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Many employers request a resume from all candidates
applying for a job. In many cases, they do not actually perform a detailed review on
each of these resumes (which would be far too time-consuming),
but instead use scanning technology to look for resources that contain keywords matching
their requirements. Only those resumes which pass
this initial filter are given further review, and it is therefore critical for your success
that you maximize your chances of passing this scanning stage.
The first thing to understand is what scanning software does: it searches for certain keywords
or phrases within the resume and finds matches. If none of the keywords are found (which could
be for a variety of reasons - including the relevant item is not present, an unusual phraseology is used
by the candidate, or the keyword has been misspelled). then the
resume is discarded. The scanning process can be used
regardless of what format a resume arrives in:
- If the
resume arrives in electronic form, this scanning process
works directly on the electronic file.
- If the resume
arrives on paper, an
image scanner is used to convert the document into an electronic
image file, and that in turn is converted into electronic text using
OCR software.
You should be aware however that this process works much better for some types of documents
than others, and you need to carefully design your resume
with this mind, or otherwise you won't show up in keyword searches.
So what can you do to maximize the scannability of your
resume? Here are
some tips:
- Whenever there is a choice, submit your resume
in electronic form rather than on paper. This removes the possibility of
scanning/OCR errors causing you not to be listed on keyword searches.
- If submitting on paper, print your resume on plain white paper, one side only.
If your resume runs to multiple pages,
make sure the pages are numbered and your name is in the top left corner of
each page. Do not staple the pages as otherwise a busy
scanner
operator using the hardware's sheet-feeder may inadvertently only scan the top page.
- Avoid using fancy layouts: Do not use tables. stick to left-to-right
writing, and avoid bold, italics and underline. Use only common fonts
such as Times Roman or Arial (preferably the same font throughout)
and with all the text at 10 or 12 points size.
- Avoid using special symbols such as the copyright symbol, percentage
symbol, etc. Many
OCR packages
do not cope well with such characters.
- Use power words to describe your
experience and qualifications. Many recruiters search on such words.
- Try to use the same terminology as the employer. For example, if they have
used particular words to describe the qualifications that they seek in their
job advert, make sure similar words appear in your
resume and
cover letter.
- Avoid abbreviations and alternative spellings which may not match keyword
searches.
- Carefully check all your spelling; a keyword search won't find your
resume if you misspelled the word!
Related Links:
- CareerAssist
We offer affordable, easy-to-use cover letter and resume builder software and resume and cover letter critique services
- Post Your Resume for FREE at HotResumes.com
- Resume and Cover Letter Secrets Revealed
"This do-it-yourself manual makes writing your own resume and cover letter a breeze... even for someone who's never written them before!"
- Resume Rabbit
This site INSTANTLY submits a customers resume and job requirements on up to 75 top job sites including Monster, Job.com, CareerBuilder, Net-Temps, Dice and more! Once finished our customers can be seen by over 1.5 million employers and recruiters daily. It takes customers ONLY 5 minutes & saves them over 60 hours of research and data entry. Best of all, its easy to use and produces REAL results! Since January 2001 ResumeRabbit has performed 1,000,000's of resume submissions for loads of happy customers. And the site has great testimonials to prove it!
- Sample Resumes
Resume and Cover Letter Samples Package.
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