Engineering student creates new job-seeking software

Getting a job after graduation is no easy feat. Eric Binnion, 24, a junior in the Engineering Department, recognized several flaws in job-search engines available to students and responded with his own unique answer to the problem.

Forget Your Resume (forgetyourresume.org), Binnion’s software creation, remedies almost every concern job-seekers have about submitting an online resume to job-search engines and even addresses concerns students might not have considered.

As a programmer, blogger and internet marketer at Microband Media, Binnion has experienced his fair share of hang-ups within job-seeking software hindering a student’s ability to successfully compete for a job in his or her career field.

“Did you know that it is now routine for employers to get 800-plus resumes for every job ad?” Binnion asked, “and that sites like Monster.com use software that weeds out resumes that don’t include certain key words? That scares the hell out of me.”

According to Binnion, Forget Your Resume is a tool meant to be used as part of a personal-marketing campaign that puts students in front of potential employers.

It is meant for people that are willing to try new, creative techniques to get noticed in a crowded job market, Binnion said.

“I don’t want to gamble the future of my career on the chance that a piece of [job-seeking] software thought I used a passive word,” Binnion said.

Binnion began his venture into basic computer programming during the MySpace boom, he said, when the “cool kids” all started using flash music-players among other features.

To make his MySpace profile competitive, he started learning bits of coding here-and-there as needed, he said.

In 2007, after Binnon graduated high school, he got really caught up in “scammy” internet businesses.

“Some of those businesses cost $2,000 just to get in,” he said, “and after that, I had no money to pay for a website to be built. This meant I had to learn how to program a basic website myself by using Google to find tutorials.”

Before attending MSU, Binnion said he was only able to hack away at websites, many of which ended in disaster.

“Taking computer science classes [at MSU] has really taken my abilities to another level,” he said. “We have a solid program for learning fundamentals. In recent years, our department has even had the ability to build mobile apps for the university, which was fun to do.”

While there is no app yet created for Forget Your Resume, the software is programmed in such a way that your profile will look appealing on smartphones as well as desktops, he said.

There is no cost for the software. “But, since the software is self-hosted, students will need to get hosting, which ranges anywhere from $0-$15,” he said. “I negotiated a partnership with Green Geeks to provide us a $30-off coupon as well as easy one-click installs. Most web hosts should be compatible if students already have one.”

Binnion said he got his job at Microband Media by responding to a Tweet, of all things.  About a month ago, he and his boss started talking about how he got his job, via-Twitter, and both decided it would be interesting to create a type of software that would be more beneficial to job-seeking college graduates, one that would help them find jobs more easily.

“The guys I work with are absolute rock stars,” he said. “So after brainstorming a bit, they unleashed me, and I had the first version done [Forget Your Resume] in just a week. And from there, the project just keeps growing!”

WHAT MAKES IT UNIQUE

Forget Your Resume makes it super-simple to create a personal profile that can be used to promote students to potential employers, Binnion said.

Since students install the software on their own hosts, they are able to more precisely maintain and refine their profiles so that they appear more personal and professional.

“You own all the information,” he said. “You don’t have to worry about Monster.com or LinkedIn high-tailing it and leaving you without an online presence.”

Binnion said another unique feature of Forget Your Resume is that students are able to create their own custom domains such as www.EricBinnion.com, displaying a more professional and personalized arrangement.

BENEFITING MSU STUDENTS

According to Binnion, Forget Your Resume, as well as other information detailed within the website, provides a launchpad for students to begin their own online presences and marketing campaigns when they are ready to start looking for jobs.

The software is incredibly easy to install and use, he said, and will allow students to build their own profiles, in just a few minutes, on their own domains.

“The most important thing for students to know about Forget Your Resume is that it is a tool meant to help them get their dream jobs by taking advantage of the internet,” he said. “There are several case studies where people have successfully landed amazing jobs after separating themselves from the “herd” that is the traditional resume.”