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E-Résumés: Special Skills
Stand out in a crowd

Since an e-résumé is read on a monitor and there are still limitations to how email systems handle type, its format has to be a little different than that of a traditional résumé. Some simple guidelines to follow:

• Use 12 pt. type
• Keep all text justified to the left.
• Upper Case your name and category headings.
• Use important Key Words in the body to help in searches.
• Don't use bold, italicized or underlined type.
• Stick with Times or a sans serif font (i.e. Helvetica, Geneva).
• No bullet marks or symbols (a dash or asterisk is ok).
• Avoid tabs, indents, columns, boxes and frames.
• Send a test to yourself before emailing to employers.
• Send a hard copy to follow up.

List skills that will be important in doing the job and/or succeeding in the company. They can also be skills related to the industry you want to be in. For instance, if you want to work in the auto industry, and know how to fix cars, put auto mechanics down on your résumé. It shows that you are interested in the products and the industry.

If you know computer software programs, computer languages or foreign languages, employers will expect you to state the name of the program or the language on the résumé. If you have any professional certifications, list them here.

Remember that you may be asked to demonstrate language proficiency or other skills when you meet with an employer. If you have an extremely limited understanding of something like a computer language, don't write it down as a skill.

Many job seekers prefer to cut and paste or copy and paste their résumé from their word processing program to the Web. While this is a popular option, please be aware that your résumé will not paste onto Web sites in the same format as your original document.

Cut & Paste
Scannable
Sample
E-Résumés Main Page

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