But, it’s true. An important piece of advice I give to everyone I work with involves spending less time on the search part of their remote job search.

Many people are confused by this. After all, job seekers are often told “looking for a job is a full time job.”

Honestly, this is only partially true. You see, dear job seeker, there are a lot of activities that go into a job search. Yes, searching for job leads is part of it. But that’s just a small sliver of a job search.

3 Other Important Parts of a Remote Job Search

1. LinkedIn Networking

LinkedIn is a critical part of your job search, but not a lot of remote job seekers spend their time here. However, it’s a good idea to take time away from finding job leads and using it instead on LinkedIn.

Why? Because a lot of connections and hiring decisions are made on LinkedIn. Let’s check out these impressive LinkedIn stats:

• 87% of recruiters use LinkedIn
• 20 million job openings posted on LinkedIn
• 122 million people got a job interview through LinkedIn

Impressive, right? Needless to say, you need to spend more time on LinkedIn. Period. It all starts with your profile. Of course, you can’t just have a generic LinkedIn profile. Instead, you need to craft a powerful LinkedIn profile that leads to interviews. To do this well, it will take some time.

Plus, it’s a good idea to be active on LinkedIn. It’s one thing to write an amazing profile. It’s another to be engaged, active, and create meaningful connections. This can be done by sharing, posting, commenting, and participating in groups. You can even follow remote-friendly companies to be the first to know when they are hiring.

The more time you spend on LinkedIn, the greater your chances of remote job search success. You’re never more than a connection away from your next interview.

2. Perfect Your Personal Brand

Today, more than ever, it’s important to spend time on your personal brand. This is especially true for remote job seekers, like you.

Your personal brand is essentially the professional persona you project online. A well crafted personal brand make you a no-brainer hire for a position. A bland personal brand allows recruiters to pass you over for interviews.

Don’t forget, as a remote job seeker, you won’t get to make an in-person impression. Remember, the entire application process from hiring to interview to onboarding is done virtually. That means recruiters and hiring managers will turn to good old Google to develop their own impression of you. Don’t let it be the wrong impression.

An estimated 77% of companies will google you before they invite you to interview. And Google will show them everything they can possibly find on you including, but not limited to:

• Facebook Profile
• Blog Posts
• Instagram Profile
• Twitter Profile
• News Mentions

Essentially, anywhere your name shows up online will come up when someone (including employers) google you. Potential employers will use what Google gives them to form an impression on you. And this can make or break your chance of getting an interview (or job).

So, instead of spending all your time job searching, hop online and clean up your personal brand. Make your Facebook profile private if you don’t want recruiters to see what you share here. Delete politically-charged tweets that might make you look aggressive. Go the extra mile and create your own personal brand website.

Making your own website takes back your online presence and gives you greater control over what Google decides to show about you. That’s because a website with your name as the domain (i.e., yourname.com) is likely to rank higher on Google searches than anything else.

All of these personal brand job search tasks provide greater return on time investment than scouring job boards for hours on end.

3. Optimize Your Resume

Writing my resume is fun, said no one ever. And it’s even less fun when I tell job seekers that not only do they have to write their resume once, but re-write it for every single job they apply for.

At first, this is time consuming. But, trust me, it is time well spent. That’s because the majority of remote job listings are posted with an Applicant Tracking System (ATS). ATS is a special type of software companies use to make hiring easier.

That means when you upload your resume to apply for a job, it’s being scanned by ATS to determine whether you’re a good fit for the position. If so, great! Your resume is passed on to a real person. If not, then your resume is placed in limbo, and you never get an interview or a rejection letter. Being in resume limbo is the worst because you never know one way or another what happened with your application.

The best way to avoid resume limbo is to keyword optimize your resume. This means taking hard skills from the job ad and placing them in your resume. It takes a few extra minutes to do, but it pays off — big time. Now when you submit your resume, the ATS sees you have the hard skills from the job and instantly places you in the “yes” pile, exactly where you want to end up.

