Electronic Resumes: Selling Yourself, Internet Style by Jessica Pfaff

In today’s world technology has become a major part of our daily lives. Most of us can’t go a day without text messaging, e-mail, or the internet. In the business world, especially, technology is used for many things. Communication with employees and customers, making business deals and other aspects can now all be done over the internet with no face-to-face meetings or contact. In order to stay current with the new waves of internet communication we need to become accustomed to selling ourselves for a job without ever meeting with an employer. The first step in doing this is making an electronic resume that will wow the internet business environment.

Here are a few guidelines when creating your electronic resume:
1. To increase your chances, focus on nouns, not verbs. Searches are done by key words and phrases that describe the skills and core work required for each job.
2. Keep the design layout simple.
3. Use labels or keywords.
4. Place the most important keywords towards the beginning of the résumé. The program may have a limit to the number of items it will scan for and it usually starts at the top of the document.
5. Put your name first and contact information on a separate line.
6. Minimize use of abbreviations, except the more common ones like BA (Bachelor of Arts).
7. Use Common language.

Below is a list of reasons for when it is appropriate to send an electronic resume:
1. When you need to forward your résumé to networking contacts or recruiting professionals through e-mail.
2. When you need to post your résumé in many databases with the hope that employers or recruiters will look at it.

Good luck nailing that job!


Sources:
http://www.oakton.edu/resource/stuserv/netjobs/resumes/guidelines2.html
http://www.oakton.edu/resource/stuserv/netjobs/resumes/index.html