Scannable Resume Guidelines

1. Use standard fonts such as Courier, Futura, Helvetica, New Century Schoolbook, Optima, Palatino, Times New Roman and or Universe.

2. Use font sizes between 10 to 14, but make sure to avoid Times font of 10.

3. Make sure not to condense spacing between letters.

4. Make sure when using bold type or capital letters for section headers that the text never touches or overlaps.

5. Avoid stylish designs such as italics, underlining, shading, reversals (white letters on black backgrounds) or any type of creative manipulation of text.

6. Avoid vertical, horizontal lines, graphics, boxes, etc.

7. Make sure to place your name on the top of the page also ensuring that it has its own line.

8. Make sure to type your address on a separate line underneath your name.

9. Make sure to type your phone number or any other contact information on its own line.

10. Make sure to use white or light colored 8 ½ x 11 paper.

11. If possible, make sure your resume is printed from a laser printer.  Dot matrix printers provide diminished scanning capabilities.

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