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Make Your Resumé Scannable
Most job applications are now done electronically, and most employers request a resumé from candidates, no matter what level of job they are being considered for. Have you ever wondered why employers would request resumés from all candidates, when it can be extremely time consuming to review them all? The truth is, employers don't actually review every resumé they receive. Increasingly, companies are turning to technology, using software to scan the resumés they receive for key words and content specific to their available positions. Typically, this robo-scan is the first round of resumé review. Only if it satisfies the robot's criteria does it actually get seen by a human hiring director.
While your resumé may be well-written and well-formatted, it may not be scannable. Problems with computer scanning, especially optical character recognition, may be the reason why you are not receiving calls from potential employers, even if you have excellent qualifications for the job. To make your resumé computer-readable, follow these tips:
Avoid unusual formatting tricks. Special formatting may cause certain letters in words to touch. The result is incomprehensible to optical character recognition software. This is especially common if a word is bolded or italicized. Make sure that you review your resumé and revise any parts where letters come into contact in the printed product, so that the words will scan properly and be readable by the computer.
Font type and font size are very important for both your printed and electronic resumés. When your resumé is scanned, The font must be within a size range that is recognizable by the software. Stick to the basic fonts, such as Ariel and Times New Roman, and to the basic font size, such as 10 or 12 points.
Do not underline words or phrases in your resumé. Although this was the norm for emphasis in the days of typewriters, in an electronic format, underlining implies a hyperlink to another document or a web site. Additionally, do not have any formatting lines that touch the text, as this will make it difficult or impossible for optical character recognition software to resolve the words for the keyword search software.
All the text in your resumé should read from left to right in order for your resumé to be scannable. No special formatting, such as tables, or columns, should be contained within your electronic resumé.
Do not use special characters that may not be recognized by scanning software. Avoid special bullet symbols,ampersands or percent signs, copyright signs, or any other characters that may not be easily recognizable by scanning software. If you are quantifying information on your resumé, make sure to spell out the percentage instead of using the percent sign as you are indicating increase in sales, for example. Whenever possibly, avoid using signs or special characters in your resume.
Even if you submit a printed resumé, the document may be scanned for key words to match your qualifications with available positions. It is very important that your submission is on plain white paper, in basic font type and size. If you are submitting multiple pages, make sure that all the pages are numbered, with your name in the top left corner. Do not staple multiple pages together. If you do so, it becomes likely that only the top page will be scanned, and important information on later pages will be missed altogether.
The most important element of a scannable resumé is the selection of active keywords, or power words. Do your research and make sure you use the appropriate keywords in your resumé for the position you are seeking. Having appropriate keywords throughout your resumé makes it easier for the software to find matches and flag you for the attention of an actual human being. One good way to get good action words is to review the employerÃs job description for keywords. Make sure your resumé contains the same terminology as that on the job description, but avoid directly copying the text of the job listing.
By careful attention to making your resumé computer-friendly, you can markedly improve your chances of landing your dream job.
