Posting your work online is more than ever. Consider it as your personal niche on the internet where you can demonstrate to everyone what you can do. It makes you have a shop window, but of your capabilities. When one desires to employ you, he or she desires to review your work. An excellent online profile/portfolio makes you shine. Exploring different platforms, including Read.cv Alternatives can help you find the perfect place to showcase your skills effectively.
We can take a couple of figures to illustrate why this is of such importance: Hiring agencies are extremely hectic. They only take an average of 7 seconds to examine a resume. An online portfolio provides them with an improved and faster method to view your actual work. Nearly 9 out of 10 companies use such websites as LinkedIn to locate individuals to fill vacancies.
This indicates that the presence of a good online profile is a requirement. According to a large study, analyzing the online portfolio of an individual was a very significant consideration of hiring managers (approximately 56 percent) when it came to making hiring decisions.
These figures inform us of one simple fact, having a strong online presence is no longer a nice thing to have, it is a need. It assists you in getting attention and securing the job that you desire.
What was Read.cv?
Read.cv was an attractive and minimalistic internet spot to create your professional profile. Imagine that it is a highly fashionable and tidy online resume. It was not messy or disorganized. It was designed to suit individuals who were interested in presenting their work in a very tidy manner.
It was adored by many in technology, design, and product management. Read.cv allows you to tell a story about your career instead of simply listing your previous jobs. You could include projects that you were working on, you could write about what you were writing and you could even update about what you were doing.
Pros of Read.cv
There are some reasons why people just loved using Read.cv. It was not a dull job portal. It was different, and this is why:
- Beautiful Simplicity: Its clean and simple appearance was the top favorite of people. It did not include flashy advertisements and disorienting buttons. This is a minimalistic design that brings out the work and experience of the user. Your profile was professional and readable.
- Pay attention to Storytelling: Read.cv made you share your career story. It had the timeline option that allowed you to demonstrate how you developed with time. You could add projects and achievements to every job which is far better than a title only.
- Excellent with Creatives and Techies: It was a favorite particularly with product managers, designers, and developers. The platform knew how to present projects using pictures and texts, which is extremely vital in such functions.
- Community Feel: It possessed a community feel. You were able to follow individuals that you liked and watch their professional news. It also possessed a job board containing high quality jobs in good companies which made it seem exclusive.
- User Friendly: It was quite simple to create your profile. It did not require one to be a technological guru to create a gorgeous page. The entire process was pleasant and easy.
Key Features to consider in an Alternative.
The following are some of the things that you should look out for when you are in need of another tool to create your online profile. These characteristics will ensure that the new tool is functional to you as was the case with Read.cv.
- User-friendly: The tool must be user-friendly in terms of installation and update. You do not need to waste hours trying to know how to add a new project. Simple drag-and-drop editor or easy to follow instructions are an added advantage.
- Good-looking Templates: Your profile must be attractive. The services must provide clean, professional and modern appearance designs or templates. You ought to be in a position to select an appearance, which suits your style and work.
- Feature Your Work: The site should allow you to feature your work. It implies that you can upload pictures, put videos, and give s to your projects. Your work needs a thousand words, and it is a picture.
- Customization: You must be capable of making the profile personal. This may be the change of colors, fonts, or the layout. Your profile can be unique with a touch of personal touch.
- SEO (Search Engine Optimization): This is not a complicated sounding. It implies that a profile of yours must be found when a person types your name in Google. The site must be created in a manner that it is easily accessible by search engines.
- Links to Other Sites: It is good when you can easily bring your information in other sites such as LinkedIn or not to mention your profile with other social media sites. This saves you a lot of time.
- Job Board or Networking: There should be a method of securing jobs or networking with other professionals on a good platform. This makes your profile more than a resume and it becomes an instrument of career development.
- Low Price: The price must be affordable. A lot of excellent tools have a free edition which is highly potent. In case you have to pay, then it must give you a lot of additional value of money.
Top 10 Read.cv Alternatives
Let us explore each one of these brilliant platforms. These are the 10 best alternatives that would assist you in creating a fantastic online professional presence.
1. LinkedIn
LinkedIn is the largest and most renowned professional network across the globe. It is Facebook, but career-wise. As one of the most widely used Read.cv Alternatives, LinkedIn has a profile of almost every person that has a job or wishes to get one. It is the place to go to meet other colleagues, get employment and update people on your working life.
