[MUSIC] In the previous lessons, you've
learned about various resume formats. In this lesson,
you'll learn about electronic and scannable resumes used for
Internet recruiting and resume screening. You'll also learn about internal resumes,
which are especially important when you're seeking promotion
within your existing organization. Whether you're preparing a resume for
posting online or sending in an email, or preparing a resume for an optical scanner, you always
follow good resume writing practice. That means using keywords for
specific skills and requirements from the job description. That means making sure to use key
competencies in your summary and listing key competencies
early in the resume. That means using the language
strategies you've learned for writing strong accomplishment statements. That means spell checking and carefully proofreading the copy
to eliminate mistakes. And that means choosing a design
to match your marketing purpose. The design can be a functional,
chronological, direct competency, or
a combination format. So let's look now at electronic resumes. These include any resume that's
created for posting online or submitting via email. Most large organizations and national recruiting firms no longer
accept resumes as email attachments. The risk of downloading
a virus is just too great. In many organizations, employees are forbidden from
opening any email attachments. Now one of the ways you can overcome
this constraint is by sending potential employers a link to a webpage
on which your resume is posted. It might be posted as a PDF file, or
you might post it on your own website. Then you can present the resume
in an attractive visual layout, much as it might appear in a nicely
printed hard copy version. Even if you do this, you will still likely want to have a plain
text version of any resume you prepare. You use plain text for the cut and paste resume submission systems that many
organizations have on their websites. A plain text format is
also free of viruses and can be pasted directly into the body of
an email, not included as an attachment. That's a format that many
smaller businesses prefer. And the plain text format,
typically ASCII, is compatible with virtually every word
processor and email system in the world. This format will preserve document
structure when viewed in Courier or another mono-spaced font. By the way, Courier was nearly
released with the name, Messenger. But then the font designer chose the name
Courier, to denote special speed and a secure means of transmitting
a message from point A to point B. It brings to mind a courier
service like UPS, DHL, or FedEx. To create a plain text file in
most word processing programs, you simply save a copy of
the resume as text only. Use a monospaced font, like Courier. Use a regular font style,
so no bold face or italics. Make sure you save the text with
a maximum line width of 70 characters to ensure a consistent layout
with any email client. There will be no formatting mechanism
within a plain text document, ensuring that the text will not be
platform or application specific. That also means special characters,
such as smart quotes or mathematical symbols, should be avoided. Do not use tabs. Instead, use the space bar. Since you're using a monospaced font, the spacing will be consistent
from platform to platform. The default alignment is left-justified,
so use spaces if you want to indent
a sentence or center a heading. Finally, do not use word wrap when
composing a plain text resume. Instead, use hard carriage
returns to insert line breaks. So let's look next at
preparing a scannable resume. This is a resume that can be
read by an optical scanner. These scanners use Optical Character
Recognition Software, or OCR, for short. And if you're planning to submit to
an organization that uses an OCR engine in its applicant tracking system, you'll want to prepare a scannable
version of your resume. To find out if you need to provide a
scannable version, you can always contact the organization's human
resources department and ask. A resume prepared for optical scanning
will use a common non-decorative sans serif font, such as Arial or Optima,
in a font size from 10 to 14 point. You might use an OCR font, you can ask for
recommendations from the HR department. Serif fonts, like Times or Palatino, or even Courier, can produce visual
noise in some OCR packages. So these are to be avoided. In any strings that use slashes,
for example, TCP/IP, add a space between the slashes, so
that the slash does not touch the letters. Submit laser-printed original
copy on crisp, white paper, of brightness at least 92. Never submit dot matrix printer copy. Use the standard paper size for
the organization you're submitting to. For example, 8.5 by 11 inch in
North America, A4 in Europe. Prepare single-spaced, single-sided copy,
avoid two column format. Remember, scanners read
from left to right. Don't use vertical or horizontal lines. Your resume can be more than one page,
if necessary, but do not fold or staple pages together. If you have more than one page,
paper clip the pages together. Mail in a 9 by 12 inch envelope, or
whatever format is right for your area. Use uppercase type for section headings. Place your name at the top of
each page on its own line. Do not use italics, underlining,
graphics, shading, or bold face. That's it for the electronic and
scannable resumes. We'll close this lesson with a brief
comment about internal resumes. Remember, a resume is
a marketing document. As such, it can be a valuable
tool to help you get promoted. Many employees do not think of
using a resume internally, yet this is a very effective way of
documenting skills and progressive growth that your manager or your manager's
manager may not be aware of. For these resumes, the use of scannable keywords or
concise objectives is not so important. The main point is showing
measurable successes that are relevant to
your current employer. Examples include increase in sales,
return on investment, and the like. An excellent time to present
an updated resume is when you have your annual performance review. If you've taken the time to provide
quantitative proof of a successful year, you're in a much better position
to ask for a promotion or a salary increase, or a bonus. This practice would be
especially effective if you've been following the strategy
we talked about in the first course. Namely, submitting monthly accomplishment
status reports to your immediate superior. You'd be surprised at how many
regular employees in the same job for several years will have never
thought about doing this. They will never realize
the benefits it could bring them. Why don't you try it and
enjoy the benefits it could bring you? [MUSIC]