Many companies use electronic applicant tracking to scan and store resumes. Office Depot utilizes Resumix for this purpose. Resumix provides the following guidelines in preparing a scannable resume. We think these tips will help!

When you prepare a resume for the computer to read, you want it to be "scannable." A scannable resume is clean so that the scanner can get a clean image. A scannable resume has standard fonts and crisp, dark type such as a laser printer would produce. And a scannable resume has plenty of facts for the artificial intelligence to extract - the more skills and facts you provide, the more opportunities you'll have for your skills to match available positions.

A Scannable Resume:

• Maximizes the computer's ability to "read" your resume.
• Maximizes your ability to get "hits" (a hit is when one of your skills matches the computer search).
  
  Click here to view a PDF of a sample of a scannable resume.

Tips for Maximizing Scannability

• Use white or light colored 8-1/2 x 11 paper, printed on one side only.
• Provide a laser printed original, if possible. A typewritten original or a high quality photocopy is OK. Avoid dot matrix printouts and low quality copies.
• Do not fold or staple.
• Use standard typefaces such as Helvetica, Futura, Optima, Universe, Times New Roman, Palatino, New Century Schoolbook, and Courier.
• Use a font size of 10-14 points. (Avoid Times 10 point)
• Don't condense spacing between letters.
• Use boldface and/or all capital letters for section headings as long as the letters don't touch each other.
• Avoid fancy treatments such as italics, underline, shadows, and reverse (white letters on black backgrounds).
• Avoid vertical and horizontal lines, graphics, and boxes.
• Avoid two-column format or resumes that look like newspaper or newsletters.
• Place your name at the top of the page on its own line (your name can also be the first text on page two and three).
• Use standard address format below your name.
• List each phone number on its own line.

Content

Preparing a scannable resume is easy; like the traditional style resume, you focus on format and content. The computer extracts information from your resume. You can use your current resume; however, once you understand what the computer searches for you may decide to add a few key words to increase your opportunities for matching requirements or getting "hits."

Tips for Maximizing "Hits"

• Use enough key words to define your skills, experience, education, professional affiliation, etc.
• Describe your experience with concrete words rather than vague descriptions. For example, it's better to use "managed a team of software engineers" rather than "responsible for managing training."
• Be concise and truthful.
• Use jargon and acronyms specific to your industry (spell out the acronyms for human readers).
• Increase your list of key words by including specifics, for example, list of names of software you use such as Microsoft Word.
• Use common headings such as: Objective, Experience, Employment, Work History, Positions Held, Appointments, Skills, Summary, Summary of Qualifications, Accomplishments, Strengths, Education, Professional Affiliations, Publications, Papers, Licenses, Certifications, Honors, Miscellaneous, References, etc.
• If you have extra space, describe your interpersonal traits and attitude. Key words could include: time management, dependable, high energy, leadership, sense of responsibility, good memory.

Now that you've prepared your scannable resume, see Interviewing Tips to help you through those first interviews.