You are able to create a comprehensive profile which serves as your online resume, and enumerates your job experiences, skills, and education. LinkedIn recruiters are there day in, day out, looking to find whom to hire. It is a must-have tool for any individual who is serious in his or her career, regardless of the industry he or she works in. It is not a profile but it is a live network.
What It Offers (Features)
- Detailed Profile: You are able to add your work experience, education, and skills and be endorsed by others.
- Network Huge: You will communicate with millions of the professional community around the globe.
- Strong Job Board: It has one of the largest job search engines you can ever have with suggestions to you.
- Content Sharing: You are able to write articles, update and share your thoughts to demonstrate your expertise.
- Linked In Learning: It provides you with online courses in thousands to learn new skills.
Pros
- Huge User Base: It has nearly all professionals and companies, and it is a great way to network.
- Recruiters Love It: It is their initial location where most recruiters seek candidates.
- All-Profession: It is excellent with doctors, engineers, writers, marketers and all the rest.
Cons
- Can Feel Crowded: There are too many people and it is difficult to stand out.
- Not Very Visual: It is not an ideal site to present a creative portfolio with numerous pictures or movies.
- The Design is Standard: All the profiles of some people are more or less identical, and there is not much space to be personal.
Pricing
- Free: The normal LinkedIn profile and job search service is free.
- Premium: The paid plans begin at approximately $29.99 per month. It has functions such as viewing who visited your profile and sending messages to the individuals that you are not friends with.
Best For
- Everyone. It is a necessity to every professional who would like to network, secure a job and manage their careers online.
2. Behance
Behance is the heaven of a creative individual. It is a Web-based application that belongs to Adobe, which produces Photoshop and Illustrator. It is here that the designers, artists, photographers and other creative minds take their work to grand, lovely proportions. You are able to make project galleries with detailed images, videos, and slides of your creative process of high quality.
It does not only involve postling a final picture; it is about narrating the story of your work. Millions of creatives use Behance to get inspired, find collaborators and hired. Recruiters and companies visit Behance to discover new talents in the field of creative work.
What It Offers (Features):
- Visual Portfolios: As well, you can make portfolios that are image heavy and look beautiful on each of your projects.
- Adobe Integration: It is also compatible with Adobe applications such as Photoshop and Illustrator and it is easy to share your work.
- Job Board: It possesses a job board that covers creative jobs such as graphic design, illustration, and photography.
- Livestreams: You can follow professional creators in the real-time and get familiar with their methods.
- Moodboards: It is possible to gather and group images that you feel like.
Pros:
- 100% Free: You are able to build an entire beautiful portfolio without any fees.
- Visual Heavy: It is among the most efficient platforms to present the visual work.
- Huge Creative Community: You can receive support and recognition of millions other creatives.
Cons:
- Niche Focus: It is primary to creative professionals. An accountant or a lawyer would not find it very useful.
- Can Be Competitive: It is possible that in the presence of so much amazing work on the site, it can be difficult to be noticed.
Pricing
- Free: Behance is a totally free site to use in order to display your portfolio and get employment.
Best For
- Graphic designers, illustrators, photographers and artists and all in a creative profession who require a visual portfolio.
3. Dribbble
Another amazing site that designers can use is Dribbble which feels slightly different to Behance. As one of the popular Read.cv Alternatives, imagine it is the Instagram of designers. It is known by its shots, small screenshots or pieces of design work. This is why it is an ideal site where UI/UX designers, icon designers and illustrators can post brief glimpses of what they are doing. The society is quite vibrant and gives a lot of feedback.
Dribbble has a reputation of featuring the best of the trends in designs. Dribbble is used by many of the leading technology companies and startups when seeking and recruiting talented designers to their workforce. It also has an entertaining, lively, and welcoming community.
What It Offers (Features):
- “Shots” Showcase: You can post little images of your work to receive fast feedback.
- Pro Portfolios: Paid members are allowed to make a more detailed portfolio and include larger projects.
- Job Board: This job board is very active, and it contains full-time and freelance design job listings.
- Designer Search: Recruiters are able to search designers depending on abilities, location, and accessibility.
- Design Contests: You are able to take part in contests to put your talents to the test.
Pros
- Ideal in Quick Feedback: The shot format is ideal when it comes to providing work-in-progress.
- Quality Community: The site has a reputation of possessing highly qualified designers.
