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All the formatting such as bolding, tabs, underling, italicizing,
etc. that you cherish in your traditional resume must be removed.
Also many hidden commands that are entered into the document
created using word processing programs such as WordPerfect
must be removed so that they do not corrupt or distort the
resume when it is received by a hiring agent's database or
email. You can try to beat the system by entering a resume
loaded with html, or other formatting commands, and sometimes
you will get away with it, temporarily. Sooner or later, your
resume will be corrupted - guaranteed! Don't fight the system!
Do it right the first time!
"If you're competing
in the job search of TODAY, you'd better get wired or you're
going to get whacked," says Alesia Benedict, CPRW, Certified
Professional Resume Writer, Executive Board Member of the
Professional Association of Resume Writers, and CEO of Career
Objectives: "You can no longer get by the way you once
did -- using paper resumes to answer ads, contact executive
search firms, etc. Electronic forms of your resume (e-resumes)
must meet standards that have been necessitated by various
databases and Internet sites, or else it will be rejected.
It's more than just eliminating bold and underlining on the
resume, and it isn't about loading the resume with html,"
states Ms. Benedict, whose work has been published in 8 national
books. "The greatest opportunity in job search right
now is on the Internet, through both companies' and recruiter's
sites and databases," says Ms. Benedict, "if you're
merely a wannable.com and not competing with a sophisticated
e-resume -- you're dead."
Indeed the power of the
Internet is outstanding. At this moment, some 159 million
people worldwide are now online. By 2003, International Data
estimates 510 million people will be. Companies and executive
search firms continue to ask for resumes electronically, and
that trend will only soar.
"At our firm, we
used to ask our clients their paper color preference for printing
-- now we simply supply a paper resume to them as part of
their package and concentrate on developing aggressive e-resumes
and dynamic, short electronic cover letters," explains
Ms. Benedict.
"Still not convinced you need an e-resume and of the
power of the Internet?" asks Ms. Benedict, "how
did you find THIS article?!"
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