Code Updates

Couple of small things.. Joey S. e-mailed us a request this week for E-mail confirmations when using the Send feature. This was implemented this evening. Basically, when you send an e-mail using Emurse, we'll send you an e-mail copy of the message along with the attachment sent. This will help improve your record keeping as well as give you a bit of peace of mind. Thanks for the feedback Joe!

We also have completed the roll out of Locations in resume view notifications. If you are a premium user and have notifications turned on for your Web Page, the notification will now include an approximate location of the person viewing your resume. We had a few users request this, and we're excited about the added functionality!

Enjoy :-D

Oh, and a Happy New Year while we're at it!

Our beta group has gotten a lot of use from spell check already, and though we were tempted to hold it back until we get 100% of the kinks worked out, we decided that it was time to push it out to everyone.

It's English only for now, but the framework can be extended if there is enough demand. Please report any issues as you find them :-D

We've also completed our latest server upgrade. Things should be a bit snappier in places, which will hopefully improve the performance of the auto-save functionality. Job postings on the home tab now go directly to the job itself, not to the indeed page, which is also pretty cool. Tons of small bug fixes and some security polish were thrown into the mix as well.

We're still collecting names for the next beta test, and also testimonials for our blog. If you haven't checked out the blog lately, hit it up. Lots of changes and fresh content.

How To Spell Check Your Emurse Resume: In the top right corner of the Edit Content screen, you will see a link that reads "Check Spelling". Click it and follow along with the dialogs. :)

We recently pushed live the ability to subscribe to hosted resumes via RSS.

If you used Emurse to create your resume and do not have it password protected, then your resume is now being syndicated :)

Networking Tip: Part of the appeal of Emurse is the ability to easily keep up with what your friends are doing professionally. Using a service like Bloglines, you can create a "Resumes" folder and add all of your friends Emurse links. Whenever anyone updates their online resume, you'll be notified automatically with their newest copy. Cool huh?

One of the most painful aspects of the job hunt is the lack of two way communication.

Sure, you've sent your resume out to two dozen employers, but it's tough to know when exactly they've received it, if they have at all. Creating an Emurse resume makes it simple to keep track of where your resume has been and when it's been viewed.

Today, we've taken it a logical step forward and have released more detailed statistics for your web resumes. You can now view who downloaded what and when, demographic data such as OS and Browser. You can also view things like what websites are sending the most traffic to my resume. It's all part of increasing communication and putting you, the job seeker, back in control.

Is there another report you would like to see on the share tab? Let us know, and we'll do our best to add it in!

Web Resume Tips: Once you've created your web resume, make sure to add it to Google and others. It's also a good idea to link to your resume to your blog. We've even created some HTML to serve as an example for you, and it's available from your Share tab. Many users have also started to add their Resume to their LinkedIn profile and their MySpace page. Take advantage of these services and drive traffic to your Emurse web resume :)

We didn't disappear. We've just been busy in the lab putting together the largest single update since our initial release. Emurse.com now features an all new share tab, 3 new templates, a load of bug fixes, and a couple of major changes on the back-end.

Here's the goods:

Share Tab

Take a look around. There are Emurse web resumes everywhere. Craigslist, monster, blog posts, myspace -- the popularity of this feature brings a tear to our eyes.

We've received loads of feedback and requests for improving this feature. We're out to address every request our community has made. You can now host multiple resumes online (alex.emurse.com/Main/). You can hide specific personal information details on each resume hosted. Combine this feature with password protection and you can be in complete control of your privacy. Would you like to be notified when someone views your resume online? Emurse can now tell you who they are, when they accessed it and what they downloaded it in (if applicable) via an e-mail alert. Wish to activate one resume one week, then deactivate it the next? You can now control which resumes are active and which are not.

Expect even more updates to the share tab soon. If there's anything specific you'd like to see, drop us a line and we'll throw it into the mix.

Resume Templates

Crisp - A clean and crisp typewriter look. Sometimes simplicity is the way to go. Easily scanable and readable, just like the olden days.

Polished - It's got that upscale, trendy feel to it; A polished look for a polished job seeker.

Royal - My new personal favorite. Sporting a deep blue Georgia typeface and a clean layout. A chronological work structure with extra emphasis put on the title.

