INTERNET NETWORKING  (Use search engines to locate any of the following)

• COMPANY HOME PAGES:  Company home pages contain information that may include mission statement, locations, products, services, and history.  These sites may also contain employment listings to browse through to determine if the applicant has the qualifications, and then instructions on how to apply.

• ONLINE JOB BANKS:  Job openings can also be found at a number of career web sites.  These postings are accessible using search criteria specified by the job hunter so that all openings that match the request are displayed.

• VIRTUAL JOB FAIRS:  Virtual job fairs provide a list of companies that are participating in that particular virtual job fair, and a link to that company’s home page in which employment listings can be found.  Browse these job listings, determine if qualified, and apply.

• ELECTRONIC CLASSIFIED ADS:  The help wanted ads, which appear in newspapers or magazines, are available on the Internet.

• WEB-BASED FORUMS/NEWSGROUPS:  "Hanging out" at an online forum/newsgroup where industry professionals can be found is a great way to keep tabs on the latest business trends and potential job leads.   These serve as bulletin boards in which members interested in a particular topic can post messages that are accessible by other Internet users with similar interests, who may then respond with a reply posting.

ELECTRONIC RESUMES 

• SCANNABLE RESUME:  A paper resume that focuses on key words, not looks, and the information is transferred from the paper resume into a resume database system.  Once a resume has been scanned by a computer into the tracking system, employers can identify potential candidates by searching the database using key words.

• POSTING RESUME TO AN ONLINE JOB BANK:  An ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) resume consists of 127 standard characters, much like a typewriter.  ASCII (aka Plain Text, Text Only, or Rich Text) resumes are rarely printed and are meant to be uploaded to an employer’s website in their online resume builder by cutting and pasting appropriate sections.  It should contain a list of key words that are used by employers to find a match.

• EMAILING RESUME TO EMPLOYER:  An ASCII resume is meant to be sent by email to employers and should also contain key words that are used by employers to find a match. 

TIPS FOR CREATING ELECTRONIC RESUMES

• If printing, use white paper, 8 ½ x 11, one side only, laser printed original

• Do not fold or staple

• Use font size 10 to 14 and use sans serif fonts (without feet, or letters that do not touch each other)

• Place applicant’s name at the top of the page on its own line and use standard address format below name

• List each telephone number on its own line and don’t use parentheses around area codes

• Use separate lines for job title, company name, and location

• When using dates for work experience, put beginning and ending date on one line

• Use a space around slashes

• Use asterisks or dashes

• Use all capital letters for headings

• Use key words and buzzwords

• Use a hard return instead of word wrap

• Make everything left justified

• Avoid using page numbers -- the resume is read on a computer screen and there is no distinction between pages

• Avoid ampersands, percent signs, foreign characters, bold, italics, graphics, underlining

• Avoid boxes, horizontal or vertical lines, solid or hollow bullets (may be interpreted as the letter o)

• Avoid two-column format

• Avoid tabs and centering text

• Proofread and spell check document before hitting the “submit” button

PRIVACY ISSUES

• Date the resume, in case the employer stumbles across it online in the future

• Try to use a password that prohibits anyone form transmitting the resume without authorization

• Ask the website administrator about the site’s policies on selling or trading resumes

• Mask identity by withholding applicant’s name and the names of employers, positing only skills and abilities 

EXAMPLE OF AN ELECTRONIC RESUME

This page is maintained by the Career Services Office.  Last updated:  July 15, 2009