In the course of a week, I regularly review hundreds of resumes from Information Technology professionals from entry through executive levels. Over time, I have given advice to hundreds of people about writing a resume that is clear, concise, and eye-catching. Last week, I presented some of these ideas at two different events, so I thought it might be a good time to collect my thoughts about resumes in a blog post.

No Microsoft Word? No Problem

As tempting as it may be to put together a resume in Adobe PDF format to preserve formatting, your electronic resume should probably exist in a Microsoft Word compatible format. This is a somewhat vile situation for graphic design professionals for whom preserving the integrity of white space, fonts, and layout is incredibly important as a demonstration of mastering the basics of good design; however, I guarantee that most any recruiter you work with will, upon receiving a PDF formatted resume, ask you for Microsoft Word. Applicant Tracking Systems simply don’t scan PDF’s.

If you do not have Microsoft Word handy, there are many alternative options. In addition to the now ubiquitous-seeming Google Documents, you can also use Zoho web apps, or even download the very respectable and stable Open Office Suite. Windows comes with an app that can save in Word 6.0 format or you could always save a document in Rich Text Format (RTF), but these formats may prove limiting in designing your masterpiece resume.

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