- UI/UX Designers: It is the best platform that designers of websites and apps can use.
Cons
- Make it all about Pics: The free plan does not work when you are required to present your thought or detailed case studies.
- Invitation-Only to Post: In the past, one could post only when someone invited him to do so. It felt exclusive. That regulation has been softened, however, the sentiment lingers.
Pricing:
- Free: You are allowed to make a simple profile and browse around free.
- Dribbble Pro: About $5 a month. It provides an improved portfolio, allows selling items, and includes additional tools.
Best For:
UI/UX designers and graphic designers who seek fast snapshots of their workings, and wish to be found tech jobs.
4. GitHub
The most popular site is Github among software developers. It stores code projects, allows individuals to share and work on software. It is more than just storage. Your GH profile is like a coding resume. It demonstrates projects, contributions to other people and overtime work. Being an active green profile informs recruiters that you are a person who codes. You need a GitHub profile in case you write code. It demonstrates your abilities to all technical companies.
What It Offers (Features)
- Code Repositories: Keep all your coding projects on the same location.
- Contribution Graph: It is a graphical representation of the amount of work you have completed in a year.
- Profile README: Add a page introduction to tell more about yourself.
- Collaboration Tools: Intense facilities enable you to collaborate on code with everybody regardless of where they are.
- GitHub Pages: Free hosting of a basic web site or blog.
Pros
- The Industry Standard: All developers are familiar with it and companies are familiar with it.
- Shows, Doesn’t Tell: It provides concrete evidence of your coding.
- Great Learning Tool: Learn and study millions of projects.
Cons
- Only to Coders: It is all about software development. It does not support the non-technical workers.
- Intimidating to New Coders GitHub is initially complex to new coders.
Pricing
Free Core features, such as public repositories are free.
Pro: Starts at $4 a month. It provides repositories that are private in order to hide code.
Best For
Data scientists, software developers, programmers and all writers of code.
5. Polywork
Polywork is a more recent network which displays what you work on, not only your title. “Poly” means many; “work” is work. It understands that individuals perform numerous tasks: a developer may also write blogs and appear on events and mentor others.
Polywork allows you to enlist all these activities on your profile as a list of highlights. It provides a more comprehensive overview of what you are and are able to accomplish. It suits individuals who have numerous skills and desire to have partners or employment that is worthy of their experience.
What It Offers (Features)
- Activity Feed: Share such posts as Released a new app or I spoke at a conference.
- Customized Badges: You can receive badges of skills and activities, and this makes your profile fun.
- Collaboration Opportunities: Check the box that you are willing to collaborate on various projects.
- Contact/Social Links: Link all the other online profiles.
- You can write a better professional summary of yourself with the help of AI-Powered Bio.
Pros
- Modern Approach: Displays the way individuals operate nowadays including side projects and side hustles.
- Good at Cooperation: It is easy to find someone to collaborate with.
- Minimalistic Style: elegant, easy to use design.
Cons
- Newer and Smaller: It is not as large as LinkedIn, thus, less people and businesses use it at the moment.
- Still Growing: There are still features under construction and development.
Pricing
Free: Polywork is free to individuals at present.
Best For
Multitaskers, freelancers and technology individuals who wish to display all their work and seek partners.
6. Contra
Contra is a platform that is designed to support the future of work and in particular, freelancers and independent workers. As one of the emerging Read.cv Alternatives, it is commission-free you retain 100 percent of your profits. You are able to create a good portfolio, price, and control contracts and payments under the same platform.
Contra provides the freelancers with the resources of operating their business without any difficulties. It boasts of close society and is expanding rapidly among new freelance workers.
What It Offers (Features)
- Commission-Free Projects: Retain everything you make on clients you attract to the platform.
- Visual Portfolio: Present your work and services in a project-based portfolio that is beautiful.
- Built-in Tools: Contains contract, invoices and payment tools.
- Networking: Find the other freelancers and identify the clients who require your services.
- Explore Feed: Explore freelance projects in a feed that looks like social media.
Pros
- No Commissions: This is its greatest virtue. You are able to retain a larger portion of your hard-earned money.
- All-in-One Platform: It offers all you need to run you freelance business.
- Current and Simple to navigate: The site is well designed and highly user-friendly.
Cons
- Freelancing-Oriented: It is not targeted at individuals seeking the conventional full-time employment.
- Newer Market: The clients and jobs are continuously increasing as opposed to older freelance websites such as Upwork.
