Create a Great Searchable, Electronic Resume

How Job Seekers Can Make Technology Work for Them

Sep 14, 2009 Deborah S. Hildebrand

A great resume is not just about what words job seekers put on paper. It's how they organize and format it, especially when it comes to creating a searchable resume.

In books, articles and workshops everywhere job seekers are repeatedly advised on how to create the perfect resume, from how to write an objective or headline to deciding the best way to organize their work history to selecting how they can capture the true essence of their talent in the small space meant to communicate their entire work life.

There are a ton of ideas out there about how to design a great resume – formatting, choice of words, font and more. But one of the most important things that job seekers should keep in mind is that technology is an important part of daily business, therefore, it is vital to think about how it affects their resume.

Making a Resume Searchable and Scannable

Nowadays more and more employers are requesting that resumes be submitted online via their website or through a job posting website or by email. In fact, according to academic research posted online in June 2009, 46 percent of employers request resumes by email while 38 percent prefer applicants apply via the company website. Only 7 percent want resumes by snail mail.

Regardless of what choice job seekers make about how they submit their resume, they should create one that can be sent by email, posted and searched online, or sent by snail mail and scanned into an applicant tracking system. And to create the type of resume that fits all three methods means following some basic rules.

First, make it scannable through simplicity. Most job seekers are so busy trying to cram every bit of their life onto a one-page resume they don’t stop to think about how cluttered it can become. Trying to read a resume that is packed full of information can become very frustrating.

Job seekers should avoid using small font (less than 10 pt) in order to fit every detail of their work history onto the page. Say only what needs to be said and leave enough white space so the words don’t become little black unreadable blobs of ink. This also means keep the font face simple and graphics to a minimum. That includes boldface, underlining and italics. This simplicity will help make it easier to copy and paste it into the body of an email, too.

Next, make it searchable using keywords. Keywords are an important part of resumes these days because they are the words that employers look for when they are searching for candidates both online as well as in their own applicant-tracking database system.

Keywords are the search terms that employers use to describe the characteristics they want in an employee. The hope being that the right combination of keywords will eliminate those job seekers who don’t meet the minimum qualifications and identify only those candidates who have the requisite skills and qualifications.

Keep in mind that there can be variations on keywords so job seekers may want to scatter them throughout their resume in various forms or use a keyword block at the end of their resume which contains all previously unused keywords.

Some Final Tips for Electronic Resumes

While scanners have come a long way from ten years ago, they can still have their idiosyncrasies so job seekers who want to snail mail their resume should consider using a large envelope that will accommodate sending it flat. Folds in a resume may cause scanning problems.

In addition, job seekers who send their resume as an email attachment should make sure to keep the file name simple and to the point, such as using the job seeker’s name. And job seekers should consider embedding their resume into the email itself as an option for employer’s who are concerned about opening attachments.

The whole idea is that less is more. Creating a great electronic resume that is both searchable and scannable enables job seekers and employers alike to make technology work for them.

The copyright of the article Create a Great Searchable, Electronic Resume in Career Advice is owned by Deborah S. Hildebrand. Permission to republish Create a Great Searchable, Electronic Resume in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Create a Great Electronic Resume