Speaker 1 (00:00): If you are sick and tired of the time that
it takes to apply for roles online. If you get frustrated, when you get asked to upload
your resume and copy and paste your information into online applications, if you want an easier
way then keep watching. [inaudible]
Speaker 1 (00:22): Today's video, I'm going to show you how to
create a plain text resume that is going to make it so much easier when it comes to applying
to roles online. Trust me, you'd wish you'd known this sooner. Let's get started. If you
are new to my channel. Welcome. If you are returning. Welcome back. My name is Cindy
Makita Dodd. I am a career strategist and coach and I help driven professionals land
their dream jobs and accelerate to their next promotion. I post weekly content that will
help you along every step on your journey toward landing your dream job. So be sure
to click the subscribe button and to hit the bell to be notified whenever I drop a new
video, I don't want you to miss a beat. At Hired Institute, we surveyed over 100 job
seekers and we asked them what their biggest frustrations were when it came to applying
for roles.
Speaker 1 (01:17): 50% of the job seekers that we surveyed said
that they were frustrated with how long it takes to apply for roles online. The repetitive
mundane process. So today I want to bring you a solution. That's going to help you when
applying for roles online, and that is through creating a plain text resume. I'm going to
show you how to do it and how you can start using it when applying for roles today, what
is a plaintext resume? A plain text resume is exactly what the title implies. It is plain
text. That means there are no fancy fonts, bullet points or any other special characters
within your resume. Plain text resumes can be used. When an employer specifically asks
you to upload one online, most times they'll ask you for a word or PDF version. So this
is less likely, but more importantly, this simple hack can make it easier for you when
you are copying and pasting your information into an online form field when an employer
asks for it, have you ever been asked to both upload your resume, but also type in your
information, your work history, your education, when applying for roles online? Let me know
in the comments. I know this can be frustrating, so I want to show you how to quickly create
a plain text version of your resume to make it easier to copy and paste into these online
form fields.
Speaker 2 (02:40): Let me show you how to save your resume in
plain text format. So I'm going to open up my resume in Microsoft word. This is a sample
resume that I'm using. I'm going to go to file save as I'm going to save the file, not
as word documents, but rather as plain text TXT. I'm going to hit saved. I am on a Mac.
So I have this, that pops up a warning. Wait, says texting coding. I'm going to save it
as M S D O S. Hit save okay, I'll click. Yes. And now I want to open my resume in that plain
text format. I'm going to go to finder, going to the downloads here. It is Jesica Jones
sample resume.
Speaker 2 (03:34): Great. So now I have my resume opened up in
plain text. As you can see, it's removed all the fancy fonts, no formatting. It is simple,
simple, plain text. So now what I have to do is actually go and adjust the formatting,
so that it's easy for me to copy and paste it each time into online applications. So
every way that I see a question mark, I'm going to replace it. Of course, there's no
bullet points. So I can either use a dash or an asterix. Maybe show you how I would
edit this resume. So I'd go in and put dashes back because those are considered simple,
not necessarily special characters. That was my title. The summary I keep the same, nothing
needs to change there. Every where that I have a heading I really wanted to be bolded.
So I'm going to have it in all caps. So you can see your core skills is in old caps, leadership
experience and achievements. So that's good. And my core skills, they may or may not ask
for it, but I want to be prepared. I'm going to change these question walks to asterix.
Speaker 2 (04:44): So that's going to be the way that I adjust
it because I can copy and paste these asterix, when I'm copying and pasting my information
into those online form fields. And then once I've done that, I'm going to head over to
my work experience. So again, there's a question mark here, the best kind of rule of thumb
is to have your organization, the company first, then your job title, and then the dates.
So I want to format each of my work experience in that way. So here I have us bank. I'm going
to have Chicago, Illinois, which is the location right underneath it is my job title. And then
underneath that is the dates of my employment. That's easily readable, good format. So that's
the rule of thumb for the work experience. Again, it's the company, my job title next.
And then the dates of my employment. Now for the bullet points, which is my work experience,
achievements, my miserable results, my responsibilities.
Speaker 2 (05:53): Again, I'm going to replace the question marks
because they were bullet points before and we cannot have bullet points in plain text.
I'm going to replace it with asterix and I want to go and do this full beach of my wood
experienced sections. So what's great is that when it's time for me to apply online, I'm
simply going to go and copy and paste this directly into today. So I don't have to spend
time typing it out again. Okay. What's another easy way for you to do is you can add what
I call squigglies. I think its called squigglies in between your sections. Of course you're
not going to upload this necessarily, but this is going to make it easier for you to
distinguish between sections. Okay? So there you go. You've created your plain text resume
easy to copy and paste into online applications.
Speaker 1 (06:46): Now you have a plain text resume that you
could easily use to copy and paste into online applications. Yay! If you want to learn more
tips and strategies on how to be a standout candidate and ultimately land your dream job,
click the link in the description of this video to download my free guide, the stand
out candidates toolkit. In this 15 page guide, I detail the exact steps that you can take
to stand out among the masses of job seekers and ultimately land your dream job. Again
a link to the download is in the description of this video. If you found this video useful,
give it a like. Don't forget to comment any questions that you have related to this video.
I'll be in the comments to answer them. Don't forget to hit that subscribe button and I
will see you in the next video.
Speaker 2 (07:42): [inaudible].