15 Creative Resume Ideas to Stand Out Online in 2022

Why You Need a Creative Online Resume Website

Are you a creative working in one of the many (and expanding) digital fields such as:

•  web design
• graphic design
• web development
• coding
• animation
• photography
• music production

If so, the necessity of an online resume should be pretty self-evident. You can’t form part of the digital workplace without a digital identity card. That would be like a journalist trying to gain backstage access to an exclusive event without a press pass—not going to happen!

Web resumes haven’t quite substituted a traditional paper resumes (yet!). It’s important to understand their use and role in today’s marketplace so you can select the right online resume template for your needs.

What to Include On Your Resume Website

Web resumes are versatile tools that can serve many purposes:

1. Showcase Your Work

To begin with, you can place the link to your online website on your regular resume that most employers ask for. But not to showcase the same resume in HTML format rather than Word or PDF. That would be pointless.

For example, if you’re a web developer, web designer, or video editor, you can’t really showcase your work on a traditional resume. But on your online resume you can include screenshots, live links to websites, and even videos you created for easy and direct access.

2. A Stand-Alone Addition to Traditional Resume

There are employers who’ve already started requesting that applicants submit online resumes. That means your resume website shouldn’t simply be an addition or an afterthought to your “regular” resume. It should be a stand-alone piece containing all the information that a proper and complete resume needs to convey to get you hired.

3. Control What Employers See When They Google You

But there’s an even more important reason why you need to create a resume website today. And it’s called Google.

And no, they won’t (simply) be looking to see if you’ve got any “inappropriate” photos on social media, or if your name comes up in relation to any suspicious activity. They’ll be mostly looking to get a glimpse of you. They’ll be trying to better understand who you are and what you do and whether you may be a good fit for their company culture.

But letting the fragmented representation of yourself on social media and other online resource do the talking means taking a big risk. Because that haphazard pastiche of yourself that Google turns up probably doesn’t correspond to the real and professional you.

The best thing you can do is take things into your own hands by creating a creative resume website for yourself containing all the right information in one place.

So how should you create this increasingly important document that can potentially open many online doors for you? By finding and selecting the best online resume template for your personality and purposes and customizing it to your specific style!

Here’s a tutorial that can help you create a creative online resume using a template:

• 
  Resumes
  How to Use an HTML Resume Template to Make Your Personal Site
  Brenda Barron

And below I’ve got 10 creative resume ideas to help you get started with making your own online resume. All the resume ideas come with example screenshots and links to online resume templates that you can begin customizing right away! 

15 Creative (CV) Online Resume Website Ideas

Here are 15 great creative resume ideas for online resumes:

1. The Sectioned One-Pager

Since your resume is the story of you, the first resume idea is the one-page resume that’s based on the popular website style called parallax. Now as you know, a single web page can be a thousand miles long, if you want to, so don’t worry about your resume being too short.

The benefit of the one-pager is that it allows you to tell your story to the viewer in a specific order. It’s up to you whether you want to start with:

• your professional achievements
• your education
• your previous positions and collaborations
• some interesting fact about yourself 

But by choosing the scrolling one-page resume idea, you’re choosing to say something important about the order in which you present your story.

That’s not to say of course, that scrolling should be the only navigation of your web resume. That would simple be annoying and impractical. Your online resume template should still provide a menu to help viewers quickly and easily navigate to specific places on your page.

Not a big fan of much too much color and fanfare? This personal one page resume website template allows you to use the same idea in a sleeker version that still adds a dash of color (of your choice) to a clean, modern design.

2. The Timeline

Another creative resume idea is to build your resume website using a timeline. Something like the old Facebook newsfeeds, if you remember those.

Perhaps there’s much to be said about the development of your work and career, or maybe you want to outline the outstanding path of your education. Whatever it is, the timeline structure of this structured resume template can offer your reader a line to follow on your story, but in a more flexible and even “messier” layout than the parallax style.