Spend less time tracking down and verifying job leads and more time optimizing your resume. In the world of remote jobs, it’s all about quality over quantity. That is, it’s infinitely better to apply to fewer positions with an optimized resume than to mass apply to many positions with the same resume.

How To Spend Less Time Searching in Your Job Search

It’s easy to get caught up in the searching part of your job search. After all, you can’t apply to jobs if you don’t find them, right?

That’s true. But even still, you don’t have to spend too much time on job boards seeking out remote jobs.

Automate Your The Search

Instead, automate your search as much as possible. The best way to do that is to sign up for job alerts.

Job alerts can be scheduled daily. That means once a day, you’ll have all the newest remote job leads delivered to your inbox. It’s much quicker to glance through an email than to scroll through a job board site.

Use Remote Job Boards

It’s also a good idea to stay off the big-name job boards like Indeed or Monster. Sure you can find remote job leads there. But there’s also a TON of non-remote jobs in the mix too. Avoid sifting through these by sticking to remote-focused job boards. That way you know every lead coming your way is actually remote.

Take Advantage of Hand Curated Sites

Another major time suck of remote job searches is determining whether something is legit or a scam. Save time by searching job boards that hand pick their leads like FlexJobs. These job boards do the hard work for you and ensure each and every listing is the real deal.

The Effortless Remote Job Search

To help remote job seekers make the most of their time, I’ve created The Effortless Remote Job Search.

In this crash course you’ll learn where to quickly find real remote jobs, how to save time, and best practices for avoiding scams.

Bonus content includes:

• LinkedIn Profile Checklist
• List of Hundreds of Remote-Friendly Companies
• Job Search Tracker
• Now Hiring Spreadsheet
• Scam-Guard Checklist

Ready to make your remote job search as easy as possible? Sign up for The Effortless Remote Job Search Today for just $27.

It’s never been easier to find real, scam-free remote job leads.

Have questions? Hit me with them in the comments below! You can also email me. I answer every one!

Happily,

Ashlee

P.S. This post might contain affiliate links. Check out my disclosure statement to learn more.

The post Why You Should Spend Less Time on Your Remote Job Search (and What to Focus on Instead) appeared first on Work from Home Happiness.

Confused? Don’t be. 

Think of your personal brand as what sets you apart from other professionals in your field. You’re not just another accountant, or writer, or public speaker, or project manager, or whatever it is you do for work.

You are a unique person with a combination of skills, traits, and experiences that separate you from the pack. That is, everything you have to offer cannot be found in anyone else. 

How you package yourself in your career is collectively known as your personal brand. 

A strong personal brand establishes your place in a field and promotes your expertise. If you take your career seriously (and you totally should), you want to have a powerful personal brand in place. It can make all the difference when it comes to finding work, building a network, and creating new opportunities in the future.

And all successful and cohesive personal brands start with a personal brand statement. 

What Is A Personal Brand Statement? 

Your personal brand statement is short, typically no more than a few sentences, but will set the tone for your entire personal brand. No pressure, right? 

Don’t worry. And don’t overthink it. You can easily break down your personal brand statement so you’ll never second guess if you’re doing it right. 

The best personal brand statements do three things well: 

1. Answer what you’re the best at 
2. Define who you serve
3. Show your unique selling point

Remember, your personal brand statement is unique to you and you alone. Essentially, it sums up what you bring to the table career-wise that no one else possibly could.

Why Do You Need A Personal Brand Statement? 

The last time someone asked you what you do for a living, what did you say? Chances are, without a personal brand statement developed, you simply answered with your job title. 

For example, “I’m a customer service representative for Sutherland Global Solutions.”

Or, if you have a job title that isn’t common or well known, you might stammer and vaguely describe what you do but not what makes you unique or who you help.

A dull answer, like the ones above, do not leave a lasting impression. And they certainly don’t help people get a true feel of what it is you really do for a living and what makes you uniquely you. 

Being another teacher, accountant, sales rep, or receptionist doesn’t help you stand out. And, remember, your personal brand statement is meant to help you stick out in your field. 

