Employers today are relying on the internet more and more to recruit employees. Not only do they post jobs on their own websites, they post to services like Monster.com and even Craigslist in search of tech-savvy job applicants.
What does this mean for your job search? Well, your fancy font is not going to come through in a text-box, your special formatting will not scan correctly into your potential employers' searchable database, and your special paper will not attach to an email. How can you make your resume attractive and eye-catching in this new paradigm?
Difficulty: Moderate
Instructions
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Remember: keep it basic. You're going to be emailing this resume, and this resume will undoubtedly be scanned into someone's computer. If you use all sorts of crazy formatting tricks, or unique fonts, your resume will come out looking weird by the time it's been passed around your target company.
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So, Avoid: fancy fonts, images, banners, landscape rather than legal orientation, margins outside the printable range of a page, or designing the resume for colored or imaged stationary.
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Do you know how many resumes this guy has looked at? Do not bore your recruiter with a standard-template resume.Do not use a standard Microsoft Word template. Believe me, the recruiters have seen all of these. Start from scratch, in your word processor, with a blank page.
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The crucial trick here is going to be indenting, using space bar not tabs, and ruthless application of your electronic ruler. Use a few simple font tricks that won't come through when you paste your text, but won't be corrupted into gibberish, either: bold, italics, underline, font size, spacing, and smallcaps.
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Make an Attractive Header. Your header should be your name and contact information. That's it. Your name should be bigger than anything else on the page, bold, and ALL CAPS. Your contact info on the next line should be smaller and include your address, telephone number, and email. Your header should stretch across the page to both margins. Try putting all contact info on one line and "justifying" that line in your word processor.
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Just like in an outline, each subheading should line up precisely, and the information for each subheading should be one more indent inward. Three levels is enough: any more and you're going to lose space on your page. Mark these "levels" on your Word Processor's ruler, and don't forget to use the space bar rather than Tabs.
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Smallcaps make your headlines look interesting and professional.Every subheading should be all caps. To make it look more interesting, highlight all but the first letter of your subheading, go into the font menu, and change it to "small caps". This effect should be duplicated on every "level" you use it on - so if one heading looks like this, make them all this way.
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To make your primary subheadings stand out even more, add spaces with capitalization like this: H E A D L I N E
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Your innermost level can combine small caps with regular capitalization, rather than indenting again. For example: say you're on the Job Experience section : the top line, your job title, is all caps with big and small caps. Then the next line, the name of the company, uses regular capitalization, and is italicized or bold. Then the next line, your job description, is regular text, in a smaller font. Mess around with this until it looks the way you like it.
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Bullet points are great for organizing a document, but don't go overboard. Use them only at the innermost level of your document, and don't use any fancy symbol or line rules for it. A simple * will do.
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Word Processor "rulers" are very handy for lining up your text perfectly.Justify your text, and double-check your rulers. Your page should be very clean and perfectly aligned. All of the dates should be on the same vertical line, all of the company names should be on the same line, all of the bullet points everywhere should be on the same line.
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Only bold your subheadings, only italicize the names of companies. You don't want to rely too strongly on bold or italics, because this doesn't carry over into plain text. When you're really happy with your text, save your document - this is your primary resume.
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Now, convert your document to a PDF. This is the BEST format to email your resume, and it will maintain your formatting. If you don't have an Adobe distiller to make a PDF, search online for a free PDF converter. It may take a few tries to get your PDF just right, because sometimes your spacing can be thrown off in the conversion. Keep adjusting it until it's perfect - this is your primary PDF resume. Beautiful, isn't it?
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Now convert your Word Processor file into a Text (.txt) file, for copy-pasting purposes. This is what you will use when you apply for a job directly on the company website, where many times you will be asked to build a resume online. Reformat your plain text here, before you go to the website, so that you can have it shipshape. You've lost all of your formatting, but the general shape of your resume is here, in a well-spaced and well-designed form. Now you're ready to apply!
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Finally, it pays to have SEVERAL resumes ready to go. Different employers are looking for different employee attributes, and you'll want to modify your resume to show exactly how you fit every qualification that the recruiter is looking for. A well-designed resume can be easily modified with specific language pertaining to the job you're applying for.