An internet resume is a resume especially prepared to be distributed to clients over the Internet. Electronic resume distribution and screening is used by large and medium size organizations to screen and sort applicants by qualifications. It is estimated that 80% of medium-to-large-sized organizations will be using electronic resume screening by the year 2000.

Use the following guidelines when preparing your resume to ensure GeoLogics can match it to our growing list of job opportunities:

Place your name on the first line and contact information on the next line. Keep in mind that electronic resumes will be seen by many people. For security reasons, do not write your home address or telephone number, only your work address and telephone phone number. The current date is also handy.

Section headings help present the essential required for the job: education, experience, skills, industry, and abilities.  GeoLogics' resumes have the following section headings:

The key is to focus on nouns, not verbs. In conventional resumes it is important to use action verbs. In electronic resumes, the emphasis is on descriptive words called keywords, which consist primarily of nouns such as: Java, HTML, Unix, C++. Keywords are also called buzzwords or descriptors.

Keywords are very important. Keywords are words employers search for when trying to fill a position. Our computer search programs look for keywords to determine your qualifications for each position. The more keyword matches you present, the more likely you will be selected from an electronic resume database now or in a year from now.

Refrain from using keywords in the summary section that are not explained in the experience, the education, or the abilities section. These are generally discarded.
 

Less is better. Keep your resume simple. Follow these guidelines:

Write it in ASCII Text. ASCII text enables computers to exchange information regardless of platform. Saving your resume in a proprietary word processing program may cause formatting and exchange troubles later. Save your resume as ASCII.

Computer programs are configured to read text, not graphics. Avoid graphics and shading. Do not use complex tables or bullets, computers may clobber them.

Do not tabs, use the spacebar instead. Make everything left justified. If you want to indent a sentence or center a heading, use the spacebar.

Avoid decorative, uncommon or fussy typefaces.

Use White Space. Scanners use white space to recognize the breaks between topics.

Use plain English. Minimize use of abbreviations, unless they are keywords or industry jargon. Our systems do not have a perfect synonym table so maximize the "hits" between a position search and your resume by using words everyone understands.

Continue to use cover letters, include keywords in it, and refer to the specific job posting.

One page resumes are no longer the rule. Three pages, maybe four, are about as long as an electronic resume should be. Here are some guidelines:

•  New Graduates - one page
•  Most People - one to two pages
•  Senior Executives - two to three pages

Things to Avoid:

•  italics, script, quotes (""), and underlining
•  graphics and shading
•  parenthesis or brackets
•  compressing letter space
•  horizontal or vertical lines
•  keywords not listed to in the experience, education, or abilities section