Résumé Preparation Guide - Electronic Résumés

The newest wave in employment etiquette is electronic résumés. What is an electronic résumé you may ask? An electronic résumé is a version that is on a computer file. This format allows employers ease of transporting, storing, and retrieving data from your résumé. Unlike a "scannable" résumé, which is a paper copy of a résumé for the employer to scan and enter into his system, the electronic résumés can be directly entered without scanning and risking losing information. With electronic résumés you can apply by e-mail, apply over the web via electronic forms, or apply as a web page. Many businesses, offices, and other jobs ask directly for résumés to be submitted electronically. Pay careful attention to their requirements. Remember that what type of résumé you submit should be reflective on the employers' wishes. If you are not sure, ASK! You don't want to risk having your résumé thrown out before you get a chance. Some employers will also ask you to provide a paper copy of your résumé along with the electronic version. When you are finished preparing your electronic résumé e-mail it to yourself or a friend to double check that it appears correctly.

Types of electronic résumés:

A plain text résumé is useful when you aren't sure what programs the employer uses to open attachments, or if their programs support attachments. A plain text résumé will be created in a text editor like Microsoft Notepad or Macintosh Simple Text. All programs are able to READ plain text documents. This version can be submitted in the body of an e-mail or cut and pasted into on-line forms.

Tips for Plain Text Résumés

1. Do not use pictures, special fonts or stylistic formatting.
   
2. Employ careful spacing (for e-mail, margins - count 65 characters across the screen and then hit ENTER.
   
3. Use the space bar to indent lines.
   
4. Use capital letters for heading sections (no underlining).
   
5. Surround bold sections with asterisks (* *).
   
6. Use hyphen (-), asterisk (*), or plus sign (+) for creating lists.
   
7. Use hyphens (-------) to create a line.
   
8. Save the file as (.txt).
   

A Rich text résumé is a fully formatted version of a résumé that you would typically use to print out and give to an employer. The difference again, is that it is saved as a file so that it is easily transportable to the employer. The Rich text résumé is typically created in a word processor and saved as (.rtf). The problem with Rich text résumés is that many e-mail editors do not support Rich text and cause a "jumbled" appearance or make the text unreadable. The other problem is if you send the Rich text résumé as an attachment the employer's e-mail system may not support e-mail attachments or know which program to use to open the resume.

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