Tips To Make Your Resume More Computer Friendly!

Today with the huge volume of resumes received by some companies you could write and format a great looking resume, mail or fax it to the organization, and after being scanned and computerized your resume may never reach a hiring manager. If you do not make your resume scanner friendly your chances of your resume being noticed will be close to zero.

Here are some ideas to consider when you write and format your resume to make it score higher and be more recognizable by a computer scan.

1. Starting at the top of your resume your name should be at least one font size greater than the rest of the resume, but do not exceed 20 point type. Do not use decorative fonts or a reverse box. Make sure your name is on the top of every page of the resume.

2. Selection of the font is important because you do not want any part of a letter to touch another letter. To the scanner this leads to misspellings.

Suggested fonts are Serif (Bookman, Garamond or Times Roman) or Sans Serif (Ariel, Tahoma or Verdana) are all acceptable. The font size should not be smaller than 9 or greater than 12. Never underline anything in your resume, as it causes letters like g,p,q,and y to run together and cause misspellings.

Do not use symbols like % or &, they cannot be read properly by the scanner-always write out the term like percent. Do not use hollow bullets as the scanner would read them as an "O." Solid bullets are the best.

Italics can be used as long as the letters do not touch.

3. Don't use... dot lead ins. Use of white space is good to separate sections of the resume. Setting up the resume in columns like a newspaper page can cause problems for the scanner so don't do it.

4. Your resume should be send in a 9x12 envelope, never stapled or folded. Use bright white, off-white or light gray paper. Never have a background printed on the paper or print the resume on both side of the paper.

Now that you have the resume formatted properly let's discuss how you get noticed. A good thing about electronic scanning is that for experienced job seekers, a two page resume is acceptable and for executives a three page resume may be appropriate.

Since a human will be reading your resume, if you pass the scanning, good solid writing can't be overlooked. Keywords and synonyms placed in the resume as they relate to the job will vault you over other candidates. The keyword only has to appear once in the resume, you do not get extra credit for the same keyword appearing numerous times.

The keywords should be as specific as possible. "Project Manager," is good but "Construction Project Manager," is better and "Apartment Construction Project Manager," is best if the employer is looking for someone with apartment construction project management experience. A synonym for manager may be superintendent.

Carefully review the job announcement for appropriate keywords and synonyms. As appropriate make sure the words are naturally written into your resume. List your key skills and qualifications are on the first page of your resume. Quantify each achievement and accomplishment.

With your resume having no formatting problems, and the computer scan discovering you have checked all the keyword boxes your chances of getting called for the next level of job interviews has just gone way up.