What is an Electronic Resume?

The newest wave in employment etiquette is electronic resumes. An electronic resume is a version that is on a computer file. This format allows employers ease of transporting, storing and retrieving data from your resume. Unlike a "scannable" resume, which is a paper copy of a resume for the employer to scan and enter into his system, the electronic resumes can be directly entered without scanning and risking losing information. With electronic resumes, you can apply by e-mail, apply over the Web via electronic forms or apply as a Web page. Many businesses, offices and other jobs ask directly for resumes to be submitted electronically. Pay careful attention to their requirements.

Remember that what type of resume you submit should be reflective on the employers' wishes. If you are not sure, ASK! You don't want to risk having your resume thrown out before you get a chance. Some employers also will ask you to provide a paper copy of your resume along with the electronic version. When you are finished preparing your electronic resume, e-mail it to yourself or a friend to doublecheck that it appears correctly.

Types of Electronic Resumes:

Plain Text (TXT)
A plain text resume is useful when you aren't sure what programs the employer uses to open attachments, or if their programs support attachments. A plain text resume will be created in a text editor like Microsoft Notepad or Macintosh Simple Text and Text Edit. All programs are able to READ plain text documents. This version can be submitted in the body of an e-mail or cut and pasted into on-line forms.

Tips for Plain Text Resumes

• Do not use pictures, special fonts or stylistic formatting.
• Employ careful spacing (for e-mail, margins -- count 65 characters across the screen and then hit ENTER).
• Use the space bar to indent lines.
• Use capital letters for heading sections (no underlining).
• Surround bold sections with asterisks (* *).
• Use hyphen (-), asterisk (*), or plus sign (+) for creating lists.
• Use hyphens (-------) to create a line.
• Save the file as (.txt).

Rich Text (RTF)
A rich text resume is a fully formatted version of a resume that you typically would use to print out and give to an employer. The difference, again, is that it is saved as a file so that it is easily transportable to the employer. The rich text resume typically is created in a word processor and saved as (.rtf). The problem with rich text resumes is that many e-mail editors do not support rich text and cause a "jumbled" appearance or make the text unreadable. The other problem is if you send the rich text resume as an attachment, the employer's e-mail system may not support e-mail attachments or know which program to use to open the resume.

REMEMBER: Be sure to find out which type the employer wants you to use!