Online Resume Formats

Online resumes are viewed by almost every employer as it is easy to access and just a click away. Hence, it becomes a necessity to upload your resume on internet. Normal resumes are fine for a print-out. However the same format does not works for the online resumes. Many times it happens that your information looks unorganized on web if you stick to the regular resume format. To avoid that and make your resume look presentable online, you need to follow these 3 popular formats of online resumes.

1. ASCII format

   The full form of ASCII is American Standard Code for Information Interchange and is pronounced as "Ask-ee". This is a text-only format without any type of formatting. ASCII is a suitable format to post your online resumes. Below is a checklist you need to follow for posting online resume in ASCII format:

   • Resumes are generally drafted in MS word document. If not then you need to open your resume with MS word and save it as "text only". This can mess up the format of your resume, which again you need to amend it manually.
   • Once you are done with saving the document as "text only", you need to open it in notepad.
   • Replace bullets with standard symbols like asterisk (*), minus or addition signs which are ASCII characters.
   • Length of lines should be limited to 75 characters per line as lengthy lines can be needlessly trimmed by some software applications.

2. HTML format

   HTML is a Hyper Text Markup Language used by the web browsers to present web content. It is a best option to upload your resume via HTML format. Make sure you mention your appropriate information with exact keywords so that any employer can find your resume easily. Follow the below points for uploading your online resume through HTML format:

   • Open your resume in MS word document and save it as "as web page" and your HTML resume format is ready.
   • MS word contains many mismatched characters while saving the document as HTML. This might result in your resume look awful or uneducated on many computers that have Mac or Linux operating systems. In such case you have to use "demoroniser" which is a script that corrects several faults and incompatibilities in HTML which are generated by Microsoft applications.

3. PDF format

   PDF is a Portable Document Format which is used when you have to send your resume via an e-mail. The advantage of this document is that it is fixed and hence there won't be any formatting required or it does not change the original format of your resume. PDF document appears the same on all operating systems like Windows, Linux and Mac. It is the most portable form of format among the 3 popular formats of online resume. However, for creating a PDF resume document, you need to download separate Adobe Acrobat software on your system. A trail version is usually available on internet.

Now that you know the advantages and disadvantages of all 3 popular formats of online resume, you can select whichever you find is needed. But make sure you simply don't copy from your normal resume document and paste on the web page directly.