jobs

Question: How can I create an ASCII (plain text) version of my résumé?

Answer: You see a lot of want ads and job postings that ask for an ASCII résumé. ASCII stands for American Standard Code for Information Interchange. A résumé in ASCII won't have bold, italics, underlining, etc., so it can be read by any computer -- even without word processing software.

To create an ASCII version of your résumé, do the following:

 

• open your original résumé in your word processing program;
• from the File menu choose Save As and then Plain Text;
• close the document.

 

Congratulations. You've just created an ASCII résumé.

For best results, make sure include plenty of keywords, which describe your skills, job titles, education and experience.

Employers search résumé databases using keywords to find candidates. If your ASCII résumé has the right keywords, it can jump to the top of the pile. If not, it won't.

Ready? Open your ASCII résumé using Notepad or a similar text editor -- do NOT use your word processing program, which could mess up the plain text format.

Now, add a section of keywords. Think like an employer. What search terms would they use to find someone like you?

Example: if you're a sales manager, your keyword section might look like this:

KEYWORDS
sales manager, sales management, sales trainer, team building, consultative sales, consultative selling, Director of Sales, BA: Marketing, Bachelor of Arts in marketing, sales/marketing, sales and marketing

... the list could go on. Put your keyword section near the top of the résumé, which may cause some databases to give those keywords more relevance (the jury is still out on this, though).

There's no limit to the number of keywords you can use, so long as they accurately describe you and your skills.

Best of luck to you!

 

---