THE KEYS TO CREATING A SCANNABLE RESUME

        Below are 19 points that, if followed, will result in your resume being scanned with virtually total accuracy.

Use a 12-point font

        I have long recommended a 12-point font size because it is the most readable. It also happens to be what scanners and OCR software prefer. When I tested different font sizes and typefaces (such as Arial and Times Roman), they all did better with 12-point type than with 10-point. For your name at the top of the first page, 14- or 16-point font sizes are fine.

Use a sans-serif typeface

        I like serif fonts like Times Roman for resumes, but for your scannable resume you should stick with a sans-serif font like Helvetica or Arial. Letters with serifs have the little stroke in parts of each letter.

        This is Times Roman. It has serifs.

        This is Arial. It does not have serifs. It is a sans-serif typeface.

        Resumes using a sans-serif typeface scan slightly better than those with serifs. In those typefaces which use serifs, the letters sometimes touch, and this can give fits to a scanner. Typefaces come in many names, and often there are only slight differences between them. Some sans-serif typefaces that will scan well include Arial, Helvetica, Univers, and Century Gothic. Most sans-serif typefaces will scan well. Sans-serif typefaces from Word 2000 that will scan well include:

        This is Albertus Medium

        This is Antique Olive

        This is Arial, the most commonly sans-serif typeface used in resumes (It is almost identical to Helvetica, another popular font)

        This is Century Gothic

        This is Franklin Gothic Book

      This is Lucida Sans

      This is Tahoma

        This is Univers

      This is Verdana

Keep your lines to 75 characters or less

        Some systems permit no more than 75 characters per line on the screen. If your resume has more than 75 characters per line, your resume on screen and on paper may look like this:

         Eastside Employment Services, Renton, WA 1984-1993

         EMPLOYMENT COORDINATOR - Met with clients with disabilities and assessed

         their mental and physical skills. Matched clients with prospective

         employers and sold those employers on the benefits of hiring each client.

         Successfully placed over 100 people with developmental disabilities in

        Most firms will simply not take the time to improve its looks. A word wrap problem has occurred because not all the words could fit on the line. It doesn’t look pretty.

        A basic rule is that if you use a 12-point font and have margins of 1.4 inches on both sides you should be safe. To be sure, count the characters (count the space between words as a character) in your longest line. Remember, to count your characters in one line automatically: Highlight one entire line, go to Tools, then click on Word Count. Look at Characters with Spaces. If your line has been indented, you need to add the number of characters to the left as is shown in the example:

        Data Systems, 1973-Present

SENIOR PROJECT MANAGER, Little Rock, Arkansas, 1989-Present. Negotiate contracts, schedule deliveries, and troubleshoot all phases of computer installations. Work closely with customers to determine their needs, then gain contractual commitments from manufacturing and field engineering.

        In this case you would count the characters in the line starting with “SENIOR.” That line has 71 characters and spaces. Since that sentence was indented two spaces, you would have to count it as 73, still within the 75-character rule. This job description would not create a word wrap problem as was demonstrated above.

Use white or light-colored 8.5" x 11" paper and print on only one side

        Scanners need maximum contrast between letters and the background. They also do best with standard 8.5" x 11" paper. When I scanned a resume with black ink on dark blue paper, the errors immediately went from zero to about 15. A few people print their resumes on 11" x 17" paper to create a presentation folder. It is folded in half, with printing on all four pages, the first page acting as a cover. The style is not well accepted, and it causes major problems for scanners.

Avoid the use of underlining

        Some systems handle underlining just fine, but problems can occur when the underline touches the lower part of letters such as “g” or “p.”

Avoid the use of bolding

        Although most systems handle bold letters without any problems, some do not. Avoid bold type.

Avoid fancy fonts

        Some of the unusual fonts that are available are very difficult for scanners to read. I gave one system a resume using a script typeface which looked like this. To the scanner it was total gibberish. Such a resume would have been tossed out by virtually any employer. Other fancy fonts that would not work well include: Bauhaus, Papyrus, Forte, Algerian, Footlight, Matura, Tempus, Lucida Calligraphy, and Bradley Hand.

Don’t use bullets or hollow bullets

        The bullets will be stripped off when the resume is scanned so you might as well not even use them. Hollow bullets on a paper resume can be interpreted as zeroes or as the small letter o when it is scanned, so avoid using them.

Print your resume on a high-quality laser printer

        Although ink jet printers have improved a lot in the last few years, they still do not produce the sharpness of letters that are achieved with laser printers. Ink jet printers are fine for cover letters and other correspondence with employers, but when you want your resume scanned with one hundred percent accuracy, stick with laser printers. Recent, top-of-the-line ink jet printers, however, are approaching the sharpness of laser printers and should work fine.

        If you don’t have a computer or have access to one, look in the Yellow Pages under “Word Processing,” or “Secretarial.” Such services will have top of the line computers and laser printers and will know how to create a good looking resume. Expect to pay $40 to $70. At copy shops such as Kinko’s, you can rent a computer. If you don’t already know how to use it, however, you’re better off with a word processing service.