To be successful today, you need to identify what you do best, for whom you do it, and why you do it better than anybody else. These elements are the essence of your personal brand statement which should be punchy, genuine, and memorable. 

What Are You The Best At?

Ready to write your all-important personal branding statement? First things first, you need to toot your own horn. 

What are you the best at? This isn’t the time to be humble. Instead, grab a pen and piece of paper and start jotting down your strengths. 

Your strengths can be both soft skills and hard skills. 

As a quick reminder, soft skills are those you inherently possess, like compassion, organization, interpersonal abilities, etc. 

Hard skills are those that are learned and can be measured. Think of things like Photoshop, writing, language proficiency, etc. 

Don’t go overboard here. Narrow down your top three skills that you feel you’re the best at when it comes to work. You’ll incorporate these into your personal brand statement to concisely show what you do ridiculously well. 

Who Do You Serve? 

Now we’re going to identify your target audience. Your target audience are the people you serve (or want to help). 

Let’s say you’re a sales representative for a software company that creates patient schedules for doctor’s offices. In this case, your target audience would be medical professionals like doctors, nurses, and physician assistants. 

Maybe you’re a paralegal. You specialize in stepping up to help attorneys who are overloaded with casework but don’t have a need to hire a full-time or part-time paralegal. Your target audience would be solo practitioners and small legal teams.

Now, take a second and think about who you serve in your career by using your unique skills and traits you’ve already listed. This is your target audience. You’ll mention your target audience in your personal brand statement to help others understand who you work with and can assist. 

So the next time someone in your network runs into another person that’s part of your target audience they can say something like, “Hey, my amazing friend Ashlee, helps attorneys like you. You should connect with her!” 

Find Your Unique Selling Point 

What is a Unique Selling Point (USP)? Your USP is a promise that you make to your target audience. Your brand fulfills this ‘promise’ to your target audience by using the skills and traits you already identified.

Your USP clearly defines what makes you special and guides you in how you live up to your personal brand. 

Example of Unique Selling Point 

I am regarded for my passion, enthusiasm, and creativity in recruiting. I serve all clients with respect, provide individual attention, and reinforce progress with positive regard. I am an expert in the recruiting field and use my knowledge to help job seekers find their dream jobs. Those I work with appreciate my candor, advice, and trust my guidance during career transitions. 

Remember, you must be able to deliver on your unique selling point! In other words, don’t overpromise. It’s indefinitely better to underpromise and overdeliver than to fall short. 

Let’s Put It All Together 

• You’ve got your traits and skills that you do amazingly well listed. 
• Your target audience has been identified 
• You have a unique selling point that makes you, well, you 

Awesome! Now how do you put it all together into a concise and memorable personal brand statement? 

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to personal brand statements. The tone of your personal brand statement should feel authentic to you. It will take some writing and rewriting to get it just right. 

Remember, to include what you’re great at, who you serve, and your unique selling point. As long as you can do this in a sentence or two, you’re golden! 

Things To Remember 

It’s not set in stone! You can edit, change, tweak or scrap your personal brand statement at anytime. Most careers are fluid. And your skills, interests, and audience will likely change over time. That’s okay. Update your personal brand statement to keep your brand consistent. 

Once you have your personal brand statement down, congrats! Use it everywhere. Display it on social media. Share it with your friends. Let it be your intro when you meet someone new. And, of course, let it drive the rest of your personal brand. Take the next step by DIYing a personal website that takes your career to the next level.

You’ve got this!

Happily,

Ashlee

P.S. This post contains affiliate links. Check out my disclosure statement for more information.

The post Personal Brand Statement: How A Couple Of Sentences Can Shape Your Career appeared first on Work from Home Happiness.

It was. But simple doesn’t necessarily mean effective. In fact, there would be some weekends I’d apply to a dozen job leads. Six months into my search, I had hit well into the hundreds.

And you know how many of those resulted in an interview?

Zero.

