Electronic Resources and Resumes

The Right Tools for the Right Job

No matter how you plan on using the Internet as a job-search tool, to take advantage of everything it has to offer, you will first need access to a computer that has a web browser and your own e-mail account.

If you don't already own a computer that has Internet access, ask a friend if you can use one of theirs. You can also visit the computer center at your school, obtain access to the Internet at most public libraries, or visit an Internet café. For a lot less money than it would cost to purchase a computer, you can purchase WebTV or another set-top box that connects to your television set and telephone line to provide you with dial-up access.

Many people who are currently employed and who have Internet access at work tend to use their computers during business hours to search for new employment opportunities. This is a bad idea for several reasons. First, there are ethical issues involved with using company-owned equipment for personal purposes, especially when you're on the job and being paid to do work on behalf of your employer.

Secondly, most employers can easily and legally track what you're doing with your computer, so they will be able to determine what websites you visit as well as read your e-mail messages if they choose. Thus, if you are trying to keep your job-search efforts a secret from your current employer, using your computer at work is often a sure way to get caught.

Once you have the ability to browse websites, and send and receive e-mail, you will have one of the most powerful job-search tools available at your fingertips—24 hours a day, seven days a week.

In order to pursue job openings advertised on the Internet, instead of using your traditional printed resume, you will need to spend time creating an electronic resume. Although the formatting and wording used in an electronic resume is different from what you typically find in a traditional resume, an electronic resume contains the same basic information—a heading, objective, skill summary, employment history, educational background, and so forth. People creating an electronic resume often opt to also include a keyword section. Under a Keyword Summary heading, you could list 10–15 keywords for which you think the employer will be looking.

When your resume is in an electronic file, it can be e-mailed to an employer, posted on a website, added to an online database, and imported into applicant-tracking software used by potential employers. Although you won't have to deal with issues like choosing resume paper, picking the perfect font or ink color, or formatting your resume to look perfect on the printed page, there are other issues to contend with when creating an electronic resume. If you created your printed resume on a PC, you already have an electronic file with which to work. If you had someone prepare your printed resume and don't have access to or can't use the electronic file, you will have to create your electronic resume from scratch.

How and Where to Find Job Opportunities Online

One of the most popular career-related sites on the Web (designed for all types of job seekers, at all levels) is The Monster Board (www.monster.com). This site offers career-related articles and advice, plus at any given time, offers a database of hundreds of thousands of job openings available nationwide.

Instead of painstakingly reading the employment section of your newspaper, which is time-consuming and typically lists only jobs in your geographic area, free services like The Monster Board allow you to use keyword searches to find the job opportunities for which you're most suited. The best thing about performing these online searches is that it doesn't take hours—it takes seconds.

Services like The Monster Board allow you to search for job openings based on a wide range of criteria, such as employer, salary range, job title, geographic area, industry, skill(s) required, and so on. Another advantage is that these services are updated in real time, so new job opportunities are constantly being posted by employers. Thus, if you visit a website such as The Monster Board on a Monday morning and do a search for accounting jobs in New York City, for example, by Monday afternoon or Tuesday morning, new job opportunities will most likely be posted.

Many daily newspapers now post their entire help-wanted section online as well as offering it in printed form. A growing number of newspapers also offer career-related websites that cater to their geographic area. For example, Careerpath.com (www.careerpath.com) is sponsored by a large group of newspapers and covers all geographic areas.

The various career-related websites also allow you to apply for jobs online using an electronic resume. So, if you come across what looks like the perfect job opening, instead of mailing your resume, you can apply for that job online (immediately) by sending your resume via e-mail to that employer.

Yet another service many career-related websites offer is an online resume database. You can add your resume to a large database (with thousands of other job seekers). These databases are made available to employers. If an employer is looking to fill a bookkeeping position, for example, the director of HR for that company can access a resume database, such as the one offered on The Monster Board, and perform a search for qualified applicants. The employer, upon accessing your online resume, can then contact you directly.

As a job seeker, it's typically free to post your resume to an online database. The primary exception to this is if you want to add your resume to a specialized resume database that caters to a specific industry or field. In most cases, however, posting your resume to an online database takes just a few minutes and is free. Although this is definitely not a sure-fire way of getting hired, there is always a chance that an employer will come across your resume and contact you. Pursuing this type of job search activity can't hurt, but it should definitely not be your primary way of finding opportunities.

