Some people make the mistake of just copying and pasting their hard-copy resumes into an online format. It’s better to consider an online resume a different animal and take advantage of some benefits that it offers.
Use bulleted lists
This holds true for paper resumes as well, but large blocks of text are even harder to read online. People tend to scan content online more than they do in hard copy. (Trust me on this — I can’t tell you the number of times people comment on my blog after completely failing to read the introductory paragraph in which I offer perspective for the bulleted list that follows.)
Break text up with headers
Headers make resumes more scannable and make keywords stand out more for the reader.
Hyperlink text
A lot of people will place a URL (for example, of an article they’ve written) in parentheses after they cite the title. The best thing to do is hyperlink the title itself to save the reader some trouble of copying and pasting the URL into a browser. It also helps with readability when the hyperlink is embedded in the text.
Put the most important stuff on top
This, too, holds true for paper resumes. In the case of online resumes, “on top” means the area that is visible onscreen in a web browser before the reader has to scroll. I know, I know, I’m making the page scroll sound like some herculean task for whomever is reading your resume online, but when people are pressed for time, the less they have to do, the better.
