How to Create a Great Electronic Resume

After creating the perfect resume, you then need to distribute it. You'll likely be sending some professionally printed hard copies, especially to "A list" companies or organizations you've set your sights on. But just as likely, you'll be distributing other copies electronically.

Presuming you've written a great resume to begin with, here's what you really need to know about your electronic version:

1. It must be searchable.

2. It must be in ASCII format.

Searchable:

Someone searching the Internet resume banks for the perfect candidate (you) needs to be able to weed out all the unqualified candidates, which potentially number in the tens of thousands nowadays. Typically, they'll enter search terms intended to eliminate the vast majority of posted resumes and select the most promising. They do this much as one might perform an Internet search on Google or another search engine, by entering key word search terms

Their search might be limited to a certain geographical area, a certain skill set or qualification, or a certain job description, among obvious search categories.

The geographical part is easy - your contact information will help someone looking for a software designer in San Francisco Bay area or a pretzel maker in Milwaukee find you if you are qualified and live in the right part of the world.

However, if you have technical qualifications that can be searched in different ways - "Bachelor of Science" and "B.Sc." for example, your resume should use both variants so that a search engine finds you either way.

And if you possess job experience that's highly relevant to the job in question, be sure to describe it in the most common ways that it would likely be searched on.

Tip: Read through your completed resume and see if you can't describe qualifications, degrees, or job titles in multiple alternative ways throughout the resume. This will increase the chances you'll be found in an online search.

ASCII Format:

Your professionally laid out and formatted paper resume may end up looking like gibberish if simply transformed into an electronic copy. Programs like Word allow you to format nice looking documents with features such as tabs, bullets, centering, bold, italic and other word processing niceties.

Unfortunately, when converted to electronic form, many of these word processing features are lost. Worse, what's left over may bear no resemblance to the exquisite resume that you labored over to produce.

Fortunately, there is an easy solution. You can prepare a simple text version in a text editor like Notepad or any of the dozens of other text editors out there. In this case, you'll replace many of these text effects. For example, you'll replace bullets with asterisks, word wrap with a hard carriage return, and tabs and justification effects with simple spaces.

Another solution is to use a program specifically designed for writing resumes like WinWay Resume Express. (See the "Do It Yourself Resumes" page at www.Impressive-Resumes.com to learn more about this inexpensive handy program.) It features an easy way to transform your resume into a searchable electronic version with very little effort after you've created the word processing formatted version.

No matter which method you use, be sure you've taken these simple preparations for electronic distribution before you hit "send." This will greatly increase the chances that your resume will reach its intended audience.

Copyright 2005 by Vincent Czaplyski, all rights reserved.

You may republish this article in its entirety, as long as you include the complete signature file above without modification.

Copywriter and consultant Vincent Czaplyski is founder of http://www.impressive-resumes.com, your online source for professionally written "industrial strength" resumes and cover letters guaranteed to land you an interview.

---

5 Tips for Customizing your Resume

Gone are the days of the bland, generic one-page resume.... Read More

Home Healthcare Careers

One of the fastest growing sectors of the medical industry... Read More

How to Transform a Boring Note Into A Killer Cover Letter - Part II

In Part I, we covered how to grab the reader's... Read More

Finally Revealed: The Top 7 Resume Killers?

During my job search I read dozens of books and... Read More

Avoid Your CV Always Ending Up in the Bin

Cover Letters must grab the reader's interest so that they... Read More

Traveling for An Interview? 10 Tips to Get You From Here to There

You've just been granted an on-site interview in another town.... Read More

The Perfect Fit: Women & Franchising

An interesting combination of factors at this time in history... Read More

Surviving in Corporate Amercia: Part 1 - Email

There is a saying that goes, "The best offense is... Read More

Auto-Disqualification - When Your Resume Never Reaches the Decision Maker

How would you know if your resume did or didn't... Read More

How to Create a Great Electronic Resume

After creating the perfect resume, you then need to distribute... Read More

Telephone Job Interview Preparation Tips

TELEPHONE INTERVIEW BACKGROUNDTelephone interviews are quite common in today's job... Read More

Be Prepared for the Unexpected

How long has it been since you last had to... Read More

Start Working Before You Get Hired

What if there were a way to *prove* to any... Read More

When and How to Say I Just Cant Do It!

We naturally hesitate to tell our boss when we can't... Read More

How To Choose The Right Resume Format

After a thirty (30) second glance lots of resumes get... Read More

Five Mistakes That Can Derail Your Job Search

No matter how much time and energy you invest in... Read More

Ask For That Raise!

For nine years Jeff worked for company G as an... Read More

Resume Writing and Preparation is Free Online

Creating a strong resume is a very important part of... Read More

Expose Lies on Resumes

Purpose: Learn about the new Polygraph for management hiresHis heart... Read More

Your Attitude Is Screaming

There is more attitude around than the 'traditional 'positive /... Read More

Job Search: Time Management

There is an old adage that "Looking for a job... Read More

Make The Right Career Move

It is not realistic for HR Managers to believe that... Read More

How To Deal With A Difficult Boss

Most people at some point in their lives have to... Read More

How to Conquer Job Hunting Apathy

Jack, downsized from his last job, was frozen in a... Read More

The 5 Essential Telecommute Résumé Components

1. An attractive layout that is easy to read and... Read More

How To Conduct A Successful Job Search Campaign

1.Define your objective: Know what kind of work you most... Read More

Using Keywords to Find Legitimate Telecommuting Job Leads

Many people are choosing telecommuting as an option to bring... Read More

Is it a Scam?

I wanted to quit my job. So I decided to... Read More

Factual Employment Screening Part 1

We have all heard in recent years that the need... Read More

I Just Lost My Job: How Am I Going To Tell My Kids?

One of the responsibilities of a human resources professional is... Read More

Career Change: From Suits & Sales to Boots & Rails

Peter Humleker had it made. As the general manager of... Read More

So Youre Thinking of Changing Careers

"You don't have to take life the way it comes... Read More

Moving Without A Job: Should You Move to the Location of Your Dreams and THEN Look for a Job?

Moving without a job will challenge your identity -- but... Read More