Because so many different resume databases exist to which you can post your resume, for the best results pinpoint a handful of the most popular databases, based on the type of work for which you're looking. Choose five or so of the extremely popular, general interest, career-related sites, such as Hot Jobs and Career Mosaic, and then find a few databases that cater specifically to your industry, area of expertise, or trade. For example, most professional associations have their own website, and many allow their members to post their resumes. If you work in advertising, for example, find a few industryoriented sites that cater to the advertising industry and post your resume on those sites.

The best way to find industry-oriented sites is to use any Internet search engine such as Yahoo! or AltaVista. If you already know the name of an industry or professional association that caters to your field, use that name as the search phrase. Otherwise, use search phrases that best describe the position for which you're looking.

Aside from finding job opportunities, adding your resume to an online database, and being able to access free career-related advice, many of the specialized career-related websites also enable job seekers to perform company/industry research online. They offer a range of other services and features designed to make the job-search process faster, easier, and less stressful.

In addition to the many specialized career-related websites and those sites hosted or sponsored by professional associations or organizations, it's also an excellent strategy to visit the website of the companies for which you are interested in working. Most company websites offer company and product or service information and have their own job opportunities or employment pages where you can discover exactly what positions a specific employer has available, determine whom you need to contact within that company, and discover how that employer prefers to receive resumes and cover letters from applicants (via e-mail, fax, postal mail, etc.).

Finding a specific company's website is as easy as using any Internet search engine. Type in the company's name as your search phrase. You can also use a bit of common sense, because many company websites tend to be obvious—www.companyname.com. If, when using your Internet browser, you simply insert the company name, more often than not, you come across the company website for which you're looking.

Surfing the Web is much like channel surfing on your television when you don't have a clue what's on or what program you're in the mood to watch. As you visit career-related websites, industryoriented sites, or company-operated sites, don't be afraid to follow hyperlinks to see where they lead. If there's a company you're researching, find out who their primary competitors are, and visit their websites as well.

With practice, surfing the Internet and finding specific information will be a fast and easy process, and one that you may find entertaining as well. However, don't get sidetracked. If you're looking for career opportunities, for example, don't let yourself surf to sites that don't relate to what you're looking for. Banner ads, hyperlinks, and other forms of Internet advertising often make it extremely appealing to visit sites you had no intention of visiting. Stay focused!

If you're applying for jobs at a local retail store or small business, having an electronic resume is far less important, because to apply for one of these jobs, you will most likely visit the employer in person to submit a resume, complete a job application, and perhaps be interviewed on the spot.

Doing Research Online

Finding job opportunities online is just one way job seekers can use the Internet. Once you pinpoint an industry you might want to work in, or find one or more employers for which you'd like to work, it's important to learn as much as possible about the opportunities available to you. Thus, performing research becomes an integral part of the whole process of landing a new job.

Before the Internet, if you wanted to learn about an industry or a specific company, you'd have to visit a library and read past issues of newspapers, magazines, and newsletters, delve through financial reports, obtain and read annual reports, and find other sources of information. Once you gathered information, you still needed to read it, word for word, to learn as much as possible.

Thanks to the vast resources available on the Internet, there's no need to visit a library, contact companies to request annual reports or press kits, or manually search through back issues of newspapers, magazines, or newsletters. Much, if not all, of the information you could possibly need about employers, industries, and specific jobs is available online.

Finding information about companies that don't yet have websites may be difficult, but performing research on specific medium- to large-size companies is possible. If you're looking to work for a small company, consider gathering information about its industry. Knowing the key players and what challenges the industry is facing as a whole will help you when preparing for an interview with a smaller company.

In addition to visiting a company's website, exploring the various news-oriented sites, plus services like PR Newswire (www.prnewswire.com) and Businesswire (www.businesswire.com), or financial-oriented sites, such as Fidelity.com (www.fidelity.com) or TheStreet.com (www.thestreet.com), will help you gather both industry and specific company information. Finding information about publicly traded companies is much easier, because so much information is available at the various financial and business-oriented sites.