Pricing
- Free: The basic plan is free and allows creating a portfolio and project management.
- Contra Pro: prices approximately $19 per month. It provides you with additional features to assist in expanding your business.
Best For
Freelancers, consultants, and independent contractors in such fields as design, marketing, and writing.
7. Carrd
Carrd is a charmingly simple one-page web site building tool. It is ideal when you do not require a large and complex web site having numerous pages. You may make it a personal profile, a web page of a new project, a web based business card, or a basic portfolio.
Carrd is known to be extremely user friendly. Even when you have no technical skills and want to create a professional-looking site, you can select dozens of beautiful templates and create the site within few minutes. It is a wonderful option when you need a fast, cool, and inexpensive option of establishing an online hub.
What It Offers (Features)
- Simple Editor: The site creator is quite user-friendly and simple to master.
- Beautiful Templates: It will provide you with a lot of modern and clean templates to start with.
- Responsive Design: All the sites built with Carrd are amazing on computers, tablets, and phones.
- Custom Domains: On a paid plan, you will be able to use your custom domain (such as www.yourname.com).
- Customizations: It is possible to add forms, payment buttons (such as Stripe or PayPal), and other widgets.
Pros
- Terribly Simple to Build: It takes just a few minutes to make a fantastic looking web site.
- Extremely Cheap: The pro plans are comparatively lower than other web builders.
- Quick and Light: The sites are enhanced with rapid loading and this is good in the eyes of the visitors.
Cons
- Only One Page: It is created to support single-page websites. You cannot create a multi-page blog or a big business Web site.
- Simple Design: It does not have the advanced features as that of a full website builder such as WordPress or Squarespace.
Pricing
- Free: There is a free plan of building 3 sites on a carrd.co subdomain.
- Pro: The Pro is very cheap and it begins at only $19 a year. Yes, per year
Best For:
People who require a one-page website which is simple, elegant and inexpensive, to describe their personal profile or portfolio.
8. about.me
about.me resembles Carrd a great deal in that it aids in creating a simple and a single-page website. It is however primarily a personal landing page that serves as a central point of all your online presence. As one of the popular Read.cv Alternatives, on your about.me page, there is a photo of you, a brief bio and all the other pages which you have on the internet such as your LinkedIn, Twitter, Behance and your personal blog.
It is extremely convenient to have everything that people want to see at a single location. The rationale here is that you can add your about.me link to your email signature or social media bio and it will become the single link that people will use to get to know all about you.
What It Offers (Features)
- One Page Hub: It is a straightforward page that links visitors to all your various social pages as well as sites.
- Simple Customization: You can add a background photo, a bio and the layout.
- Email Signature: It assists you to make your own professional email signature with a linkage to your page.
- Spotlight Button: This is the ability to place a principal call-to-action button such as View my Portfolio or Hire Me.
- Analytics: The pro edition will indicate the number of people visiting your page and clicking your links.
Pros
- Extremely easy to establish: Your page can be online within ten minutes.
- Resolves the One Link Problem: It solves the problem of having one link in your social media bio.
- Professional Appearance: It gives it a clean and professional appearance.
Cons
- Intensive Functionality: It is not as flexible as Carrd. It is actually only when it comes to the creation of a particular form of personal splash page.
- Simple Free Plan: The free package has about.me branding on the same.
Pricing
- Free: A free page is a free page to make.
- Pro: It costs approximately $6.58 per month and allows the use of a custom domain and brand elimination.
Best For
- Individuals interested in a very basic, central location to connect to all of their social networking sites and work-related pages.
9. The Dots
The Dots is an organization that claims to be the professional network where people do not wear suits to work. It is a community and employment platform that targets the creative industries. This involves individuals in the design, advertising, film, fashion, and technology.
It is highly popular in the United Kingdom and Europe yet it is expanding all over the world. The platform is meant to assist creatives to get to know one another, work on projects and secure employment in the leading creative firms. It is more visual and project oriented than LinkedIn.
What It Offers (Features)
- Project-Based Profiles: This profile displays the projects which you have worked on rather than job titles.
- Company Pages: You will be able to follow creative companies of your choice, view their job openings, and read about their culture.
- Networking and Events: The site organizes frequent online and face-to-face events to enable creatives to learn and meet.
Pros
- Creative Focus: It is a work space with strong commitment to creative professionals hence the jobs are very relevant.
