Resume Help... Avoiding The Low Tech Look

Resume Help - Does Your Resume Make You Look Low Tech?

Being low tech is not necessarily a bad thing. If you're an organic subsistence farmer. But if you're looking for an office job and your resume is telling the world that you still write with a typewriter, well... not so good.

In fact, if you're looking for a job that requires the use of anything even remotely technical -- from phones to computers to the magnetic key that unlocks your office door -- you need to make sure your resume isn't shouting to the world that you're hopelessly behind the times. Especially in today's job market with your competitors LinkedIn, Twitter'd up, and texting at a blistering rate. How can you tell if your resume is making you look low tech?

Resume Help Tip #1 - Is Your Resume Typed?

Is your resume typed or printed on a dot-matrix printer? That won't do. Today's hiring officials expect to see a contemporary layout, header design and a brilliance of font that can only be achieved with a up-to-date application software and a laser or ink-jet printer. I know that old Smith-Corona has served you well. But it's time to relegate it to the same corner of the house where you keep the other museum pieces: your high school ring, Betamax, cassette player and Nehru jacket.

Is Your Contact Information Missing Something?

Got an email address? If not, get one and put the address on your resume. Many recruiters and hiring officials find it more convenient to drop a candidate an email rather than waste time trying to chase somebody down by phone. Make sure you give them that option. By the way, if your email address is, shall we say, less than professional (i.e. PartyHardyPaul@beerfest.com), get an auxiliary email to use for your job search.

Got A Web Presence?

Include a Web address if it leads to a Web resume or professional profile that provides more detail than your paper resume. Skip it if it leads to your ruminations on the poetry of Star Trek.

Does Your Resume Contain A Photo?

The contemporary resume for the U.S. marketplace should not include a photo unless you're applying for positions in modeling. Period.

If you're living your life without a computer, there's nothing wrong with that. But if you're also trying to find a job, you're at a disadvantage. If you're writing your own resume, you need a computer loaded with Word (preferable), WordPerfect or a similar application software. Plus, many companies today are not only accepting job applications online, they are conducting all their recruiting efforts over the net.

My advice? Either get a computer, or get good at the computers in your nearby library. Get access to a good laser or ink jet printer for hard-copy resumes. And learn how to send "electronic" resumes over the internet via email, or as postings to job boards and company websites.

Where we go from here: A few pages over, you can find out how to craft a resume that avoids the common pitfalls of the screening process. We call it our Top 10 Checklist for a Good Resume. Questions about formatting, like whether to go with a chronological format or a functional? Find help at the page The Resume Format. Help in writing an objective statement can be found at The Resume Objective.

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