3. The Tiles

But what if your story isn’t so structured? Or maybe your entire thesis as a creative rests on deconstruction and broken storylines? Then neither of the resume ideas above will serve you well.

The wonderful thing about resume websites is that, unlike paper resumes, you can structure them any way you want. And tiles is one of your many creative options.

Have a look for example, at the tiles on this responsive resume template that allow viewers to choose their own journey through your resume by clicking what interests them most.

Want an even more tiled experience? How about breaking up your face or a featured work you’ll choose as your cover photo into the menu tiles? You can easily do so with this interactive, online cv/resume template.

4. The Slide

Don’t fancy all that scrolling and want to offer a more “grounded” experience? How about staying “put” on the page and simply doing a left-to-right slide with your content? This way you can keep your reader’s attention focused to just that one page at a time and the information it contains.

In the online resume template featured below, you can choose a nice image of yourself as the backdrop to your information. It’ll emphasize the connection to the details of what make you a real person.

5. The Animated Resume

Another awesome feature the web provides and paper doesn’t is movement and animation. If you’re a high-energy person, or in general identify with movement in your work and life, why not choose a resume website template that subtly communicates this aspect of yourself?

Check out this creative resume template that reveals more and more information as you click around the different parts on the screen. 

6. The Screen Play

Looking for creative ways to break up the screen view for a new experience? How about an interactive resume with animated timeline and portfolio?

Check out how the timeline in ProKit online resume template comes into view as you scroll down the page and how the portfolio items pop up on the screen! What’s more, there’s a subtle movement throughout all the sections in this interactive resume. Quite brilliant!

The next online resume template example also includes a nice play with the links at the top which open up when clicked to offer more information.

7. In Full Swing

What’s another thing that paper can’t do? Play video of course!

So why not use your online resume website to feature a short video about yourself or your work? Video playing capabilities can play a definitive role in the presentation of the work of people who create and produce videos. But it can also serve other creatives who want to showcase their fun and friendly personality, or even those who want to make a video with finished products of their work.

The creative, online resume template below allows you to easily add a video to the hero area of your website. Use it to establish a personal connection right from the get-go.

Don’t want your video to feature so prominently? This bold template allows you to link videos into your portfolio with a play button ready to go when the viewer scrolls over them. The videos open in a pop-up box allowing comfortable viewing.

8. Sleek and Minimal

How about a sleek and minimal interactive resume with a filterable portfolio? Sometimes, all you need is a splash of creativity paired with a sleek design to stand out from the crowd. Check out how the NEW Retina Ready Vcard template uses a minimal design that makes it easy to focus on your resume details. It then shows a hover animation over portfolio element along with a sleek animation as you filter through the project examples.

Another great example of minimal design paired with subtle animation details in the portfolio section can be seen in the Confidence template. This creative online resume example uses minimal color and an elegant parallax effect that draws attention to different resume sections.

9. An Open Book

Want to give future employers the feel of reading a book? Then the Bookcard online resume website example will do the job. This template starts off like a book or magazine cover and then flips open when you click the button. Employers can then scroll through each section to get more information and close it when they’re done—just like they would with a physical book.

The MahaZara.S creative resume template uses the same principle, but with a slightly different approach. While you still need to click on different sections to see the next page, the template uses the full available width of the screen and gorgeous background imagery instead of mimicking a physical book.

10. Going Material

A popular trend in websites is the use of material design. Take advantage of this by using a creative material resume template like Matresume. This template is fully responsive . It resembles a mobile application making it a perfect choice if you want to make sure your interactive resume looks great on mobile devices.

An interesting variation of the material style is used in the I’m Mat template. Not only does this template use material design, but the background image zooms in and out as you’re scrolling through.

11. Dark Mode

Dark mode is becoming more and more popular. It’s easy on the eyes, not to mention it adds a touch of elegance to any type of website or application. Take advantage of this trend by using a template like Jordis. It has both light and dark versions and the dark version is absolutely stunning. 

