Digital Resume Format

Here are some tips I picked up in AIRS RealTools Newsletter today (written by Michael Foster). The article was specifically speaking of resumes you submit as an applicant that get input into a candidate database at a corporation and creating the best resume format under those circumsances:

The Digital Resume Format

Much of the time and cost savings gained by having applicants submit their resumes electronically is lost if your systems can’t read them and you have to pre-process them by hand. An effective e-resume is more than a simple transfer of text from an applicant’s old resumes into an e-mail message – and it’s well worth educating your prospective applicants about the best ways to create and submit them.

First, remember that you want a machine to read the resume and be able to interpret and retrieve it successfully. That means the message has to arrive in, or be converted to a plain text format. Also, search engines tend to stumble over graphics, fonts, bullets, indents and strange characters – so very simple and straightforward documents are best. Here are some formatting tips you can make your applicants aware of, to streamline your own workflow:

· Use only Helvetica, Arial, or Times Roman Fonts

· Use 10, 12, or 14 Point Size Fonts

· Make sure the entire document is left justified

· Set margins for approximately 65 characters

· Use spaces or dashes to emphasize text

· No bullets

· No graphics · No wing dings or special characters