Resumes: ASCII (long post)

[Lee Bumgarner <jlbumgar -at- VNET -dot- IBM -dot- COM>]

Techwhirlers:

More technical recruiters and hiring managers are requesting
that resumes be formatted in ASCII and sent by email. As a
soon-to-be former co-op and hope-to-be fulltime technical
communicator (and STC Carolina Chapter Job Bank Committee
member), I have some concerns.

The former common wisdom for the paper resume included:
-Use different paper stocks, weights, colors, and textures to
 make it stand out from the rest of the stack on the recruiter's
 or manager's desk.

-Use different fonts, sizes, and weights to direct the reader,
 to aid in hierarchy and organization, and to emphasize (sparingly).

-Use bullets, etc., where appropriate, in lists.

-Use vertical and horizontal spacing to direct the reader and to
 aid in hierarchy and organization.

ASCII resumes have some limitations for those adhering to
the common wisdom cited above:
-ASCII resumes submitted by email require no paper; therefore, one
 can't make the resume stand out in the same way.

-ASCII format severely limits font choice, size, and weight.

-ASCII format doesn't allow bullets, etc.

-ASCII does allow vertical and horizontal spacing.

In the ASCII resumes I have reviewed (in usenet newsgroups),
few of those reviewed showed skillful use of
vertical and horizontal spacing, asterisks, dashes, and
capital letters to create well-organized resumes. And the
resumes all started to look alike after some time.

These are my queries:
-Are there ways to make ASCII resumes stand out?

-Does it even matter that ASCII resumes start to all look the
 same after a while (except, of course, the really bad ones:
 they REALLY :0 stand out)?

-Are there other ways in ASCII to make them really *sparkle*?

-Since some email readers are set for different line lengths,
 is there a way to create a resume in ASCII for all readers so
 that the lines don't break?

Issues not directly related to ASCII:

-I want to create the best impression possible. Should I suggest
 a hardcopy resume instead or point the recruiter/manager to
 my resume on the web?

-Since I am sending an ASCII resume, can I "get away" with a
 resume that is longer and more detailed than the more shorter,
 succinct, but less detailed paper copy (I have a longer version
 since I have a lot of transferable job experience from a previous
 career)?

Am I just stuck in the paper resume paradigm <g> because
I want to use "good" design and writing to aid the presentation
of content (skills, experiences, and abilities)?

Thanx.

Lee Bumgarner
http://stc.org/region2/ncc/www/cc_joblisting.html
I speak for myself and no one else.