It is well known that the music job market is hyper-competitive, so it is absolutely essential that you do everything you can to distinguish yourself from the hundreds of other applicants.  One fairly simple way to do this is to create a personal website. The industry is forward thinking and creative in it’s nature and so a CV on 2 sides of A4 is no longer going to cut through in most cases. Musicians, bands, producers, sound engineers and other creative professionals in the industry are way ahead in this regard, an online presence being nearly ubiquitous and essential in these fields. Yet there are many professionals in the wider industry who still rely on the traditional CV.

Online CVs such as those on this site or social CV services like LinkedIn are still essential requirements for job seekers, but it is becoming ever more important to supplement your presence with a bespoke personal website.

Why might you want a personal website for job hunting?

• A traditional CV is perfect for delivering a career summary though it is not a good format for offering an in depth look at your skills and it is very difficult for your personality to shine through. A well crafted CV that links to a stylish website will cover all bases: the CV providing the overview and the website delivering the in depth detail and evidence. A website might not always be necessary but it gives the employer the option of looking further. Imagine a potential employer deliberating over 2 similar CVs: the candidate with a good looking and well structured website to offer that little bit extra will probably make the shortlist. It is not a panacea for job hunting success but will most certainly give you an advantage.
• A website is interactive. This means you can give the employer more options and more ways to discover your skills. A website will easily allow an employer to dig down into a certain role, perhaps linking to images, charts, audio and video etc. Of course this is impossible without an online presence.
• When the potential employer inevitably googles your name, you do not want the top result to bring the head of HR straight to pictures on Facebook of last weekend’s debauchery in Peckham. Get an optimised website up and running and rather have them click through to your stylish portfolio.
• If you don’t know how to set up and host a small website, now’s your chance to learn a very valuable skill.
• Having a portfolio website will show an employer that you have reasonably sophisticated IT skills, meaning you wont have to necessarily rely alone on the obligatory CV phrase, ‘proficient in use of Microsoft Office’. Whatever job role you are looking for in the music industry (or any industry for that matter), being skilled in IT is pretty much an absolute prerequisite, so show what you can do.

How to create a personal website?

There are many options, too many to go through in this article.  Some will be unnecessarily costly (hiring a web developer for example) and some won’t be entirely professional looking (www.yourname.freewebsitebuilderforchildren.com wont work!).

I’m going to go through what I consider to be the best option for building, managing and hosting a stylish, modern portfolio website. You need only the most basic of IT skills and a small investment. You will not need a developer and you will be in full control of your content.

Build your website with WordPress

Anyone can create a professional website with WordPress. It is very easy to learn and is behind some of the best websites currently online. Sign up here: https://wordpress.org/

1. Find a Host: 

This is the crucial step. I’d recommend steering clear of the big (largely US based) companies and going with a smaller UK based host. Anyone who has sat in a telephone queue to one of the big hosting providers will know why! If you are based in the UK then a UK host will be faster and preferred by Google (should you wish to get to the top if the rankings!).

Tsohost is an outstanding UK based company that specialises in optimised wordpress hosting. The customer service is excellent, the prices are very good and the hosting is super fast. They have a small, friendly team and respond quickly to problems. We useTsohost here at Violet Jobs and can recommend them personally, they do a great job!

Even better is that we can offer the users here at Violet Jobs a 10% discount on hosting if you use the below code.

Tsohost promotional code: VIOLETJOBS

Whichever host you choose will most likely help you every step of the way in setting up your site.

2. Choose your domain name:

One of the main benefits of running your own site is that you can have a bespoke website address. Maybe yourname.com for instance. This looks much more professional than having .wordpress or other company prefix in the middle of your domain and lets the employer know you are serious. Whoever you decide to host with can usually sort this out for you, and it is often included in the price of some packages.

3. Choose a Theme:

You will soon learn that the beauty of WordPress is in its Theme based approach. You simply select a theme, add content and away you go! You could have a portfolio website up and running in a few hours. You can do well with one of the many free themes, though the slickest themes will come at a small cost. Here are a few portfolio/CV themes we recommend:

Charm is a beautiful, fully customisable portfolio theme for WordPress sites that will impress any employer.

GNOLI is a cool, modern and very stylish theme aimed at creative portfolios.

CV Timeline is a simple, very popular, CV template for websites.

Vertica is an absolutely stunning, fully interactive CV theme.

You can see from the above few examples that you can quite easily create a very impressive online CV that is sure to impress potential employers. There’s plenty more to peruse.

4. What should I include on my portfolio website?

This is essentially up to you though the sky is the limit. Here are some tips:

• Make the most of the online format, so include multimedia elements if possible and provide links where appropriate.
• Make certain parts of your CV clickable so that an employer can easily drill down into more detail should they need. For example, if you list an achievement on your CV that you boosted sales over a certain period, why not allow the employer to click through to a graph or chart that illustrates and quantifies your achievements. This flexibility is of course impossible with traditional CVs.
• Clearly displayed contact details are of course essential.
• A professional personal photo will do wonders for how you come across.

So creating a personal portfolio/CV website is actually pretty simple, and if you are not too familiar with how websites are built and managed, it could be a perfect way to learn the basics. In the music industry, any thing that can give you the edge when trying to land your dream role is valuable so why not give it a try.

What do you think? Do you have a personal website and has it been beneficial? Let us know!