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Design
Your Scannable Resume To Work On All Systems
As
the example above shows, older scanning software can cause scanned
resumes to look very different than your original resume. However,
this doesn't happen with new, more sophisticated scanning systems.
For example, Resumix keeps a snapshot of your resume which can
be printed. This allows your resume to be scanned as well as
being stored as a picture without changing it. But, many employers
may not have this newer sophisticated software because such systems
can cost up to $100,000. As a result, many employers are still
using scanning software that is older and results in scanning
problems. Therefore, you need to design your scannable resume
to be scanned correctly by both older and newer scanning software.
If you have typed
your resume with a word processor all you need to do is convert
it into an ASCII file, or plain text format with line breaks,
by using your word processing program's "save as" option.
Converting your file will remove formatting commands such as
bolding, centering, bullets and graphic lines.
When you print your
resume from this plain text format you'll see that is very plain
and downright ugly just like Fran's scanned resume. But, it's
now very computer friendly. Here are the steps I took to convert
Fran's nice looking resume into an ASCII or plain text format.
I used MS Word and Notepad which made these steps very easy.
You may find that your wordprocessing program or text editor
works slightly differently. Don't be afraid to experiment - but
save each version of your resume as you work on it. Especially
your original resume! Test and proof read each version of your
resume that you create.
Converting
Your Resume To ASCII or Plain Text With Line Breaks
|
Step 1 |
Created and saved
Fran's nicely formatted resume using MS Word as a word document. |
|
Step 2 |
Opened the resume
word document file using MS Word.
Took out all underlining, lines, bolding, centering, italicizing,
bullets, indents or special formatting commands.
Used asterisks *'s or hyphens -"s to replace bullets.
Highlighted all text and selected Courier 12 (a non-proportional
font) and left aligned my text.
Took off the bullets created with Word's bullet function and
checked all lines carefully for words that had been dropped onto
a line by themselves.
Double checked each line to make sure that it had word wrapped
with no extra spaces.
Set the page margins at 6.5 inches.
I found I had fewer formatting problems, later, if I took out
all formatting commands (bullets, underlining, bolding, etc.)
before I went to the next step. |
|
Step 3 |
Used the "save
as" command to save the file under a different name as "text
only with line breaks." |
|
Step 4 |
Opened this file
using MS Notepad.
Put a blank line between my headings and paragraphs to make Fran's
skill headings stand out.
Took out a couple of extra blank lines I didn't need.
Checked and corrected any other errors. |
|
Step 5 |
Saved this file
under a different file name using MS Notepad's "save as"
command. It automatically saves the file as a .txt (text file). |
|
For Scanning |
|
Step 6 |
Printed the file.
Proofread Fran's resume and used the hard copy as her scannable
resume. (Print scannable resumes on white paper only and only
send originals). |
|
For E-Mail |
|
Step 7 |
To e-mail, opened
a new MS Internet Explorer e-mail message. Put my cursor in the
body of the e-mail message and used the "insert text file"
command to bring in Fran's MS Notepad resume file.
Checked Fran's resume again to make sure it didn't have any errors
and if so corrected them. |
|
For Posting To
Resume Banks |
|
Step 8 |
Went to each employer's
website online resume builder form. Opened my MS Notepad file
and copied and pasted appropriate sections from my Notepad file
into the online resume builder form. |
|
Creating and
Inserting Cover Letters |
|
Step 9 |
Used Steps 1 - 5
to create my cover letter with MS Word and convert it with MS
Notepad.
Followed Step 7 to insert my letter into my MS Internet Explorer
e-mail message above my resume. |
How Are
Scanned Resumes Sorted?
Once
your resume is scanned, much or all of all the text from your
resume is put into a database program. This database program
will then be used to sort all resumes by key words, hot industry
buzz words, areas of experience and education. For
example, a Department Manager might want to hire a Marketing
Representative with 5 years sales experience, new product marketing,
cold calling and territory management background. These key words
can be put into the database program and a sort function performed
on all resumes in the database. All resumes which have these
key words in them will be sorted and pulled from the database.
Some scanning systems rank the resulting resumes and score them
based on the total number of key words in each resume.
Why Key
Words Are Important and How To Identify Them
To
ensure that your resume is selected from a sort, you must include
the key words an employer will sort resumes by. One way to identify
key words is to underline all skills listed in ads and job descriptions
for the types of jobs you want. Include these skills at the top
of your resume in a section like the one below. Most key words
that employers sort by are nouns such as Accounting Manager.
However, verbs such as "troubleshoot" or "calibrate"
may be used to sort for some positions such as electronic technician.
E-Mail,
Scannable, Or Nicely Formatted - Which Is Better?
If
an employer gives you the option of either submitting a scannable
resume by mail or by submitting a resume by e-mail, choose e-mail.