        At Kinko’s and other copy shops with computers, you can also take in your disk and, for about fifty cents per page, can have your resume printed on a laser printer. If you have your own laser printer I would suggest mailing only originals.

Put your name on the top line and use one line for each telephone number listed and one for e-mail

        Many scanning systems assume that the first line of a resume contains your name. Therefore, for your scannable resume, have only your name on the top line. It will also increase accuracy if you give one line for your home phone and another line for a work number. Your e-mail address would also be on a separate line. If you have a web resume, put your web address (URL) on a separate line as well. Although it is considered best to have a single line for each item on the scannable resume, you could put both phone numbers on one line as long as you put at least six spaces between them. Typically you would write Work after your work number and Home after your home number. Another common approach is to put (w) or (W) after your work number and (h) or (H) after your home number. Put parentheses around your area code: (425) 879-0098.

Use caps to give emphasis to key areas

        Since you’ve been advised to eliminate some of the nice word processing touches that make a resume attractive, about the only design option you have left is to capitalize certain words for emphasis. Your job titles and you headings like Education and Employment could be capitalized. Your use of capitalization will be maintained in the text version.

Send a resume unfolded, unstapled, and flat in a 9" x 12" manila envelope

        A crease through letters can cause a scanner to misread words in that line. Although there is an extra cost to sending it unfolded (for 2002 that cost is 57¢ for up to two ounces), it will scan better. Besides, even if the firm does not scan resumes, it will have a nicer appearance. The resume will be taken apart before scanning, so leave it unstapled. Use a paperclip instead.

Avoid the use of italics

        Many scanners do just fine with italics, but italics can cause problems for others. In part this is because with italics the characters come so close to merging with each other that the OCR software cannot discern what the letter should be.

 

Avoid the use of columns

        Many scanners handle columns just fine, but for some scanners each column is assumed to be a separate page.

Avoid the use of boxes or vertical lines

        Vertical lines can fool a scanner, which may read them as the letter I. Vertical and horizontal lines and borders add nothing to a resume, so just leave them off.

Avoid compressing space between letters and between lines

        Today’s word processing packages enable one to compress the space between letters and between lines. It enables more words to get on a page, but can cause problems for scanners. Stick to using the standard spacing between letters and lines and paragraphs.

 

Print only on one side of the page

        Print on just one side of the page. Printing on both sides of a page gives scanners real problems.

Never send a resume by fax unless requested

        The quality of a fax so degrades the sharpness of the letters that errors are virtually guaranteed. If requested to fax a resume for the sake of speed, send your scannable resume by mail the same day so they will have your high-quality resume as well. Or, consider sending only your scannable resume, but sending it by next day air or second day air. If you fax your resume, try to fax it directly from your computer since this will create a higher quality document when they receive it.

Pulling It All Together

        Although I have given you a number of points to follow, they are really quite simple to apply. These rules do diminish some of the nice visual touches that are possible with today’s word processing programs and laser printers, but once a resume is scanned and goes into the database, all of those things are stripped off anyway. When a resume is printed out after being stored, there will be no bolding, underlining, italics, shading, or any other special little things that people like to do with their resumes. So, if there is a chance the resume will be scanned, you might as well remove those things at the beginning and ensure that the scanner will read it with total accuracy. As scanning systems improve, some of the advice provided above will change, but for now, this is what you must do to ensure that your resume is accurately scanned and stored in a database.

        If you decide to send two copies of your resume—one for scanning and one that visually looks the best—you could attach a note to the scanning resume that says, “Resume version intended for scanning purposes.”

        Although not all cover letters are scanned into computer databases, you should still take the time to create a strong cover letter because many employers use cover letters to learn a lot about you. It too should utilize a 12-point, sans-serif font.

        On the next page is an example of a resume which should scan perfectly on virtually any scanning system. It uses 12-point Arial type and its longest line does not exceed 75 characters.

ADRIAN MASTERS

2199 Roxanne Avenue

Long Beach, California 90815

(213) 645-0968

OBJECTIVE: Import Manager

QUALIFICATIONS

Strong import and transportation experience with knowledge of customs regulations and procedures. Consistently establish procedures that cut costs and provide timely delivery of product.

EDUCATION

B.A. - International Business, UCLA (1987)

EMPLOYMENT

Raha Sportswear, Long Beach, California 10/92-Present

Assistant Import Manager—Manage a staff of five who monitor $95 million in wearing apparel imports and a $44 million letter of credit line. Proposed, developed, and implemented an ocean freight consolidation program which has reduced ocean freight costs by 30% and provides better tracking control. Planned and developed a manual tracking system which for the first time has enabled the company to analyze the performance of vendors.

Breslin Inc., Los Angeles, California 5/88-8/92

Import Specialist—Coordinated the transportation of all retail purchase orders through communication with brokers, agents, and product managers. Recommended the establishment of a specific footwear rate, saving an estimated $30,000 in ocean freight rates.

Appara, Los Angeles, California 4/85-5/88

Import Clerk/Allocation Clerk—As Allocation Clerk, adjusted inventories and future shipments to meet store orders. As Import Clerk, tracked all imported product to assure consistent flow of goods by communicating with brokers, truckers, and foreign agents.