TIPS TO CREATING
AN Electronic Resume
q
First create your resume
in a MS Word document for use as hard copy using the formatting you desire.
Do not use resume wizards or other types of pre-formatted resume
examples.
q
Complete your resume by
reviewing it carefully, doing a spell check, and printing a copy for faxing
and/or hard copy delivery.
q
Save your resume as usual
to your hard drive or a floppy disk. And close out the file.
q
Next take your completed
resume and re-open the file again in MS Word.
q
Immediately
save it as a Text File ( .txt). You
do this as follows:
Select “File”
“Save As” and name your document a different name than your regular resume
file. In the box below the filename
“save as type” select “text only”.
Ensure you are satisfied with the location of the file – check the
“save in” box so you place the file in the right directory.
After you’ve completed the “save as” steps, exit (close) out of the
file.
q
Now
reopen the text file and it should look like this (courier type) with * instead
of bullet points.
q
May I suggest you turn on the “show/hide” button on
your tool bar (&
)
to see your carriage returns (&
= space
between lines) and tabs (Ý). This
is your chance to clean up the file before blocking/copying/pasting onto your
favorite website or into an email message.
q
Please Note: all tabs need
to be removed from your “text only” document.
While you are viewing your document (show/hide button = &)
look for tabs ( Ý).
q
Suggest you take all text
that is tabbed across the page or spaced across the page to the left margin
using a carriage return (enter button creating: &)
and delete the tabs using backspace key or delete button.
q
Make any adjustments to
the line so that all text begins at the left margin rather than tabbed in (or
spaced in).
q
Please Note: Once you
paste tabbed text into an online screen, any tabbed text with shift.
Most online programs do not want you to format text once it is pasted
into an online screen such as Monster.com, CareerBuilder.com and others.
q By preparing your file as text only, you eliminate formatting issues and shifting text every time you paste the file either into online screens or in an email message.
q Once you are completed with making the necessary adjustments to your text file re-save it and close, or save and proceed with using it online.