Scanable Resume Design

Resume Miners has partnered with ResumeEdge.com the internet's leading portal of resume writing services to provide you with the most comprehensive free resume center on the internet. In this section you will learn how to design a scanable resume. This is much more important then you may think.

Designing a Scanable Resume

by ResumeEdge.com - The Net's Premier Resume Writing and Editing Service

What happens when you create a beautiful paper resume and mail or fax it to a company that scans resumes into a computerized database instead of forwarding it to a hiring manager for review? It ends up in cyberspace instead of on someone's desk. This automated process requires some special design considerations in order to make your resume scanner friendly, which is what this section addresses.

According to U.S. News & World Report, more than 1,000 unsolicited resumes arrive every week at most Fortune 500 companies, and before the days of applicant tracking systems and resume scanning, 80 percent were thrown out after a quick review. It was simply impossible to keep track of that much paper. As companies downsize and human resource departments become smaller, it is even more important to manage the job application and screening processes in an efficient manner.

Today, nearly half of all mid-sized companies and almost all large companies are scanning resumes and using computerized applicant tracking systems (still just 30 percent of all job openings, though). Some smaller companies turn to service bureaus to manage their scanning or to recruiters who scan resumes because of the volume of resumes they receive every day. If you are sending your resume to one of these companies and your paper resume is not formatted in such a way that a scanner can read it, the words won't be spelled right. And, if the words aren't spelled right, a keyword search will never turn up your resume