That’s right, not a single callback after hundreds of applications.

My resume template was certainly not doing me any favors. And it wasn’t until I realized that today’s remote job search isn’t all about the resume, did I finally make progress.

But it was a hard fact to accept. After all, for years and years, it was repeated over and over again how important your resume is to your job search. But the truth remains, your resume is only a small part of who you are as a professional. Today’s recruiters, employers, and hiring managers realize this. With less weight being placed on your resume, what, then, are recruiters looking for?

Your personal brand! But before we get into personal branding for beginners, let’s look at how recruiters hire and why your resume isn’t as important as it used to be.

Resumes: The Outdated Way To Reach Recruiters

Back in the day, your resume was super important. In fact, this one-page document could make or break your chances of getting hired. That’s why you’d spend hours and hours writing and rewriting it as you tried to condense your entire work history into neat little bullet points.

Then, you’d print out your resume on fancy paper and hand deliver it to employers as you hit the pavement in search of a job. Your resume was, in effect, your introduction to a hiring manager. How you presented yourself on this oh-so important document could make a great first impression or land your document (and chances of getting hired) in the garbage.

But that was back then. Today’s job search is a lot different, especially if you’re on the hunt for a remote job.

After all, you can’t print out your resume and shake some hands with potential employers when seeking virtual work. Instead, recruiters and employers are turning their attention online when hiring, whether they’re looking for remote workers or in-office staff.

How Employers Find Workers Today

To understand how to make an impact in your job search, you need to understand how employers go about hiring today. Gone are the days when the majority of job listings would find their way into the classified section of your local newspaper.

Instead, employers place ads across multiple online platforms, from popular job search sites to their own websites.

That means the way we apply for jobs has changed too. Instead of submitting a resume in person, most applications are submitted online.

Robots Are Reading Your Resume, Not Recruiters

Because remote jobs are available to a lot more job seekers, the number of applications received for a single opening can number into the thousands. And, no, a recruiter or hiring manager is not sitting there sifting through the hundreds and thousands of resumes they receive. Instead, they use software to do the work for them.

Specifically, employers today are using, what’s called, Applicant Tracking System or ATS to manage the hiring process.

With ATS, a recruiter or hiring manager can quickly sort through thousands of applications in a matter of seconds.

Recommended Read: How To Keyword Optimize Your Resume To Get Found By Recruiters

How Recruiters Use ATS to Narrow Down The Candidate Pool

Most often, a recruiter will ask the ATS to find resumes with certain keywords. These keywords may be any combination of hard skills and soft skills candidates need to be successful. Often, you can find the keywords a recruiter is likely looking for by scanning the job ad for clues.

Remember, a job advertisement is essentially an employer spelling out who their ideal candidate is. By pulling keywords directly from the listing and placing them in your resume, you stand a better chance of getting ‘discovered’ by the ATS.

Once a recruiter asks the ATS to find resumes with certain keywords, the ATS gets to work. Those resumes with the right keywords are returned to the recruiter. The rest end up in the trash never to be seen by human eyes. Starting to see why your resume isn’t nearly as important as you thought?

Of course this means your resume needs to be good enough to get past ATS. If it is, your resume can help you get on a recruiter’s radar, but it doesn’t necessarily guarantee you an interview.

How Recruiters Determine Who To Interview (And Who They’ll Pass On)

If you took the time to keyword optimize your resume to a specific job listing, chances are you’re going to land in a pile of other applicants with similar qualifications. Now the recruiter gets down to work determining who they’re going to invite to an interview.

The ATS did the hard work of narrowing the applicant pool from hundreds and even thousands to a much more manageable number. Now it’s time for the recruiter to get their hands dirty. And they’re not paying a whole lot of attention to your resume. After all, they trust that your resume has the right stuff (the ATS wouldn’t have found you if it didn’t).

And while a recruiter may scan your resume for a few seconds, its contents won’t determine whether they invite you to interview or not. Instead, employers are heading online during the hiring process.

