From JobsInAL Newsletter: Formatting Online Resumes

Formatting Tips
Your resume will be displayed on JobsInAL.com in plain text, so you will need to remove any special formatting such as bold, italic, underlines, bullets, indents, and centering. If you have a resume created in Word, you can remove special formatting by saving it as a plain text file (with the extension .txt). You can open it up in Notepad (if you have Microsoft Windows) to view how it will look.

1. Manually remove any characters that are not readable and correct any spacing problems
2. If you had bullets, you will need to change them to asterisks (*)
3. Align everything to the left and use line breaks to separate headers from text.
4. Keep line width narrow (about 4.5 inches)
5. Preview your resume and check for any incorrect line breaks or special characters you might have missed before you send the message to a potential employer

Sample Online Resume

Remove unreadable characters Jane Doe 123 Park Street [ᡯ] Portland, Maine 04092 jdoe@yahoo.com 207-222-2222 Summary: I would like to work in an office where I can put my skills to best use. Add Keywords that relate to your industry and skills - making it easier for employers to find your resume in the database KEY STRENGTHS Experienced and professional administrative personnel/office manager, Excellent communication skills, Proficient in Microsoft Office EXPERIENCE June 1999 - Present ABC Company, Office Manager * Maintain office system equipment to include computer tech support and systems and office supplies * Track and maintain corporate charitable donations * Accounts payable support and petty cash reconciliation * Maintain and update property monthly reports Use Asterics & Line Breaks to separate lines of text June 1995 - June 1999 ABC Insurance, Administrative Assistant * Answered phones * Greeted visitors * Drafted correspondences November 1990 - May 1995 123 Health Insurance, Office Personnel * Attended meetings in order to record minutes * Compiled, transcribed, and distributed minutes of meetings * Coordinated and directed office services, such as records and budget preparation, personnel, and housekeeping, in order to aid executives * Greeted visitors and determined whether they should be given access to specific individuals * Made travel arrangements for executives COMPUTER SKILLS Microsoft Office including training in Excel and Access, Outlook, Lotus Notes, PowerPoint and Publisher

Keep in mind that most resumes sent via email or viewed online are viewed for only 5-8 seconds during the initial screening. So, when it comes to e-resume writing, the first half of the first page of your resume should contain a summary of major accomplishments or key skills that sells you to the recruiter.

Making Your Resume Searchable
When your resume is stored in an online database, hiring managers and recruiters will probably conduct a keyword and key phrase search, since using phrases often increases the relevance of the search results. For example, a separate keyword search on "database" and "marketing" would return a larger number of resumes than a search on "database marketing". Therefore, you want to think both in keyword and combinations of keywords that are likely search phrases and be sure to include both in the text of your e-resume.

These basic guidelines will get you started:

• The best source of words/phrases that a recruiter will use in a keyword search are his/her own - review job descriptions, job postings, and classified ads for positions in your field - most of the keywords and phrases that the hiring manager or recruiter will use are in there.
• Use industry "buzz words" and jargon - this is one time where that is encouraged - including commonly used acronyms in your field (e.g., MCSE when listing your certification for a network engineer in the IT industry).
• Other potential search words include the company names of your employers, cities where you have worked, and the college/university that you attended.

Don't completely discard your paper resume. Instead, bring it with you to the interview. Any fancy formatting stripped from the electronic version will still come in handy - perhaps to help separate you from all the other candidates being interviewed.

Finally, just as with the paper version, it's important to remember that your electronic resume is only active with a company for about six months. Resumes are then often deleted or put in an archival section of the company's database. And of course, an e-resume should always be kept up-to-date.