Creating a "Scannable" Resume

Resume scanning is a process by which employers convert a hard copy resume into an electronic resume and input that information into a computer database. This process helps them quickly enter numerous resumes into their computer system and then find qualified employees by telling the computer to search for KEY WORDS.

At the press of a button, the scanner creates an electronic image of your resume. This image is then processed by the system's OCR (Optical Character Recognition) software and recreates your resume as a Text File. The company has just transformed your hard copy resume to an e-resume!!


THE PROBLEM WITH RESUME SCANNING:

Resume scanning technology has a major problem of MAKING MISTAKES. No matter how perfectly you follow the directions for making a scannable resume, the OCR is bound to make some errors in translating your characters. The result is words that are unreadable, and therefore unsearchable unless an employee of that company actually catches the mistakes and manually corrects them.


AVOIDING RESUME SCANNING PROBLEMS

The way to solve this problem is to avoid scanners whenever possible by sending an e-resume instead of a hard copy resume. So, is you see an ad that says, "send or email your resume," EMAIL IT!!!! Your emailed resume will bypass the resume scanner because it's already an e-resume. If you MUST send a hard copy resume, call the Human Resource Department or the Hiring Manager and ask if your resume will be scanned into a database system. If they say, "yes," request that they forward guidelines to you so you can tailor your resume specifically for their system. If they DO NOT scan their resumes, ask whether it would be best to send a hard copy of your resume, a resume through their recruiting web site, or to email a resume (remember to ask if you can send it as an attachment in MS Word or if you need to cut and paste a text-only resume).


CREATING YOUR SCANNABLE RESUME

Whether you have a current text-only resume or NOT, please click here to CREATE a scannable resume.

PRINTING YOUR RESUME AND OTHER TIPS

Once you have created your scannable resume, here are some additional tips:

• Print your resume in black ink ONLY
• Print your resume on plain white (not gray or beige) paper
• Print on regular 8.5" X 11" paper
• Do NOT fax your resume. Fax machines lessen the quality of the print, making it hard for the OCR to recognize characters. (If the resume MUST be faxed, make sure it is set on "fine modem" --see the STS staff for this procedure.)
• Do not fold or staple your resume
• Send an ORIGINAL copy of your resume. In other words, print it from MS Word to the printer and turn that copy in. Do not send in a photocopy.