How to Make an Employment Resume Scannable

When submitting an employment resume to a large company, it is important to make the employment resume scannable, but most people have no real idea what this means.

When employment resumes are sent to an employer they are usually in one of three formats: a printed resume that is mailed, an email resume in various file formats, or a ASCII resume that is filled out using an online employment software. In the first two cases, employers will scan the employment resume using a scanner and upload it into their resume screening application. Once an employment resume is scanned, the original paper copy is often discarded, which makes it even more critical that you make an employment resume scannable.

Here are some tips to follow to make sure your employment resume is scannable.

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

Resume

1. Use white, or light colored paper for the employment resume. Paper with marbled backgrounds and other designs do not scan well.

2. Use standard fonts for employment resumes. Unusual fonts may look attractive, but they do not scan well. Stick to the basics like Arial, Times, Courier, Verdana, etc) Never use cursive fonts.

3. Your font size should be between 10 and 14 point. However, if you are using the "Times" font avoid size 10. Some resume scanning programs have issues with this particular combination for some reason.

4. Do not put your Name, Address, and Contact information into an image. Example: You should type this information directly into your employment resume, not in an image that is then uploaded into the employment resume. If you do this, your information will not be picked up by the scanner.

5. Do not fold or staple the employment resume.