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comes in as hard copy, they scan it. The computer may try to read the words (it’s called optical character recognition). If it does, it sees keywords (Do 15). Even if it doesn’t read, it takes an electronic picture of the pages. Then it asks the offeror to input some keywords.

If you submit your resume online, the first thing the software does is comb it for keywords.

So, no matter how the resume comes in, keywords control its destiny. The computer stores the keywords in its electronic document index. Whenever an offeror wants a resume, she enters a keyword into the search software.

If you have the right keywords in your resume, there you are!

Planning for Scanning

That little scanner is looking for highlights. Things like attributes, accomplishments, names of colleges attended, languages spoken, job titles, locations, and sometimes names of other companies (competitors or ones that have good training).

This is one time it’s acceptable to go over two pages.

Scanning Secrets

1. Format properly. This is no time to get fancy. The computer will need the cleanest original you can produce, printed by laser or a high quality inkjet. Use recognizable terms such as Accomplishments, Honors, Awards, Education, and Experience. All the terms that make a resume look like a professional profile of you.

2. Select the right paper. Use white only. (Unlike with a hard copy of your resume, ivory is not recommended. Scanners don’t pick up the characters as readily when there’s less contrast.) Make sure it’s quality paper with a hard finish, too. (Lower-grade paper is rougher and makes the type fuzzy.) Print on only one side of the page.

3. Have your name prominently at the top of each page. Full first name, middle initial, last name, and any professional designations.

4. Use standard fonts. Times New Roman and Courier are the best choices.

Don’t go over 14-point size.

5. Make headings stand out. Use bold or caps.

6. List each phone number on its own line.

7. Be as specific as possible about your skills. Include work habits such as “team player” and “can meet deadlines.” Then add to them for maximum matches.

Scanning Silliness

Unstants do exactly the wrong things in setting up a scannable resume.

Here are some examples:

• They jazz the resume up with graphics, boxes, or lines.

• They use italics, bullets, or underlining.

• They use newsletter or other nontraditional resume layouts.

Scanning is here to stay and getting bigger all the time. Now you know how to get your resume scanned in for an instant!

Do 7: Writing the ASCII Resume

ASCII stands for Amazing Success Comes to Instant Interviewers!

Average jobseekers think it means the American Standard Code for Information Interchange. That’s why they don’t use it and don’t get interviews.

Using the ASCII format gives you a common language for all of the word processing programs. It’s the basic, unformatted text that works with any of them.

This means the offeror won’t get conversion losses or destruction of your e-mailed resume upon opening it.

Answering about ASCII

If you’ve been jobseeking online, you’re probably run across ASCII. Many of the job web sites and employers ask you to submit your cover letter and resume in this format. It’s easy to do, and you’ll have it down after you’ve done it once or twice.

Questions? Here are the FAQs and your answers:

Converting or Creating Plain Text

How do I create the file?

It’s not how you create it; it’s how you save it. As a plain text file (.txt extension). Do not use rich text format (.rtf), which includes formatting. For example, if you have the resume file open in Word, select File > Save As from the menu. Then select .txt from the Save As options before you click the Save button. You can also paste or type a new version into a plain-text program such as Notepad or Wordpad, and then save it as a .txt file. (Check the pasted version first. You may have to retype some of it to get rid of extra characters.)

How long should my lines be?