The Riley Guide: Résumés & Cover Letters
Preparing Your Résumé for the Internet and Posting it Online
I. The Myth about Your Résumé
II. Why an Internet Résumé?
III. Preparing Your Résumé for the Internet
IV. Before You Post, Think....
V. Preparing “Scannable” Résumé
Hot Resources:
How to use the internet in your job search – The Riley Guide
Preparing your résumé for the internet and posting it online – The Riley Guide
The Myth about the Internet,
Scanning, & Your Résumé
Many people think that with the use of scanning, résumé management
systems, and keyword searching on the Internet that you must develop
a different résumé from the one you have prepared to send via traditional
mail. This is untrue! You are not creating a different résumé, you
are merely altering the presentation format. When done right, your
well-written, well-prepared résumé will contain all of the necessary
keywords to attract attention whether it is being read by a hiring
manager, scanned and searched in a management system like ResTrac
or Resumix, or indexed on an Internet site.
Consider keeping your résumé in three formats:
1. Designed Mail Version, highly designed with bullets, italics,
and other highlights
2. Scannable Version, still word-processed, but without bullets
and the other design
highlights
3. Plain Text Version that can be pasted into an email message or
cut-and-pasted into
online forms.
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Why an Internet Résumé?
Why should you go through the added effort of preparing a Plain
Text R ésumé for the Internet? It's the fastest way to contact a
potential employer or networking contact.
Look at the Sunday classifieds in your local newspaper or check
out Monster.com. Many companies are soliciting résumés via email.
The companies want the résumé in plain text.
Read those ads closely. They frequently specify "a plain text
document sent in the body of the message." They rarely say
"go ahead, send us a Word document." And with all the
viruses running around today, more employers are not allowing attachments
into their systems.
Posting your résumé in a database online for more exposure will
be easier. Many sites allow you to build your résumé on their pages
by cutting-and-pasting it into a form they provide. Having your
résumé in plain text means you will be ready to do this quickly
and easily.
A few things to keep in mind if you are sending your résumé to someone
via email:
1. Always send the text résumé in the message itself and then ask
if they would like a print copy for their records. You can even
offer to send a Word attachment if they would prefer that version.
2. Unless otherwise instructed, include a cover letter and be sure
to note why you are
contacting this person. Again, put the cover letter in the text
of your email message.
3. Send the résumé and cover letter in one email message.
4. If responding to an ad or job posting, use the job title and/or
noted reference number as the Subject of your message.
5. If you have found several good job listings at a particular site,
consider registering your résumé there. Once you have done this,
you can usually send just a quick message or reference number to
apply for an advertised position within the database of listings.
WARNING: Always read the application instructions
for any job announcement you see online and follow them accordingly!
Not following directions is a fast way to get your résumé placed
in the "reject" pile.
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Preparing Your Résumé
for the Internet
This is not difficult. Most word processors and résumé-writing programs
will let you save a file to plain text, sometimes called ASCII,
Text Only, or DOS text. Any one of these will work.
1. Create your résumé with the formatting and display style recommended
by the people helping you or the guides you are reading. Check it
for spelling and grammar, and read it over carefully to be sure
you catch any mistakes the computer didn't.
Microsoft doesn't know how to spell everything correctly.
2. Print a copy of the résumé and then make 2 copies of the résumé
file. Name the
first copy scanres.doc. You'll alter this for better scanning by
removing all the bolds,
underlines, and italics, but it is still a word-processed document
that will be printed.
Name the second copy résumé.txt, and tell the program to save this
to text only. It may tell you that you are about to destroy all
the formatting in your document. That's exactly what we want!
3. Using any text editor, edit the résumé.txt file to resemble your
printed résumé. Notepad (Windows) and Simpletext (Macintosh) are
examples of text editors. You can also use your email program as
a text editor by opening the résumé.txt file in an email message.
We use a text editor instead of a word processor because we want
to know exactly how bad the plain text résumé looks right now. Alter
the margins for email. Count 65 characters across the screen and
then hit the Enter key to force the line to wrap. (Yes, have to
sit there and count each letter and space to 65.) I suggest putting
a sticky note on the computer screen at 65 characters so you can
see the new margin. Where you need to indent lines, use the space
bar. Use ALL CAPITAL LETTERS for the section headers. Don't try
to underline these. Formerly bolded Subheadings within major sections
can be surrounded by asterisks (*) Rebuild lists by using a hyphen
(-), asterisk (*), or plus sign (+) at the beginning of each line.
Where you used to have lines drawn across the résumé, use a series
of dashes to create the line. You can also opt to leave it out.
Save this copy as text!
