Krop Portfolio & Resume Builder: Review

Travis King |
Reviews
| May 11th 2009

I’m a freelancer, and I’m a lazy beast.

I put things off all the time. I’ve been putting off writing this article for two weeks already. I’ve discovered though, that when it comes to important things, sometimes I just have to buckle down and get it done, like my portfolio.

How about you? Have you been putting off getting your portfolio designed? Whether it’s lack of time, initiative, or skill, a good looking portfolio is a big undertaking. Maybe next month we’ll get it done.

Last month the folks over at Krop launched their Portfolio & Resume Builder application. Their goal is to get your work out there as easily as possible, and display it as attractively as possible. And I must say…it’s a nice little package.

How’s it work?

The idea behind Krop’s Portfolio & Resume Builder is simple – take the user through a few question and answer steps, have them upload some of their work, pick a look, and you’re done. It took me only a few minutes to finish. Perhaps you won’t have to wait till next month to get your portfolio done?

The setup is quick. You start by picking your primary and secondary specialties. There’s everything from Copywriting to Stylist & Make-up. Missing, however, is Web Designer. What’s the deal? Perhaps they thought Web Development was the same thing, but any web designer will tell you that it’s most certainly not.

From there you fill in your availability. Are you looking for full-time? Freelance? Want to hit the road and relocate? Put a check mark in and you’re moving on.

Next you have a choice to include your resume, build one with Krop, or not display it. If you’re looking to land a job with an agency then a resume would be a good idea to include. If you’re just looking for freelance work, you can probably skip this step.

After that, you’ll be breaking down your experience level. Education, specialties, awards, bio and all those goodies would go here.

And you’re almost done. Next upload some examples of your work, choose three pieces that you want to feature, and then choose a look. Currently there are three different looks to go with – light, dark, and minimal. For my test run I went with dark, because it went better with the feature pieces I uploaded.

What’s to come?

Things are still in the introductory phase for Krop’s Portfolio Builder, so I imagine there’s plenty in the works for down the road. For example they just added the ability to include movies in your portfolio. It would also be nice to see some crossover with their Job Search so that you could link or somehow work in your portfolio when applying for a job on the job board.

The single most requested feature that’s not in yet, is the ability to search the creative database. I’ve been told that that feature will be going in shortly, so expect it to really take off when it does.

Do I need it?

Having your own custom designed portfolio and domain is always going to be number one. If you have that, you probably don’t need this service. However, having said that, even if you already have your portfolio built, it can’t hurt have your name in a database that is regularly searched by companies like Apple, Gucci, and MTV.

Now if you don’t have your portfolio yet? That’s a different story. It’s time to get it done. Head over to Krop and take a few minutes to fill it out. With it you’ll have something to show a prospective client that’s presented in a very attractive layout. Additionally, it’ll take you almost no time to do it!