Many job seekers don't realize that it's necessary to have two ASCII/plain-text resumes ready to go -- one suitable for emailing, and the other suitable for posting to online forms. The emailable version should have forced line breaks at 65 characters or less, while the version for Web forms should not have forced line breaks (the text should wrap).

Why is this? Because if you copy and paste a plain-text resume to a webform (say, on a company or executive recruiter website) and it has line breaks manually inserted, the end result will be a jagged effect. Each webmaster has a different default setting for how many characters an online form will break text, so if your resume exceeds this limit, your resume will look terrible. If you create an ASCII resume without line breaks, the text should wrap around the Web form's box, eliminating the need for you to go in and reformat.

Why do you need a plain-text resume that has line breaks at 65 characters or less when emailing your resume? Because there is no "standard" email program used by everybody, so you need to accommodate email systems that don't automatically wrap line breaks. Your resume might end up as one long horizontal line of text -- this is a "pet peeve" of recruiters who state that they would rather the line breaks are pre-inserted before receiving the resume via email.

In a nutshell, here's the basic difference between the two formats:

ASCII for Emailing - Has forced line breaks at 65 characters or less
ASCII for OnlineForms - Has no forced line breaks; instead the text is set to wrap

To create an ASCII resume for Web forms using MS Word 97/2000:

• Open your document, Save As, choose "Text Only" (NOT "Text Only with Line Breaks"). You will get a prompt stating that your document "may contain features that are not compatible with text only format" - choose "yes."
• Close the file and re-open the file.
• Change bullets to asterisks or dashes.
• If columns or tables were used in the original document, make sure the text is coherent.
• Review the heading to ensure that the address, phone number(s), and e-mail addresses are placed in a logical sequence.
• Add stylistic elements to the header sections so that they stand out. A horizontal line may be created by using a series of dashes or asterisks.
• Make sure the most important information is in the top third of the document.
• If a resume is longer than one page and contains contact information on the additional pages, remove this information from the ASCII version. The ASCII resume is meant to be read on a computer screen, so there is no distinction between page numbers.

To create an ASCII resume for emailing using MS Word 97/2000:

• Open your document, go to Edit, Select All - change the font to Courier 12 point; go to File, Page Setup - change the left and right margins to 1.5.
• Go to File, Save As, choose "Text Only with Line Breaks."
• You may then get a prompt stating that your document "may contain features that are not compatible with text only format" - choose "yes."
• Close the file and re-open the file.
• Change bullets to asterisks or dashes.
• If columns or tables were used in the original document, make sure the text is coherent.
• Review the heading to ensure that the address, phone number(s), and e-mail addresses are placed in a logical sequence.
• Add stylistic elements to the header sections so that they stand out. A horizontal line (up to 60 characters) may be created by using a series of dashes or asterisks.
• Make sure the most important information is in the top third of the document. Hiring managers report that they often print the screen shot, not the complete resume.
• If a resume is longer than one page and contains contact information on the additional pages, remove this information from the ASCII version. The ASCII resume is meant to be read on a computer screen, so there is no distinction between page numbers.