Another source of company information is the career-related websites. Many of these sites contain background information about the employers that advertise job openings on their sites.

Highbeam^TM Research, Inc. (www.highbeam.com) makes it possible to conduct research via the Internet simply by posing a question, in plain English. Upon asking a question, this site will launch a comprehensive, simultaneous search through an archive of 35 million articles in newspapers, hundreds of national and international magazines, newswires, more than 3,000 publishers, including transcripts, and more.

Instead of sifting through local, regional, and national newspapers and magazines looking for articles about companies in which you're interested, Highbeam Research allows you to access thousands of media outlets and conduct complete searches in minutes.

How to Create an Electronic Resume

As mentioned, if you're going to be applying for jobs online or submitting your resume via e-mail, you will need to create an electronic resume in addition to a traditional printed resume. You can create and distribute an electronic resume in a variety of ways. Keep in mind, there are no standard guidelines to follow when creating an electronic resume, because employers use different computer systems and software. Thus, it's important to adhere to the individual requirements of each employer in terms of formatting, saving, and sending your resume electronically.

File Format

Many companies accept electronic resumes in Microsoft Word or WordPerfect file formats. When creating your electronic resume using one of these software packages, pay careful attention to what format the finished document needs to be saved in before sending it to an employer. The majority of employers prefer to receive resumes in ASCII or Rich Text Format. Once you save your resume in a file format other than the program's proprietary format, you will probably have to further edit it in order to fix lost formatting (such as indentation or italics).

Another method is to complete an online-based resume form while visiting an employer's website or a career-related site. In order to keep incoming resumes consistent in terms of formatting, many websites designed for recruiting insist that all electronic resumes be created using a predefined template, or provide a detailed form that requests all pertinent resume information. The website then formats the information automatically to meet the employer's requirements. This information is kept on the company's server and you won't have a file to submit via e-mail.

When completing an online-based resume form, fill in all fields with the appropriate information only. Be mindful of limitations for each field. For example, a field that allows for a job description to be entered may have space for a maximum of only 50 words, so the description you enter needs to provide all of the relevant information (using keywords) but also be written concisely. Because an electronic resume is as important as a traditional one, consider printing out the online form first and then spending time thinking about how you'll fill in each field or answer each question.

Don't try to add information that wasn't requested in a specific field in order to provide more information about yourself to an employer. For example, if you're only given space to enter one phone number, but you want to provide a home and cell phone number, don't use the fields for your address to enter the second phone number.

In most situations, if an employer accepts electronic resumes, chances are those resumes are imported directly into applicanttracking software. Thus, it is important that the software used by the employer be able to extract the specific information it's programmed to find in the resume document you submit. If you don't provide the right information in the right fields, your resume may be ignored or not processed correctly.

The majority of online resume templates you will encounter on the various career-related websites and sites hosted by individual employers follow the same basic format as a traditional chronological resume. You will be prompted to enter each piece of information in separate fields, and you will most likely be limited in the number of fields you can fill in order to convey your information.

Some employers give applicants the option to compete an online resume form or send an electronic file via e-mail. Unless your work history and other information fits nicely into the format the online form follows, opt to send your own electronic file via e-mail. This will allow you to more easily customize the format you use so you can best highlight your skills and abilities.

For an electronic resume to do its job correctly, it needs to be loaded with keywords that will result in your resume being selected when processed by a potential employer using applicant-tracking software.

"Before you send out your electronic resume, be sure to send it to a trustworthy friend first so that he can tell you if it looks all right. Often, over the Internet, a document's format changes and therefore becomes difficult to read. I've thrown away many resumes without even looking at them because I couldn't glance at one page and easily pick out the most vital candidate information. It would be a shame to miss out on a job opportunity because of something so simple to check, especially if you spent lots of time making your resume look neat, balanced, and professional."

—BRITTNEY, HUMAN RESOURCES ASSOCIATE

When e-mailing your electronic resume to an employer, as a general rule, the document should be saved in an ASCII, Rich Text, or as a plain text file and inserted into your e-mail message or attached to it. Almost every company will specify which format it prefers. You might be able to send attached files in the word processor's proprietary file format, which will preserve the formatting (line spacing, tabs, bullets, bold text, etc.). If a plain text or ASCII file is requested, you can easily copy and paste it into the body of the e-mail message. Your e-mail program might support some formatting, but if you don't know what program the recipient uses, it's best to assume that his or hers doesn't.

