From typewriters to computers. From computers to
online. Wow, have resumes ever evolved. Today, more and more people are
creating online resumes, using the 3 most popular formats—ASCII Text, HTML and
PDF. Here’s some basic information, and a few tips, for creating your online
resume.
ASCII Text Online Resumes
ASCII Text Resumes are the most widely used format
for posting to an online resume to an online job board or sending your resume
through an email. If you are going to submit your resume to online job
boards (such as Monster.com), you need to make sure you properly format your online
resume in ASCII Text.
-General Rules for Converting Resumes to ASCII
Text:
-Avoid centering information on the document
-Make sure that all information is left justified
-Eliminate all bullets and replace with an ASCII
Character ( * or - )
-Make sure that there are no extra tabs or
character returns in the document
-Try not to group too much info. Put spaces
between headings.
HTML Online Resumes
HTML is the markup language used by the web browser
to display web content. HTML controls the format, fonts, margins, layouts,
colors, tables, links and several other items on the web page. The biggest
problem with HTML is that is not really standardized and may display
differently, depending on the type of browser used to view the web
page. HTML online resumes will also look different, depending on the
user's browser settings.
-General Rules for Online resumes in HTML format:
-Be careful, check your code and view the resume on
various browsers
-Tables can be used effectively for formatting the
content.
-Stick to common fonts like Times New Roman or
Arial.
-HTML Editors, Microsoft FrontPage can be helpful
in developing HTML resumes.
-Check to see how your resume looks using various
font sizes in the browser.
-Check to see how your resume looks using various
screen resolutions (800x600, 1024x768, etc)
-The use of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) can be
helpful.
PDF Online Resumes
The .pdf format is the extension used by Adobe
Acrobat. This format is becoming very popular as an alternative format for
HTML. The benefit of the PDF format is that the document is
"embedded." Therefore, it is not browser dependent and will look
the same regardless of the user's browser. It does require the resume viewer
have the Adobe Acrobat viewer installed on their machine, but this is becoming
more common as new computers generally come with Acrobat Reader pre-loaded and
it's almost a necessity for anyone that does any kind of browsing of the
Internet.
Converting a document to PDF format requires the
Adobe Acrobat or third party software that can convert various document formats
to PDF (such as plug ins for Microsoft Word). Note, there are online Web
sites that can convert document formats by simply uploading your document and
emailing the converted product to you.
For more information about creating online resumes,
contact Tampa Bay WorkForce Alliance.
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