people have made public. On the site, you'll be able to visit a specific user by a url that can be registered by the user. (for instance: myname.hiringpond.com or www.hiringpond.com/myname). Also other searches planned (skills, etc).

Add search engine to web page?

To what end? Why would embedding google be something that would be useful to the users?

Live links on sides, pertaining to the user's needs; Web Engineer gets DICE links, Cashier gets links to Kroger and other things. This would hook on tags, I think.

While nice, I think that this will require considerably more data than I have available right now (starting with a list of occupations, adding in geoip database, and culminating with a list of companies in the vicinity of the person). I don't even think I can get that information in a reasonable time.