Recommended Read: How To Write A Powerful LinkedIn Profile

Google Has Something To Say About You

A whopping 80% of employers will google candidates before they invite them to interview. What Google says about you can make or break your chances of getting that coveted invite or getting promptly placed in the ‘no pile.’ You want to strive for the interview.

But how can you make sure Google gives a positive return any time someone searches for you? That’s where personal branding comes into play.

What Is Personal Branding?

You are the CEO of Y-O-U. How you present yourself and package your professional experience is collectively known as your personal brand. From what you share on Twitter to who you follow on social media can all be summed up as your very own personal brand.

When you take the time to carefully craft the right online footprint, you develop a strong personal brand. This helps you present really well to recruiters when they scope you out online. On the flip side, neglect your personal brand and you risk losing out on work opportunities, whether you’re an active or passive job seeker.

And, no, you’re not at the mercy of Google when it comes to personal branding. You can control what shows up about you online. It just takes a little planning and forethought. And, in some cases, perhaps a little damage control if you’re working wth a less-than-stellar online reputation at the moment.

But don’t worry, whether you’re starting from scratch to build a professional online presence or need to clean up your online footprint, there are steps you can take to create and keep a strong personal brand.

Recommend Read: How To DIY A Personal Brand Website Like A Pro

Be Proactive About Your Personal Brand

The rules of job searching have changed. It’s up to you to be proactive and make the changes to stay on top in a competitive market! Paying attention to your personal brand and taking the necessary steps to strengthen your online presence, can make all the difference in your job search. For super quick and easy tips to get started, sign up for my free remote workers library. You’ll gain access to helpful freebies, including a quick-start to personal branding for job seekers.

The post Why Your Resume Doesn’t Matter Anymore. And What Recruiters Are Looking For Instead. appeared first on Work from Home Happiness.

While it might seem intimidating to put yourself out there online, don’t skip it! A personal website is an important piece of your professional puzzle. Not only is it a place to display your resume and contact info, your personal website gives you increased visibility online.

Considering more than 80% of recruiters google candidates before considering them for a job, you want to take control of your digital footprint. And since half the battle of getting an interview is showing up on a recruiter’s radar, your personal website makes it much easier to get found.

So, if you don’t have a personal website up and running, now is as good as time as any to get one online. It’s easy to DIY and affordable too. Plus, as a professional, your personal website offers additional benefits you may not have even considered:

Offers a Glimpse of Your Personality

Your resume does a great job of outlining your work history. It’s not so great at demonstrating your personality. A personal website punches up the personality factor while showcasing your professional prowess — win, win.

Shows You Take Your Career Seriously

A recent survey found recruiters were more wowed by a personal website than any other personal branding tool. It signals to others that you take your career seriously enough to invest time and money it in it. Clearly, this speaks volumes to recruiters who are constantly on the hunt for the best and brightest.

Gives You a Chance to Control Your Online Footprint

In today’s digital world it’s not a matter of if a recruiter will google you, but what they’ll find out about you. With your own personal website you get control over what comes up in google searches. Having a professional online footprint lets you stand out in the crowd (in the most positive way possible).

So, whether you want to establish yourself as an expert in your field, are contemplating a career change or actively seeking a new job, don’t underestimate the power of a personal website in helping you reach your professional goals. Ready to take charge of your own professional virtual presence? Let’s get started.

Hosting and Domain

Every website needs two basic things to get online: hosting and a domain name. Your domain name is the physical address where your website is found, i.e., www.yourpersonalbrandingsite.com.

Hosting is how your site ‘lives’ online. Think of your host as your site’s landlord. You’ll pay a small ‘rent’ each month to your hosting provider in order to keep your personal website online.

In a sea of hosting providers, which do you choose? For personal website hosting, I recommend BlueHost. The benefits of choosing BlueHost include:

• Free domain ($15 value)
• 24/7 support
• One-click WordPress installation

And because BlueHost knows you’ll be oh-so happy with their hosting, they offer a 30-day money back guarantee. If you’re not happy, they’ll make it right or refund you — no questions asked.