Sending an e-mail resume is better because e-mail is already
in electronic, plain text format that database systems can readily
accept - with no errors. With any scannable resume you still
run some risk of OCR programs creating an error when reading
your resume. If you must send a scannable
resume, also include a nicely formatted resume. Put a post-it
note on this version that states, "Visual Resume."
On your plain text resume put a post-it note that says, "Scannable
Resume." If an employer doesn't scan resumes - then he'll
have a nicely formatted resume to look at.
How Many
Employers Scan Resumes?
Below is a breakdown of "Where People Work" derived
from U.S. Department of Labor reports. As you can see the greatest
majority of jobs (66%) are filled by small organizations with
1-250 employees. The next greatest percentage (18%) of jobs are
filled by medium sized organizations with 250-1000 employees.
The smallest percentage (16%) of jobs are filled by large sized
organizations with 1000+ employees. As you can see about 2/3
of all people work in small organizations.
With electronic
scanning and database systems costing up to $100,000 you'll probably
find that many employers, those employing less than 250 to 100
employees, don't use scanning systems because it's just too costly
and their demand isn't high enough. You may also find that these
same employers don't have employer websites which offer online
resume building forms. But, a high percentage of these companies
will have employees with e-mail addresses.
This info can
help you strategize how you'll contact employers based on their
size. If you're unsure if an employer accepts scanned resumes,
e-mail resumes or has an on-line site - call them and ask.
$9,000
Salary Increase
The
first resume workshop in this site shows how Fran's after resume resulted in
a $9,000 salary increase. Fran
wanted a $33,000 Corporate Customer Representative job but her resume
created an image of her being at a $20,000 to 24,000 salary level -- that's
$9,000 to $13,000 beneath her goal.
What
Level Does Your Resume Market You At?
If you
are curious to see what level your resume is marketing you at
then be
sure to read and use the graphing techniques in my first workshop.
By graphing the job titles used in Fran's resume it's easy to see why
her resume failed
and once you understand this
you will understand
why the majority of resumes fail. You'll then understand how to analyze your job titles and see
if you are better off using them or replacing them with skill headings that
market you more effectively.
Most
People Have Job Titles that Weaken Their Image
I
estimate that at least 85% of all job seekers have job titles unrelated to
their current career goals
and that they are much better off using skill
headings rather than job titles to land higher salaries and double and
triple their interview rates.
For
example, Fran had been a Directory Operator but in most people's minds that
doesn't sound like she's at the level of a Corporate Customer Representative
making $33,000
that's because most people don't view directory operators
as providing true customer service. Most
people say that Directory Operator sounds like someone making only $20,000.
However, by using the 12 Questions in my Proven Resumes Series, Fran
wrote a new description of her duties as a Directory Operator that described
her being selected out of 100 Directory Operators to provide specialized
Customer Service to the Governor's Office and Political Dignitaries in the
Washington State Capitol
now that information begins to change our image
of Fran doesn't it? That makes
her sound much more like someone being able to command $33,000.
Which
sounds like a better match for the $33,000 Corporate Customer Service
Representative goal
her old job title of Directory Operator
or a skill heading like Customer Service Representative to State
of Washington Account. In
Fran's actual resume we used the heading of Customer Service Representative
but you can see how you can play with skill headings to control and elevate
your image
this is one strategy I explain in detail with examples
throughout my book, Proven Resumes: Strategies That Have Increased Salaries,
and one of the strongest things I can offer you as a resume writer
just
in case you don't have the time or patience to write your own.
Going
from 0% to 100% Interview Rate
By
using skill headings that matched her goal, Fran went from a 0% interview
rate to a 100% interview rate -- meaning none of her prior resumes had
landed an interview but her new resume landed an interview for each position
she applied for.
Click
here to learn other ways we
improved Fran's resume and landed her a job paying $9,000 more click
here to read my first set of
resume workshops!
If you've entered my site via this page, be sure to go to my home
page for an overview of more than 60 Free Resume & Job Search Workshops
that include tons of Resume Tips for 45 Career Fields, Job Search,
Electronic Resume, Cover Letter, Interviewing, Networking and Confidence
Building strategies.
The
testimonials at the top of this page and throughout my site describe salary
increases ranging from $10,000 to $30,000 and more. Here's one of my most recent ones:
| Regina,
the resume you wrote caught the attention of the world's leading
software manufacturer. Thanks for helping inspire me through
your thoughtful questions and objective interpretation of my work
history.
I'm
sure it made a big difference in my ability to be recognized in a
competitive environment and cross the $100,000 threshold. By
the way, the offer I accepted was an increase of $25K annually (21%
increase).
Rachel Pizarro, Senior Sales Account Executive / Operations Manager |
For More Information
My booklets contain complete before and after scanned resume
examples with a detailed list of guidelines on how to format
a scanned resume and create key word summaries. Most importantly
they show you how to create a resume with strong content that
sells you! |
Website
Contents, Regina Pontow, 1997-2005
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