Electronic résumés are similar to traditional résumés in that the purpose is the same - to get you an interview.  They are also similar to scannable résumés; they are reduced to digital form for an employer to search.  Traditionally, the résumé  focused on visual aesthetics.  The content was focused on action verbs and was structured to grab a person's attention.  The focus with an electronic résumé is to grab a computer's attention.  The best electronic résumé is one that is scannable, searchable, and uploadable. 

Is Your Résumé Searchable? 

Many companies are requesting that you submit your résumé online, totally avoiding the paper version.  Your résumé is directly uploaded into their computers which, in turn, format your résumé to their standards and allow them to search the database.  You will want to use key words specific to your field and the position for which you are applying. 

Electronic Forms 

These are typically found on an organization's web site.  You will be asked to type certain information into blank text boxes and when completed, to click on a button to submit the information.  Sometimes you are given extra space to type a cover letter or a summary of qualifications.  In order to utilize electronic forms, you must be using a browser that will support them, such as Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Internet Explorer.

Email 

This is the most direct method.  You can send your résumé as a text-only message or as an attachment.  Since there are a wide variety of email systems that people use for home and business, it is wise to reach the lowest common denominator between the sender and receiver.  If you send your résumé with formatting the receiver cannot read the result is confusion and no interview.

Reducing your résumé to a text-only version such as ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) is the safest way to go.  The characters in your résumé will be universally recognized with little room for confusion.  Incidentally, electronic forms process information as ASCII text.  To create a good ASCII résumé  file, you will want to remove ALL formatting from your résumé (italics, boldface, bullets, vertical and horizontal lines, etc.).  Since ASCII usually appears in courier font in most systems, you may want to initially type your résumé in courier.  Start your résumé with a flush left margin of zero, keeping your right margin at about 65 characters.  You may want to test your résumé by sending it to a friend or copying yourself to see how it actually looks.  Be sure to check to see if the employer has specific instructions on how to submit your résumé.