Selecting Your Personal Website Domain Name

Now it’s time to pick a domain name. Don’t overthink this. Your first choice should be your name: www.YourName.com. If you have a common name, like me, your name may already be taken. Go ahead and find out if your name is available. Simply type it in the domain name checker below:

Don’t panic if your name is taken. You can add your middle initial. You can also throw in a descriptive word relevant to what you do. For example, AshleeAndersonWrites.com or AshleeAndersonBlogs.com.

Just try to keep it as simple as possible. And make sure your professional name you use on your resume is in there! This is great for search engine optimization (SEO) and increases the chance of your personal website showing up in searches when a recruiter googles you.

Building Your Personal Website

When you’re ready to get started, head on over to BlueHost to purchase hosting and claim your free domain name. Remember, with BlueHost and WordPress, you can get a professional personal website up and running without touching a single line of code. This is the first page you’ll see:

This welcome screen explains the benefits of BlueHost and offers you a discount for being a Work From Home Happiness reader — woot woot! Simply click the green “get started now” button to move on.

Select Your Personal Website Hosting Package

BlueHost offers different plans to meet a variety of hosting needs. Because you’re looking to set up a professional website, the “starter package” will meet all your needs (and then some). With this plan, you’ll receive your free domain name and monthly hosting for as little as $3.95 per month.

Once you select the starter plan, you’re automatically directed to the next page where you’ll claim your domain name.

Register Your Professional Website Domain

If you used the free domain name checker, you should already have the domain name you want to purchase in mind. During this step you’ll actually claim that name and make it your own.

Simply type your chosen domain name in the “new domain” box  on the left (or the transfer domain box if you already have one).

Hit the blue “next” button to move forward. You now grabbed your professional website domain name (congrats, btw!). During the next step, you’ll provide your contact information to BlueHost.

Account Information

Simply fill in the form on this page with your current contact info. Double check everything for accuracy!

The provided email address will be the primary means of communication between you and BlueHost. It’s also where your receipt will be emailed!

Choose Your Professional Website Hosting

Now that you’ve selected your domain and provided your contact deets, it’s time to to officially choose your hosting package.

Remember, since you’re building a professional website, the starter package will meet all your hosting needs. And when you prepay 36 months in advance, you’ll receive hosting for just $3.95 a month — that’s less than the cost of a latte.

Plus, you’ll know that your professional website will be ready and raring to go for the next three years to meet all your career and personal branding goals!

Do I Need Extras?

That’s up to you. I always swing for Domain Whois Privacy. Why? Whenever you purchase a domain, your contact information must go into a database. It’s the law. With Whois Privacy, a proxy name is used. This protects your privacy but still gives the required contact information the law requires. However, it’s completely optional. You do not need any extras to get your personal website up and running.

Complete Your Purchase

You’ve got your domain and hosting package picked out. All that’s left to do is make it official! On the next page, provide your billing information, confirm you’ve read the terms and conditions, and hit the blue “next” button:

Congratulations! You’ve officially purchased your personal piece of the Internet and are one step closer to personal branding perfection.

Install WordPress

Now that you’ve purchased hosting and received your free domain name via BlueHost, it’s time to install WordPress. WordPress is a content management system (CMS). It’s used by big businesses to small bloggers and everyone in between.

It’s a popular platform for website creation because it’s so easy to use. Even if you’ve never built a website before, you can use WordPress to create a polished site quickly.

And because you chose BlueHost, you can install WordPress for free in just a few clicks.

Navigate to Your cPanel

To get started you’ll need to login to your new BlueHost account and navigate to cPanel.

Your cPanel is like a command center. This is where you can access different apps and software to build your website. It’s also where you can install WordPress. To do that, simply click the “install WordPress” button.

Brand New Installation

From there, select the start a brand new install option by clicking the green button as pictured below:

Select Your Personal Website Domain Name

Now you need to select the domain name you want to install WordPress on. In the case, it’s your professional website domain.