4. Save all copies of the files on a diskette. Keep that résumé
ready to edit, print, or email on demand. Once you have redone your
résumé in the text format, email it to yourself and to a friend
to see how it looks after being mailed. This will help you identify
any more formatting problems before you start sending it out to
possible employers. There are some places on the Internet where
you can examine other text résumés to see what other job seekers
have done to present their information: Career Magazine | misc.jobs.résumés
Newsgroup | Free résumé Databases on the Riley Guide <www.rileyguide.com/resfree.html> (look for the ones marked Public)
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Before You Post, Think....
For some people, posting a résumé has been a great way to get work.
For others, there is the fear that someone will get their home address
and phone number or that certain people or organizations might find
their résumé, like their current employer. Control and confidentiality
might be a concern for you, so here are some things to think about.
Hot Resources:
Free résumé databases – The Riley Guide
Fee-based résumé databases – The Riley Guide
1. Do you want your résumé public?
Once you have posted it, consider it a public document and out of
your control. Anyone can look in the public databases and see what
is there. Even the private résumé databanks do not always let you
dictate who can and cannot look at your résumé.
Hint: If you don’t want your address and phone number on your
résumé, consider renting a post office box and acquiring a limited-use
cellular phone during your job search. When you are done, cancel
both.
Tip: Many employers and recruiters still prefer to contact you by
phone, so if you don't include a phone number, you may be overlooked.
Big note: Many job seekers link their résumés to personal Web sites
with all kinds of info about you, including photos of you and lists
of your interests, hobbies, and family. This can lead to all kinds
of problems, including unknown discrimination against you for your
physical appearance, political beliefs, religious practices, or
even just the image you present. If you want to create an HTML résumé
and put it up in the hopes that someone will find it (or that you
will even send employers to read it because it contains a portfolio
of your work) do NOT link it to any personal information at all.
2. Check the confidentiality of the database or service where you
are placing your
résumé. Who can get access to this database? How is that access
granted? Will you be notified if your résumé is forwarded to an
employer? Is it possible your boss will see your résumé? If the
answers to these questions make you the least bit uncomfortable,
consider another service or consider not posting.
3. Once your résumé is listed, can it be updated at no cost?
Some Internet services will let you post your résumé at no cost,
but they will charge you for updates. You don't want an old résumé
out there, and you don't want to pay for updates. Look for an unlimited
number of updates, even if it is only to correct a typo or to word
something a little better. Skip any service that limits or charges
for updates. Many employers think that résumés older than 30 days
means a job seeker has probably already found a new job. Consider ‘refreshing’ your online résumé every 3 weeks.
4. Will your résumé be deleted from the databank if you don't update
it?
You don't want an old résumé out there, and if you find employment,
you don't necessarily want to be getting calls from other employers.
A good database will delete your résumé within 3 months if it is
not updated.
5. Think about why you are posting your résumé.
If you think by posting it employers will come beating down your
door with job offers, then you will be very disappointed. But if
you are posting it to have it out there where it might be seen and
also to make it easier for you to apply for jobs found online, then
go right ahead and do it. Even Richard Nelson Bolles (author of “What Color is Your Parachute?” and host of JobHuntersBible)
says he would post his résumé online if he was job searching, but
then he would immediately get back to pounding the pavement in his
search for work. Don't believe me? Check out his book “Job
Hunting” on the Internet, 2nd edition, rev. and updated (1999),
pp 56-57.
Copyright 1998 - 2001, Margaret F. Dikel. Permission
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Preparing Scannable
Résumés
The following is an excerpt from The Ultimate Online eRésumé Guide
for Winners by
Rebecca Smith, which can be found at <www.eRésumés.com/tut_scanRésumé.html>:
Scanning is the process by which an ink-on-paper résumé
is transformed into electronic data and entered into an automated
résumé tracking system. Once this process has been
completed, the electronic data can be manipulated in several ways,
the most popular of which is to provide data for databases.
Keywords take advantage of full text searches of
databases, not scanning technology. In other words, a keyword résumé
can also be a scannable résumé, but a scannable résumé
is not necessarily a keyword résumé.
'Scanner-friendly' Résumé
A 'scanner friendly' résumé focuses on distinctive
edges and recognizable characters--that is, the text of your résumé will be 100% recognizable by the scanning hardware and software.
• Send originals; photocopies or faxed copies cause degraded
text when scanned.
• Use light-colored 8½" x 11" paper printed
on one side only.
• Do not use 11" x 17" paper folded to create pamphlet-like
résumés.
• Utilize popular sans serif fonts (e.g., Helvetica or Arial)
in point sizes of 10-14.
• Avoid tabs.
• Avoid graphics, shading, script fonts, italics, underlining,
and bold-faced text.
• Avoid horizontal and vertical lines.
• Avoid parentheses and brackets.
• Avoid compressed lines of text.
• Use wide margins around the text.
• Do not fold résumé when mailed.
• Avoid dot matrix printers.
• Avoid stapling the résumé.