- High-Quality Companies: The site is utilized by a number of leading creative firms to recruit.
- Community-Oriented: Community building and cooperation is a significant point of focus.
Cons
- Geographic Focus: It is more popular in the UK and Europe than in other nations.
- Niche Audience: It targets individuals in the creative or technological industries primarily.
Pricing
Free: People are free to create a profile, connect with people, and apply to jobs.
Best For
The creative workers, particularly in Europe, who are in the marketing, design, or production industry.
10. Toptal
Toptal stands out among all the other platforms in this list of Read.cv Alternatives. It is not the place where every one can enroll and create a profile. It is a premium, or elite, network of the 3 percent of the freelance talent in the world. The process is very challenging and requires you to pass through a rigorous screening process that involves the testing of your skills, professionalism, and communication to get a profile on Toptal. In case you are accepted, you will be allowed to work on projects of leading companies such as an Airbnb or JPMorgan Chase, who visit Toptal to recruit the top talents.
What It Offers (Features)
- Quality Clients: You are working with leading companies on problematic projects.
- High Payments: Toptal freelancers charge extremely high prices on their services.
- Matching Service: Toptal connects you to the appropriate clients, and thus you do not need to find a job.
Pros
- Luxurious: Working at Toptal is an excellent addition to your resume.
- Great Projects and Pay: You receive work and receive compensation that is difficult to obtain elsewhere.
- No Bidding to Work: You do not need to compete with any other freelancers on price.
Cons
- Virtually Impossible to Enter: A majority of those who apply are not accepted. The rate of acceptance is minimal.
- Limited Fields: It primarily targets software developers, designers, finance experts and project managers.
Pricing
- Free for Talent It is free to join and remain in the network. Clients pay Toptal’s fees.
Best For
- Very qualified and competent freelance developers, designers and financial professionals who can undergo the stringent screening process.
Guidelines to Choosing the Right Tool to Use
The selection of the appropriate platform may be somewhat daunting. These are some of the few tips that can enable you to select the one that suits you best.
- Know Your Goal: Before you begin, you need to know what you need it. Behance or Dribbble is good in case you are a designer and you need to display images of your work. GitHub is a necessity, in case you are a coder. LinkedIn is the solution in case you simply want to network with everybody. The most significant indication is your career.
- Consider your Audience: Who is your desired audience on your profile? LinkedIn is the most promising option in case you would like to attract recruiters of any kind of company. Behance is more suitable in case you want to impress the creative directors in cool agencies.
- Test Before You Buy: There is a free version of virtually all of these tools. Develop a simple profile on two or three of the platforms that appear to be a good fit. Play around with each one an hour. Which one do you find the most comfortable and enjoyable to use?
- Look at Others to be Inspired: Identify a handful of other people in your area that you admire careers of. See what platforms they use. This would help you get a rough idea of what your industry standard is.
- Don’t Spam Yourself: You do not have to be on every one of the ten platforms. One or two amazing profiles that are updated is better than five empty or old profiles. Choose your primary platform and make it wonderful. Another tool that can help you to connect your other profiles is Carrd or about.me.
Conclusion
Read.cv was a great resource that demonstrated us the strength of the clean, simple, and story-based professional profile. However, the internet is a large ground and there are numerous other tremendous tools and Read.cv Alternatives that can assist you in creating your online home.
What is most important is that you have to begin. Choose the tool that is comfortable to use, take some time to make your profile attractive and begin sharing your work with the world. Your online profile is your personal narrator. It is like your 24/7 personal promoter that all people know how great you are. You have nothing to lose, so create your niche in the web, and open the door to the new world of opportunities.
FAQs
Do I actually need an online portfolio?
Yes, absolutely. Portfolio is more significant than resume in most areas, specifically in the creative and technical sectors since it presents actual evidence of your competence.
Is it possible to utilize more than one of these sites?
Yes, and you probably should. One can take the example of a designer who may utilize Behance with their large portfolio, Dribbble with posts on the daily basis and LinkedIn with networking.
What is the frequency of updating my profile?
You ought to revise it in case you complete a new project, acquire a new skill or change jobs. Checking on it after every few months is also good to ensure it is kept fresh.
Will posting my work online assist me in acquiring a job?
Definitely. A majority of the recruiters are searching candidates online. An excellent profile or portfolio will make you noticeable and will make them see that you are a serious working person.
