Electronic Resume Format

Electronic resume format can be divided into at least three groups: plain text format, HTML format and scannable resume format. Here, I'd like to focus on plain text format since it's the mostly used format by job seekers and recruiters.

Why you need a plain text resume:

• If you email your resume to recruiters and hiring managers, a PDF or WORD format resume attachment might be filtered by firewall.
• Most recruiters use some software and search engines to store, sort and retrieve resumes, plain text format is more friendly to these softwares and search engines.

How to prepare a resume in plain text format:

1. Copy and past your PDF or WORD format resume into a text editor.
2. Use all caps to make headers stand out from body text.
3. Replace each bullet point with a standard keyboard symbol like dashes (-), asterisks (*), or plus signs (+).
4. Use straight quotes in place of curly quotes.
5. Use spaces in place of "Tab" keys.
6. Delete some unnecessary information like page numbers.
7. Set margins for approximately 65 characters.
8. Make sure the entire document is left-justified.
9. Double check your resume and make some re-arrangement if necessary.
10. Save your resume.