Better Formatting

We've fixed a ton of bugs with our formatting implementation. Bulleting is much more robust and work up to five levels deep. Bold, italics, underline, links and images are all greatly improved as well. Templates are rendered much nicer as a number of small issues were fixed as well. Previewing resumes is also a lot more accurate than it was previously.

As always, your eyes and your feedback are both greatly appreciated! If you find a kink, drop us a note and we'll get it knocked out ASAP. We have another set of functionality brewing on our side. Expect more exciting things soon!

A user has also developed what will be our first move into the wonderful world of Firefox Extensions. The Emurse.com Quick Send extension is a simple utility that allows you to right click on any e-mail link and send your resume via Emurse. We've received some great feedback on this initiative, and have some exciting plans for further integrations in the works! If you have an idea for a project along these lines, let us know -- we'll help provide a reasonable API for you!

In other news...

C|Net recently published their Top 10 Websites For Students. Check out #7. Now look closer. Emurse.com has been listed for the "Online App" category underneath Google. Judging by the other sites that made the list, it looks like we're in good company :) Not bad for a project that's been public for a month.

We've been busy polishing, cleaning and responding to mountains of feedback. In an effort to keep everyone up to date, here's a synopsis of recent activity:

Rendering

The big issue we've addressed since our last post is the document conversion code. This is probably the most difficult aspect of our site from a technical standpoint, and being beta, it has not been without its problems.

We've drastically changed the way we were converting resumes. We made the changes with the "work smart, not hard" mantra. The result is a more consistent rendering that is less error prone. We should also be able to scale nicely now, which is an important part of our world domination plans ;)

Templates

We've expanded our newly added References section to let you keep track of Organization, Department, Fax Number and Website. We've also extended the Personal Information section to include website, country, and a second address line :)

Polish

We've cleaned up bits and pieces of the site. A few of the JavaScript oddities and design issues that you may have noticed have been closed. We've added a general keep-alive so your session won't time out while editing. If your laptop goes to sleep, this may act up, but otherwise, its great. There were also some cut-and-paste issues from existing word resumes that we've worked out. Another little thing is the ability to bookmark a specific page within the interface. You'll be presented with the front page login, but will then go to the url you originally requested. It's the small things I guess ;)

We deliver.

We've just pushed live a new back-end for the "Send" tab. This version should be much more reliable, scalable and pleasant than the previous incarnation.

Beta is about getting the core structure as solid as possible. Everyone's been so incredibly helpful with spotting out issues. Many users have taken to sending us detailed screen shots and word documents -- awesome! We're 10 times the service we were even a week ago because of it. Thank you :)

The more eyes we have searching out things, the better!

We finally did it.

We got the to the check list item that said "Emurse only blog."

No more checking my personal site for emurse updates or IM'n Gavin. Right here baby, this is where the party's at.

Since our public release a couple weeks ago, we've grown over 4000%, and the numbers keep climbing higher.
Thank you to everyone for the massive amounts of feedback.

We have a solid assessment of bugs and the things we need to do to bring Emurse to the next step, and we're well under way. It's all thanks to you. Recent Updates:

• Added new sections -- Summary, Keywords, Course Work. These were the top three most requested sections. Custom sections are on deck. References after that.
• Added ability to change e-mail address. Lot's of folks were initially scared of us and signed up using fake e-mails. You can now self correct your accounts ;)
• Click on "account" up in the top left -- You can set custom key words and zipcode now for flexible, reliable job postings.
• Usability improvements on creating new resumes.
• Better description of differences between emurse and existing resumes. Do yourself a favor and go emurse, it's much more fancy.
• Visiting the share tab on a nonhosted resume was a bit confusing. It'll now tell you what resume is hosted with a nice little link to help you get there.
• Resume reviews are now in private testing -- you'll soon have the ability to have a professional reviewer look over your resume. It's awesome.
• Elegant template has hResume support -- long term planning, ya know? It's your data, and we want to make it as flexible as possible.
• Added "Still Pending" as a Send item status, per user request. This particular member is using the status level to keep track of not just resumes he's sent, but resumes he plans on sending. Great idea!
• Template cleanup -- notably, on Modern, if you do not list a degree type, you'll no longer have miscellaneous characters floating around.
• Some users were getting more than their fair share of notifications via e-mail. This has been fixed.
• Tons of stability & performance stuff to help us adjust to the increased traffic levels.

We have some more things planned, and we appreciate the patience people have shown us while we grow.
Beta is a fun time, and we're really excited about where we're headed!