Start The Installation Process

Once the correct domain is selected, you can begin the installation process. BlueHost automatically does this for you once you hit the “install now” button. But before you hit the “install now” button, make sure you change your Site Name, Admin Username, Admin Password, and Admin Email Address.

Save this information! These are the login details you’ll to access your WordPress site. Once you’ve put in all the information, hit the green “install now” button.

Finish Installing WordPress

During the installation process, you’ll see the following screen:

It may take a minute to finish installation, so just sit tight. But that’s it! You officially installed WordPress to your personal website! Now it’s time to make it your own.

Upload a Resume Theme

Your WordPress personal website is now ready to be customized. To do that, you’ll need to login by heading to your site’s address followed by /wp-admin

Example: www.yoursitename.com/wp-admin

You’ll land on a page that looks like this:

This is where you’ll type in the username and password you selected during the WordPress installation process. From there, hit the blue “login” button.

Navigating Your WordPress Dashboard

Once you login, you’ll land on your WordPress Dashboard. At first glance, it’s overwhelming. But don’t be intimidated. You’ll use your dashboard to navigate the back end of your site. It’s where you’ll create content and customize your personal website to make it your own!

WordPress Professional Website Theme

What makes WordPress easy to customize without coding are the many themes available to use. With the right WordPress theme installed, half the work is done for you. I promise.

Think of it in terms of a house. WordPress are the walls to your website and your theme is the decor. The theme you use can make all the difference in how professional your site looks.

For a modern, professional personal website I recommend the Hired theme by Modern Themes.

It’s a minimalistic theme that showcases all the important information about Y-O-U: social profiles, resume, and about me page. The best part? There’s a free version you can download without spending a single penny,

You can also grab a premium copy of the theme for just $25. The premium version comes loaded with even more options that’ll help make your personal website as unique as you.

Uploading a Personal Website Theme to WordPress

Whether you choose Hired or another resume theme, the steps to get it onto your WordPress site are the same. First things first, download the theme. The theme will download as a .zip file. Leave it zipped!

Once it’s downloaded, navigate to Appearance > Themes from your WordPress Dashboard to upload it:

This takes you to the themes page. Here you’ll see the current themes available to you. By default, WordPress comes with three themes: Twenty Fifteen, Twenty Fourteen, and Twenty Thirteen. You’ll see these themes here.

To upload the Hired theme you just downloaded, click on the “add new” button at the top of the page:

After you click the “add new” button, you’ll be redirected to a theme marketplace of sorts. Here  you can search for a new theme or upload one you’ve already downloaded. This is where you can upload the Hired theme you downloaded earlier.

To do that, just click the “upload theme” button at the top of the page:

From there, the upload button will appear. This is where you select the Hired zip file or drag it over like so:

Now just hit the “install now” button. WordPress will automatically install the theme for you! After its installed, you just need to click the “activate” button.

That’s it! You’ve now got a professional theme installed on your personal website! Wasn’t that easy?

Customize Your Personal Website

What I love about the Hired theme is the amazing documentation that comes with it. The documentation provided by Modern Themes shows you the steps you can take to set up your site just like the demo. There are even video tutorials and how-to guides to help you every step of the way.

But, remember, what you include or don’t include on your personal website is up to you! At the very least, be sure to add your social profiles you’re active on like LinkedIn or Twitter. If your Facebook page is PG-rated, include that too.

And don’t forget to add a copy of your resume and an ‘about me’ page to really let your personality shine through.

Need extra help? Modern Themes offers installation services for just $15. They’ll get you up and running just like the demo leaving you more time to polish your online presence.

Additional Resources

Congratulations on getting your personal website up and running. It really can make all the difference in your job search whether you’re contemplating a career change or ready to cement yourself as an expert in your field.

For resume assistance and general advice on nailing your social media presence, sign up for the remote workers’ library below. It’s completely free and offers valuable insight into the world of working from home.

Have questions? Hit me with them in the comments below.

Happily,

Ashlee

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