For a fee, students may purchase an online service that applies an interactive link to their résumé. iCaBoodles Sites, an internet-based company, offers a feature that presents its users with the ability to track who, when and for how long an employer views a résumé through a virtual office.

For a $19.99 start-up charge and a charge of $4.99 each month that the service is in use, students are able to send their r̩sum̩ and card to as many employers they desire in a month Рall of which will be tracked through the virtual office.

With a click on the interactive résumé card, an employer is taken directly to a student’s résumé, which is shown in the virtual office.

Students may hold as many as three versions of their résumés in their personal virtual offices to attach to cover letters to send to employers.

Because the various designs on the résumé card and actual résumé file are in motion, the user is offered the option of sending files in HTML or Flash formats.

iCaBoodles Sites offers over 100 different backgrounds designs, 30 different animations and eight colors of font from which to choose.

A link to an online portfolio can also be attached to the résumé card.

Bob Megill, National Sales Director of iCaBoodles Sites, developed the product after he recognized a problem of main job-seekers.

“The average résumé is viewed for at least 15-20 seconds,” he said. “You need to have something to make these people stop. At least now you can see what’s happening. That’s always been one of the most frustrating things for the job-hunter; you never know if it [the résumé] was seen.”

Should a student become employed and stop his or her job search, all the information on the résumé card and résumé will be “parked” and frozen until another payment of $4.99 is sent to iCaBoodles. The résumé, files and statistics are never deleted, and, because everything is online, it can be accessed at anytime the student’s file is active.

“This is such a powerful tool because you will be able to track your own résumé,” Megill said. “If you are really savvy you know that it went to several people and will be able to ask for other people by dropping the right names.”

Bridget Bowers, Assistant Director at Career Services, cautioned, “One concern is that employers are not ready for this kind of thing. Technology in some ways can be used to make yourself a better candidate. But I’m not sure you necessarily need to spend money in this way to do that.”

Other roadblocks students may consider before investing in this type of technology include the possibility of employers fearing catching a virus through the links to the résumé or being blocked by firewalls.

“I’m wary that students will think this is the cure-all. Students need to do some research in the industry that they are looking at. For example, would the employers be amenable to this kind of presentation?” Bowers said.

“For a Spanish major, I don’t know that this would necessarily be the way to go. I think you need to work with caution for some of these things.”