It is a growing trend with many employers is to request an electronic version of your resume. In fact, larger companies give you the option to supply your resume on-line directly from their web sites. When creating an electronic resume, you don’t need to start over. You are merely altering the presentation format.

To prepare your electronic resume, follow this list:

1. Create your resume with the formatting and display style for the normal resume.
   
2. Copy this computer file and give it a different name. (For example, name it resume.txt)
   
3. Remove all of the formatting. This means eliminating italics, bold, underlining, paragraph indents, justified or centered text, and bullets.
   
4. Use the SAVE AS function in your word processor to save it as a text file.

Since you can’t use typical formatting additions such as bolds, underlines, or bullets, to make an electronic resume more appealing visually, try these options to deliver the same impact. Instead of:

• Bullets—use asterisks (*) or plus signs (+) at the beginning of lines.
  
• Underlines or italics—use a series of dashes to separate sections.
  
• Bold text—capital letters offer a great alternative or use asterisks to surround the text.

Keep these rules of thumb in mind:

• Always send a message in the text area of the email. You should also ask if they would like a printed copy for their records. Make sure you spell check the text of the email message.
  
• Unless otherwise indicated, include a cover letter and be sure to note why you are contacting this person.
  
• Send the resume and cover letter in one email message.

 

By CESER, the Center for Employment Education and Research