Due to the threat of computer viruses, many employers refuse to accept e-mail messages with file attachments. Thus, if you send your resume file attached to a standard e-mail message, the chances of that message getting deleted are high.

When e-mailing a resume, the message should begin with and contain the same information as a cover letter. You can then either attach the file to the message or paste the text within the message. Be sure to include your e-mail address as well as your regular mailing address and phone number(s) within all e-mail correspondence. Never assume an employer will receive your message and simply use the reply function to contact you.

No matter how you submit your electronic resume, be sure to proofread it carefully before hitting the send button. Just as with a traditional resume, spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, or providing false information won't be tolerated by employers.

When creating an electronic resume to be saved and submitted in an ASCII format, follow these formatting guidelines:

• Put in hard returns where you want a line of text to break. Otherwise, text will automatically wrap to the next line.
• Avoid using bullets or other symbols. Instead of a bullet, use an asterisk (*) or a dash (–). Instead of using the percentage sign (%) for example, spell out the word percent. (In your resume, write "15 percent," not "15%".)
• Use the spell check feature of the software used to create your electronic resume and then proofread the document carefully. Just as applicant-tracking software is designed to pick out keywords from your resume that showcase you as a qualified applicant, these same software packages can also instantly count the number of typos and spelling errors in your document and report that to an employer as well.
• Don't use multiple columns, tables, or charts within your document. Instead of tabs, indent text using spaces.
• Within the text, avoid abbreviations—spell out everything. For example, use the word Director, not "Dir." or Vice President as opposed to "VP." For degrees, however, it's acceptable to use abbreviations like MBA, BA, Ph.D., and so forth.

When sending a proprietary word processor format file, such as a Microsoft Word file, it's also important to keep the formatting, such as the font, simple and basic. If the reader doesn't have the same fonts, for example, the document will look different from your version.

Knowing how to properly create and submit an electronic resume demonstrates at least some level of computer skill. If you have a personal website you want potential employers to visit in hopes they will learn more about you, be sure the site doesn't contain personal information you don't want the employer to discover or that the employer will have no interest in. Posting your resume and support materials on a personal website can be worthwhile, especially if you're hoping to land a job in a computer-related or high-tech field. Make sure your personal site contains only information of interest to a potential employer, not pictures from your last vacation or photos of your cat, for example.

Content

Because formatting within an electronic resume is often minimal, what you say within your resume is what ultimately gets you hired. According to www.eresumes.com, "Keywords are the basis of the electronic search and retrieval process. They provide the context from which to search for a resume in a database, whether the database is a proprietary one that serves a specific purpose, or whether it is a web-based search engine that serves the general public. Keywords are a tool to browse quickly without having to access the complete text. Keywords are used to identify and retrieve resumes for the user.

"Employers and recruiters generally search resume databases using keywords: nouns and phrases that highlight technical and professional areas of expertise, industry-related jargon, projects, achievements, special task forces, and other distinctive features about a prospect's work history.

"The emphasis is not on trying to second-guess every possible keyword a recruiter may use to find your resume. Your focus is on selecting and organizing your resume's content in order to highlight those keywords for a variety of online situations. The idea is to identify all possible keywords that are appropriate to your skills and accomplishments that support the kinds of jobs you are looking for. But to do that, you must apply traditional resume-writing principles to the concept of extracting those keywords from your resume. Once you have written your resume, then you can identify your strategic keywords based on how you imagine people will search for your resume."

The keywords you incorporate into your resume should support or be relevant to your job objective. Some of the best places within your resume to incorporate keywords is when listing:

• Job titles
• Responsibilities
• Accomplishments
• Skills

Industry-related buzzwords, job-related technical jargon, licenses, and degrees are among the other opportunities you will have to come up with keywords to add to your electronic resume.

Keywords are the backbone of any good electronic resume. If you don't incorporate keywords, your resume won't be properly processed by the employer's computer system. Each job title, job description, skill, degree, license, or other piece of information you list within your resume should be descriptive, self-explanatory, and be among the keywords the potential employer's applicant-tracking software looks for as it evaluates your resume. One resource that can help you select the best keywords to use within your electronic resume is the Occupational Outlook Handbook (published by the U.S. Department of Labor). This publication is available, free of charge, online (http://stats.bls.gov/oco), however, a printed edition can also be found at most public libraries.

