e-CVs for you!
MY FINGERS are at least two point five four centimetres shorter than they were six years ago when I began telling people how to get their careers into shape for the New Millennium. Today, the need to know still causes my fingers to stunt and wit to dull. This is because I get so many requests to tell people how to keep themselves up-to-date that I thought I'd tell all those who didn't write in to ask how to get a CV organised so that it loses nothing, quite the contrary actually gains something when probed electronically by an artificially intelligent robot.
While the purpose of the e-CV is the same as it always used to be, namely snaffling that elusive job, the way it is to be presented makes me wonder if everybody is quite sane or have gone technically totally bananas. It's not enough that your traditional CV said what a wonderful candidate you were, or are; today it should look easy to read by a machine with all the mental agility of a dyslexic sloth. Nevertheless, it has become critical for every job seeker to know how to engineer his CV so that it has the greatest chance of being picked up for consideration by an HR executive to fit the vacancy advertised.
The most obvious difference is easily visible, for one thing, the normal formatting of the document is almost wholly absent since the presentation is in text format rather than as a Word{lcub}logicalnot{rcub}shy document. This is because, most companies today store received CVs in a data base that is scanned for certain keywords that may be prominent, and necessary for the job in view. Therefore it is vital to use the terms and phrases that HR search devices are programmed to look for and pick up. Synonyms may not work, and since the computers are not as smart as manufacturers would have as believe, their semantic discrimination is a little creaky.
It's not that there is nothing even remotely connected to the traditional CV. As a matter of fact, the headings and sub-heads remain much the same. The only major difference is that the format is a single block format rather than a multi-column format:
Traditional CVs may have thick topic lines in which the topics are embedded. This will not work well with text résumés because the character recognition software will not be able to read the text in graphic
I would suggest you use either Times New Roman or Arial fonts. These are least fussy, are easily `machine-read' and look like what they are supposed to. Some people suggest using Courier but it looks too much like old-fashioned typewriting and does get a little tiring on the eye. Fancy fonts like Comic sans or Lucida Handwriting is most avoidable because machine readers may not be able to decipher the scan
If your choice is Arial, you will be best advised to use font size 10. Times New Roman is fine in any font from 12-14
In either case make certain that there are no more than 65 characters per line
Do not use bold, italics or underlining since they don't work in text format and if in rich text format tend not to be efficiently scannable. To highlight you might try all-capital letters
Bullet points will not work well since they will not be correctly represented in text format
It is important to make certain that all text matter is justified to the left since any other kind of alignment will play havoc with the formatting and will look hideous when re-printed by the company
Though you may send in your CV stapled under normal circumstances, when you do so electronically, there's no way of ensuring that when printed, the pages will be kept together. Therefore it is very important that your name is on every sheet so that they can be easily found if misplaced
Though you may use only text, and no fancy formatting, there's no reason why you should not send it in on good quality paper as you would if you were sending in a traditional CV. White bond paper is the best, but using pale manila tinted paper will help the text stand out from the background. Laser prints are best or good inkjet printing will ensure that the scan picks up everything you want it to
When you mail in multi-page e-CVs, do not staple them, since getting them apart can be difficult. They need to separate them if they are going to scan the CV and could damage the pages if they happen to be in a hurry. Also, and this is important, try never to fold an e-CV. Flattening it for scanning will take time and any printing in the fold lines may not be captured. Despatch in an A4 size manila document envelop so that everything arrives flat and in easily scannable form
Remember to include every degree, diploma or qualification you have earned since you graduated from School. Some companies like you to mention your areas of specialisation and have programmed their recognition software to pick these up
Bone up on industry jargon and terminology so that you mention the correct keywords that will be picked by the software
Do not forget to mention your special skills that will match the ones they have asked for in their advertisement. It is certain that the words they've used in their communication will be the ones they'll be looking for from their candidate
Some programmes are fixed to look for superlatives in the descriptions of the candidates' abilities, so you might consider using these in relation to your previous performance
Never make the mistake of sending a photocopy since the receiving company will think, (correctly perhaps) that you have applied elsewhere
These then are some things to take care of in the production of an e-CV. If you do, the chances are that your effort will hit pay dirt when the software singles out your name as the one that has all the sterling qualities required by the hiring company. e-CVs are here to stay, and unless the skies are truly free it's well if you get down to making one - today!
ABHIMANYU ACHARYA
abhi.hyd@cnkonline.com
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