Give Your Resume to the Electronic Edge
2000; American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers; Volume: 76; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
0010-0889
Autores Tópico(s)Educational Technology and Assessment
ResumoEven if you are not looking for employment in a technical field, there's a good chance you'll need an electronic version of your resume to be competitive in your job search. In the past, paper documents highlighting experience and education served job hunters just fine, but these days traditional resumes may not be enough to entice employers anymore. Now many organizations prefer to receive computer-friendly scannable resumes and online resumes when searching for potential job candidates. A scannable resume is created when your paper resume is electronically scanned or by an employer's computer and stored in a database as a computer file. An online resume is one you create using word processing software and e-mail or post on the Internet. Each type of resume requires attention to particular guidelines. Many companies now use electronic scanners to help process resumes they receive through a system called automated applicant tracking. Once a hard copy of your resume is scanned into a computerized database, an employer can use a software program to search for keywords to match your qualifications to specific job requirements. There are several design points that can help get your resume noticed. First, keep it simple! Scanners respond best to clear concise language and simple layouts. Avoid fancy fonts and formatting that may not scan properly into a computer system. If the computer can't read it, your resume will be lost in cyberspace. Also, use relevant keywords. These keywords must coincide with specific job requirements. Use nouns rather than verbs; keywords tend to be nouns or noun-phrases. For example, use project supervisor rather than supervised project. To become familiar with good keyword descriptors, check classified ads, review job descriptions, or talk with members of professional associations in your field. A scannable resume offers several advantages over paper resumes. Once your electronic resume is in a database, it can be retrieved easily during a keyword search. This serves you better than a paper file sitting idly in a filing cabinet, where personnel representatives must wade through stacks of other resumes to finally, hopefully, come across yours. Your scanned resume also remains in the database for an extended duration, making it available for consideration for a variety of openings over time. An online resume allows you to use the Internet as another resource to gain exposure and assist you in your job hunt. Job seekers can e-mail or post their resumes online via company home pages, resume banks, professional association home pages, classified ads, bulletin board services, and news groups. Employers can also post job announcements by using many of the same mediums and can search resume banks for potential employees. To develop an online resume, create it using word processing software, then save it as a generic text file. ASCII text is a universal text language, which allows different word processing applications to read and display the same text. This type of text is simply words; there are no formatting mechanisms such as fonts, margins, graphics, or tabs. Each word processing software (like WordPerfect or Microsoft Word) saves files in its own format, making it difficult to send information if you don't know which program the receiver uses. ASCII text enables your document to be retrieved and reviewed by prospective employers using e-mail or the Internet, no matter what kind of computer applications they use. There are several advantages to e-mailing your resume. First, it saves money on processing and postage. Also, your resume will end up in the same type of computerized database where the scanned paper resumes are stored. As with the scanned resume, this allows your resume to be accessible during keyword database searches. Additionally, by e-mailing your resume, you exhibit your understanding of technology and make a positive first impression. …
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