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How to Create an ASCII (Plain Text) Resume for Applying Online

By Jennifer Anthony, Resume Expert

Sending a resume via email or online is easy; copy, paste and submit right?

Wrong!

You should have different formats available for each of these situations. Not all email programs or online forms are the same. Therefore, your resume will not look the same to every recipient. Your resume should be formatted so that they can be read in any email program or online form. Save your fully formatted resume for interviews and for giving to employers who have already shown an interest.

Follow the subsequent directions to create a resume that will look good no matter where you send it. These directions will work for most word processing programs.

Creating an ASCII Resume for Pasting to Online Web Forms

1. Open your resume in your word processor.
2. Save the resume as "text only". (This feature is usually available by choosing "Save As" from the "File" menu). If you receive a message about features not being compatible with this format, ignore it and choose "yes".
3. Close the resume and reopen the new text-only version in Notepad or a similar plain text editor.
4. Double check that the text in any previous tables are in sequence.
5. You can then review the document’s heading, making sure everything is correct and add any styles you may want to make the heading appear more prominent.
6. If you have contact information repeated on each page remove on all but the first page. This information is not necessary for something that is meant to be reviewed on screen. Also delete references to page numbers.
7. Continue to edit your resume following the formatting suggestions below.
8. Save the document.

Formatting Suggestions

* Use a non-proportional font such as Courier so that each full line of text appears as the same width on the page.

* Do not use tabs. They are often ignored by web browsers, and behave unpredictably in e-mail reader programs.

* Avoid trying to indent or center text using the space bar. Keep all lines justified to the left side of the page, and use line breaks ("Enter" key) to separate headings and sections.

* Don’t rely on exact positioning of text using spaces or specific fonts. The font that you use to create your resume is not necessarily the same font that will be used to display it on the Internet or in an employer’s e-mail program.

* To emphasize a word or words, use ALL CAPS rather than bold, or surround the text using ***asterisks*** or #other characters#.

* For bulleted lists, use the asterisk (*), hyphen (-), plus sign (+) or a similar common character. Keep in mind that long lines of text may wrap incorrectly underneath the bullets. To avoid this problem, keep list items under 65 characters wide.

* Don’t try to control the width of each line in a long paragraph by using carriage returns. Just put a single carriage return at the end of the paragraph to allow your text to wrap normally. It will then look consistently good even if the browser or email reader window is resized. When you have completed the ASCII file for pasting into online forms, you can use that file to create a file for e-mailing.

Sample ASCII (Plain-Text) Resume Format

Article by Jennifer Anthony, Resume Expert www.resumeasap.com

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