By Carol Kleiman
Tribune Jobs Columnist
October 18, 1998
When you answer an ad that says to fax your résumé
or to send it by e-mail, there may be a problem: It may not get there in usable
form.
"You may not be faxing to a human being but to a computer assigned to
scan your résumé," said Kellie Greene, owner of Global Career Resources,
based in Hanover Park.
To help ensure that your fax is scannable, keep it simple, Greene advises.
"No underlines, bullets, small type or bells and whistles."
And you might have problems with e-mail, too: "If you send your résumé
as an e-mail attachment, the company's software program might not be compatible
with yours or recognize the format and reject it because of fear of
viruses."
Greene advises using e-mail but make the résumé part of the message -- not
an attachment.
"Most Fortune 500 companies expect you to send résumés they can scan
right into the computer -- live human beings no longer read them," said
Greene, a former executive recruiter who now helps job seekers send out
electronic résumés that are scannable. "If your résumé is scrambled,
you don't have a chance of getting the job."
Greene, who has a bachelor of science degree in business from Syracuse
University and is a member of the National Résumé Writers Association, says
what's important to remember about electronic résumés is "not to give the
job interviewer any extra work to do to read it." Greene's Web site can be
accessed at www.globalcareerresources.com.
"When you type words onto a computer screen in a word processing
program, you're creating what is called a file or document," explained Pat
Criscito, a certified professional résumé writer and president of ProType
Ltd., an international résumé service based in Colorado Springs, Colo.
"When you save that file, it's saved with special formatting codes like
fonts, margins and tab settings. Every word-processing software saves its files
in its own native format, making the file readable by anyone else with the same
software or software that can convert that file to its own native format.
"Only by choosing to save the document as (text only,) a generic ASCII
file, can your document be read by anyone, regardless of the word-processing
software. This is the type of file you must create in order to send your résumé
via e-mail."
Criscito has a bachelor's degree in business management from the University
of Phoenix and is working toward her MBA. She's been a résumé consultant since
1980 and is the author of "Résumés in Cyberspace" (Barron's,
$14.95). Criscito also advises against e-mail attachments.
"Instead, cut and paste your résumé into the e-mail message
screen," she advised. "Because it will be scanned into a database,
don't use underlines, fancy fonts or black boxes with white letters. Italics are
okay as long as one letter doesn't touch another letter."
If it's so complicated to use e-mail, wouldn't it be smarter just to send a résumé
through the mail?
"It's much better to e-mail it because it then goes directly to the
database and you're not at the mercy of the scanner," said Criscito. Her
Web site can be accessed at www.thespringsmall.com.
Though her focus is on cyberspace, Criscito is traditional when she gives
this advice: "After you e-mail your résumé, mail a hard copy and a
standard cover letter. And bring them to the interview, too."
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