E-resumes and Scannable Resumes
E-resumes:
WHAT IS IT? DO I NEED ONE? HOW DO I CREATE IT? WHAT MAJORS NEED AN ERESUME?
WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AN ERESUME AND MY "REGULAR" RESUME?
WHAT"S ALL THE FUSS ABOUT "SCANNABLE" RESUMES?
An e-resume is used exactly like a regular resume: to advertise an applicant's job skills and to get the interview! An e-resume can be an e-mail you send to respond to a job advertisement, or an electronic form or application you complete online. It may surprise many job seekers to know that even your hard copy resume will most likely end up being "scanned" or read and categorized by electronic means.
Today's effective job seeker must be familiar with the various methods of applying for jobs electronically, and should know what's required to ensure an e-resume is properly received and considered for further evaluation.
APPLYING FOR EMPLOYMENT VIA E-MAIL:
The key is submitting your resume so that whoever is receiving it can do so in a usable format, ie ready to be printed and/or forwarded to other individuals within the organization. Not such a straightforward task, considering that mail and computer systems are not standardized. The word processing document you attach to an mail may be received quite differently (margins moved, font sizes and styles changed) on the employer's end. Consequently, it is best (unless otherwise directed) to include your resume in the body of the e-mail and send in an ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) format. The following directions aid in converting to ASCII:
1. Open your current Word/WordPerfect version of your resume,
Change your font size to at least 12 point, remove all the bullets, underlines and graphics, left justify the document and then click on "Save As".
2. At the bottom of the box that will appear on the screen, select the "Plain Text" or "Text Only" format, which will typically have a .txt extension, rather than the more familiar .wpd or .doc. This now is a document that you can copy and paste into your e-mail message.
3. Using this method, all PCs, Macs, or Unix-based mainframes will be able to read your e-mail. -This will also aid when the resume is scanned into a recruiting database. See more on this topic in the next section!
APPLYING FOR EMPLOYMENT WITH AN ORGANIZATION THAT "SCAN" YOUR RESUME:
In today's job market, "scanning resumes" no longer means glancing at them! An employer that scans a resume uses an automated applicant tracking system, which scans the resume immediately after it is received. While the hard copy resume will undoubtedly remain on file, further attention given to your resume will originate from the tracking system.
To ensure your resume is in scannable format, pay close attention to the following guidelines. The general rule: the simpler the presentation, the better!
1. Use 8.5 by 11" white, off-white or VERY light colored paper, printed with black ink. Print on only one side of each page, use at least an 11 point font and remove all underlines, italics, bullets, shadowing, lines and other graphics. Bolding the headers and/or using all capital letters for emphasis is acceptable.
2. Your name should be on first line of the resume. Traditional section headers such as: Objective, Education, Professional Experience, etc., etc. are recommended as the scanner will be searching for specific information within these sections.
3. Left justify the document and use the space bar to create any tabs. Do not staple or fold the resume. If the resume is longer than one page, the additional pages should have the applicant's name and Page numbers at the top.
4. Use appropriate keywords that will enable the resume to be captured during a keyword search. Keywords are nouns and verbs that describe specific professions, areas of knowledge and jargon or phrases specific to a position. If applying for an advertised position, utilize the job description (duties and responsibilities, qualifications, etc) to help incorporate keywords into the resume.
APPLYING FOR EMPLOYMENT VIA ELECTRONIC FORMS:
This is a pretty straightforward process. The company or job posting board maintains a Web page on which you must enter your personal, educationa,l and employment data into pre-determined fields and submit the form to their database via the internet. Potential pitfalls include the applicant not having a Web browser capable of supporting these forms or not carefully proofreading your submissions. It is not usually possible to spell check the information entered into an e-form, so be careful!
