ELECTRONIC (WEB) RESUMES by Dyanna Culp

Electronic, or web, resumes are made using a very basic plain text format called ASCII. These types of resumes are used in all job databanks.

Open your resume document and go to the article "Resume Tips". After you’ve polished the content follow the steps below to convert your resume to ASCII format.

STEPS TO CREATE AN ASCII RESUME:

• Replace bullets with an asterisk (*)
• Use capitol (upper case) letters in place of bold text but avoid capital letters except for in the main headings.
• Remove all tabs and graphics. Move all text to the left margin.
• Do all spell and grammar checks before converting your document. Spell check does not work in ASCII text format.
• To convert an existing resume document to ASCII, go to File, Save As, Save as Type, and select "text only". This will remove all bullets, bold or italicized text, underlining, tabs, other standard document formatting, and graphics.
• When you open the new file, a plain text editor such as Notepad or Simple Text will open it. You’ll see your resume, as it will appear in an e-mail program or an Online Resume Bank.
• Carefully proofread your new ASCII resume. Sometimes the text runs together after the conversion. Look for any question marks, square blocks, or other odd looking characters that do not belong in your resume. Non-ASCII characters, such as bullets, will be converted into these strange objects.
• Finally, email your new ASCII resume to yourself and to a friend who uses a different email program and computer system. This way you’ll be certain that the resume appears as you intended when viewed on different systems.

After completing ALL of the above you’re ready to submit your resume to online candidate databases!