Tech Support for Your Résumé

Editor's Note: This article is from the Career Q&A archives. It's so full of good advice that we wanted to highlight it again!

Many human resources departments make the most of today’s technology, but there remains a group who prefer to keep their hiring offline. How do you make your résumé straddle these two ends of the techno-spectrum?

Start with paper
Yes, start with a paper résumé. It’s a good way to get your thoughts
together and there are plenty of employers who want a hard copy of your professional background. Focus, as always, on your accomplishments rather than your responsibilities – rather than say “duties included creating retail displays,” say “created an average of five retail displays per month that sold over $5000 worth of product.”

Make it fax, copier and scanner friendly
Your prospective employer may choose to share your résumé with appropriate members of the team by photocopying, faxing or scanning/e-mailing. Keep
these tips in mind:

• Keep a high degree of contrast between your text and background. If you use a light-colored ink on white paper, it will likely not photocopy or scan well.

• Stay away from screened images behind text – they may overtake your text
in a copy or low-resolution scan.

• Leave some gripping room around the edges – at least a half-inch of white
space for all margins.

Know your e-mailable formats
It’s a fair bet that many employers would be able to open a Microsoft Word file, but it's not a sure thing. Word documents may also lose formatting or fonts if opened in an old version of the program.

Adobe PDF files are a safe way to send your résumé via e-mail – they’re relatively small and can be opened by almost anyone. If you have a Mac, you have the ability to print to PDF automatically. Otherwise, there are a variety of free PDF converters online, including PrimoPDF and CutePDFwriter.

You may also want to create a text-only version of your résumé with minimal formatting that you can cut and paste into an e-mail message or Web form then requested. Test it by sending it to a variety of friends and family running different Web browsers and mail programs.

Check out your more high-tech options
Many universities give their students Web space – consider creating your résumé online. You’ll have more space to work with and can create links to professional samples as appropriate.

One note, however – only direct an employer to your Web résumé if you are applying through e-mail or a Web site. NEVER send a paper cover letter with a link to your online résumé. If you are going to send paper, send a full hard-copy application.

Final thoughts
It never hurts to follow up an online application with a hard copy, unless the employer has expressly requested online applications only. There is a tangible feeling to the high-quality paper used for résumés that conveys a feeling of professionalism that’s hard to recreate with an e-mail. We are not yet a paperless society, and for many “old school” employers, it’s a step that sets you apart – and above – the other candidates.

Erica’s 10-second tip for October: E-mailing your résumé? Don’t name the file “résumé” or “(your first name)’s résumé.” That may be how it sits on your computer, but it won’t help your employer. If your full name is short, use it with an underscore (NOT a space) and “résumé” – for example, Mary Jones might use “maryjones_résumé.pdf.” If your full name is longer, just use your last name – if Mary’s last name was Johanssen, she’d use “johanssen_résumé.pdf.” Use the same treatment for your cover letter or other materials.

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