What Is ASCII Anyway?

When dealing with electronic resumes, you often read or hear the term ASCII. This is an acronym for American Standard Code for Information Interchange. It refers to the way information within a text file is saved. Because ASCII is a widely accepted standard (and understood by word processors, text editors, e-mail programs, applicant-tracking programs, etc.), using it increases your chances that the electronic resume you create will be compatible with the computer systems and software in use by potential employers.

If you're using Microsoft Word to create your resume and then save it in ASCII format, use the "Save As" feature found under the File pull-down menu. When asked for the "Save As Type" (under the filename), choose "Text Only." If your document contains special formatting, or symbols such as bullets, you may be asked if you want the software to fix your document and edit it so it fits properly into the ASCII format. Choose "Yes" to ensure your document will be easily readable. Much of the formatting will be lost, so you should review and edit the text file yourself.

Rich Text Format

Rich Text Format is a standardized way to encode various text formatting properties, such as bold, italics, and underlined characters. It also maintains a document's formatting. This type of file is compatible with most word processors and text editors. Because it maintains much, if not all, of the formatting in the document (i.e., how the document is laid out on the page), it's a good alternative to saving a file in ASCII format, which does not maintain any formatting but simply saves the text.

HTML Formatted Resumes

In addition to sending your electronic resume via e-mail or adding it to an online database, you can also create an electronic resume in HTML format and post it as a personal webpage. HTML is a programming language used to create websites. Using many popular word processors, you can automatically create HTML documents (without doing any programming), so the documents you create are compatible with the Internet and can incorporate such features as hyperlinks. When you create a document, such as a resume, in HTML format, it's easy to post that document on a website.

One advantage of HTML over other file formats is the hyperlink. You can make your degree program, school, past employers, or other items links to webpages that contain more information, such as your academic department or current company's home pages.

If you choose to create your own personal website, you will have to post your webpages on a server, somewhere. One method is domain name hosting: You register a specific domain name (yourname.com or yourname.org) with a registrar such as Network Solutions (www.networksolutions.com) or Registrars.com (www. registrars.com), and that name actually points to an Internet service provider's Web server. Some Internet Service Providers (ISPs) will take care of registering as well as hosting your domain name. The charge for registering a domain name is $35 per year. The cost to host a website can vary greatly. If you already have Internet access through an ISP, you may receive website-hosting services for free. Otherwise, plan on spending between $9.95 and $29.95 per month.

Members of online services, such as America Online, can receive free website hosting for personal webpages. This is a cheaper alternative, but your URL will be somewhat long and not easily memorable. Some online services, such as Geocities, host webpages for free, but all the pages display banner ads for various companies.

Unless you're looking to work in the computer field, setting up a personal website just for your resume probably isn't necessary or practical. However, HTML files are easily e-mailed and preserve a lot of the formatting created in word processor files. Some employers may ask for submissions in this format. If HTML is an option, it's usually a good choice. Word processors such as Word will save a document in HTML format. Basic HTML tutorials are also available online.

Conclusion

As companies of all sizes turn to technology to assist in their recruiting, the need for job seekers to have an electronic resume is increasing, especially if you're apply for a job at a medium- to large-size company. Computer literacy is a skill that virtually all employers require. So whether you choose to apply for jobs using an electronic resume or you use the Internet as a job-search and research tool, it's becoming more and more important for job seekers to tap the power of the Internet when looking for job opportunities, applying for jobs, or doing research.

Just a few years ago, using a computer to assist in your job-search efforts would have given you an incredible edge over other applicants. These days, however, not using a computer (and the Internet) as part of your overall job-search efforts puts you at a major disadvantage.

Because career-related websites can be updated in real time, 24-hours-per-day, as companies have new job openings, they can be posted instantly, allowing job seekers to learn about and apply for openings immediately via e-mail or by visiting a specific website. Those who surf the Internet and continuously look for the newest ads posted online are more likely to land a job than those who sit home reading the newspaper and submitting their resume via U.S. mail.