How to Convert Your Resume to ASCII
Using Microsoft Word
Tips
When reformatting your ASCII resume, don't include bold, Italic
or any other font or fancy formatting
commands. Using all UPPERCASE characters for headings works okay though.
Word converts headers and footers to plain text, and sticks them at the bottom of the file. Delete or move them to where they belong. But only one header and footer will work in an ASCII resume, at the very top and bottom. That's because the receiving computer applications decide where to break the pages, if at all. For example, if you placed your name and address in a header in your original resume, move it to the top of your ASCII resume. But if you placed page numbers in footers, just delete them.
Word usually converts bullets (•) to asterisks (*). It's up to you if you want to keep them, but some online resume forms don't like them and older optical scanners might not either. The same might apply to bullets, but at least they're nicer looking than asterisks if they come out okay. If want to try to produce bullets, this typically works even in ASCII text:
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Word also converts tabs into spaces and left-justifies everything; that is, it aligns all text with the left side of the page. It's easier just to leave everything left-justified and it's perfectly acceptable for ASCII resumes. But if want to spruce up your ASCII resume a bit, use the space bar to indent text, in place of tabs. If you want to create divisions, try hyphens (---), periods (...) or underscores (___).
But it's a good idea to be conservative with sprucing. No one expects ASCII resumes to look fancy. Secondly, the receiving computer applications may have their own ideas about spacing, margins, and text style. You can't be sure where they will wrap your text. (Wrapping is where one line ends on the right and the next line begins on the left.) For example, if you use the space bar to center headings, they may end up not being centered much at the receiving end. An indent consisting of five spaces may end up looking like nine. A division all the way across the page might wrap to the next line. To be sure, skip centering and just type a few spaces and characters for indents and divisions. Never try to right-justify text.
Regardless of the font style of your original resume, Word converts your ASCII resume font to Courier, which is fine for such. But when you copy and paste your resume into an email, your application may convert it to a less-suited font, depending on what you have selected as the default in your application options. Be sure to convert it back to a standard font. Times New Roman, Courier, and Arial all work well for ASCII resumes. Also be sure your email sending format is plain text, not HTML.
To test your new resume, save it. If Word warns you that formatting will be lost, you've included one or more formatting commands that don't work in ASCII. But, no harm done. Just click Yes to continue saving your new resume. Then close and open it again. Word automatically removes whatever you did that displayed the warning.
To further test your new resume, copy and paste it into the body of an email and send it to yourself. Make formatting adjustments as needed.
Once you have reformatted your resume in ASCII and tested it, it's ready to copy and paste into emails and online resume forms. Inevitably, an online form will have a mind of its own and you'll end up tweaking your format within the space provided. But occasional tweaking is still easier than reformatting each time you copy and paste your resume.
There are some other special considerations for submitting your resume electronically. See Submitting Your Resume: Tips and Tricks. For tips about writing your resume or sprucing it up, see Writing Resumes and the Previous Features below.
Previous Features
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Copyright © 1999, J. Steven Niznik. All Rights Reserved.