12. Kenburns Effect

If you’re a photographer, an artist, or a designer, you know that project presentation is crucial. Make it stand out with a creative and sleek resume template like Malat. It has several demos to choose from, but the Kenburns demo is perfect if you want to wow your visitors with your past projects. 

It also offers a Zoom effect so be sure to check that one too for even more creative options in showcasing your work.

13. Angled Sections

We’ve mentioned a sectioned one-page resume earlier but here’s a fun and bold twist on this type of resume: angled sections. They add a dose of movement and dynamic to your resume. Take advantage of this creative and bold resume template to use them into your own online resume website.

14. Glitch Effects

Make a bold statement with glitch effects on your resume. This type of resume would be a great fit for programmers, developers, freelancers, or artists. The Glitche template is a personal CV and resume template. It shows how you can effectively use this type of effect to create a sleek, modern, and standout resume.

15. Textured Noise Background

If you want your resume to have a more classic design but still have a dose of uniqueness, an interesting background can be just what you need. The textured noise background on this classic but modern resume template is a great example.

The Best Source For Creative Online Resume Templates

Envato Elements is the perfect place to find creative online resume templates. For a low monthly fee, you get unlimited downloads of creative resume templates, photos, fonts, and other resources to use in your next project.

Free online resume templates are certainly tempting. But free templates are usually less robust than premium, professionally-designed templates.

With Envato Elements, the best creative online resume templates have features such as:

• polished and professional design with plenty of built-in ideas for what to include in your online resume website
• multiple layout options to choose the best one for your needs
• plenty of customization options

As you can see from the examples shared in this article, Elements templates deliver a modern and creative style that’s ready to present your content.

5 Trending Creative Online Resume Templates From Envato Elements For 2022

Here are five creative online resume templates you can find and download from Envato Elements right now:

1. Gilber – Personal Creative Online Resume Template

If you’re after a sleek and modern resume template, the Gilber template is a great choice. It features a gorgeous dark theme with elegant transitions and smooth scrolling effects. It’s fully responsive and includes a working contact form.

2. Martyn – Minimal CV Resume Portfolio Template

Try the Martyn template if you want a modern but minimal template. This online resume template includes several premade demos. Each demo also comes in light and dark versions. The template is also responsive and optimized for SEO.

3. Hailey – Creative Online Resume CV Template

The Hailey template has plenty of creative animations built in as well as a smooth scrolling effect that loads one section after the next. It also includes plenty of custom icons and a working contact form so potential employers can easily get in touch with you. 

4. Sam Bailey – Personal CV Resume Template

Try this template if you want a template with a gorgeous full page scrolling effect. The template has an elegant dark theme, but you can easily customize it to your liking. The template is also responsive.

5. Mikael Modern Creative Resume Template

The Mikael template has a bold design with a stunning scroll effect. It makes it appear as though you’re flipping through the pages of the magazine. It’s responsive, includes ION icon framework, and has a working contact form.

Free Online Resume Website Tutorials (From Tuts+)

Now that you’ve seen what’s possible when you use a creative resume template, here are a few helpful online resume tutorials that’ll help you take your resume to the next level. The tutorials below will teach you how to make the most out of your online resume website and are completely free:

• 
  Resumes
  What Should You Include on Your Personal Resume (CV) Website?
  Brenda Barron

• 
  Blog
  How to Improve Your Personal Resume Website With a Blog
  Brenda Barron

• 
  Resumes
  10 Resume Website Mistakes to Avoid on Your Personal Site
  Brenda Barron

Do You Need an Online Resume Website?

How will you build your resume website? And which creative idea do you consider most important to showcase your work and personality to future employers? Have a look through the online CV and resume templates on ThemeForest or Envato Elements to find the best fit for you to stand out online.

Editorial Note: This post was originally published in 2016. It has been comprehensively revised to make it current, accurate, and up-to-date by our staff—with special help from Brenda Barron.