Start with a Cyber-Safe ASCII text resume (go to creating and polishing an ASCII text resume before you come do this step). Once you have converted your resume to HTML, add the final touches to make it employer and search engine friendly.

This resume may be "hosted" by your Internet Service Provider (e.g. AOL, AT&T, RCN, etc.) as a form of "passive" job hunting. It stays on the Web to be found by recruiters looking for job candidates like you.

Keep it up to date, and be sure that it is Cyber-Safe and you'll have a jump start for your next job search.

Basic HTML:

HTML "tags" are interpreted by the browser software to modify what is seen by the person surfing the web. The problem is that there are hundreds of different browsers out there, in many different versions, so simple is best.

• Save your HTML files with an .htm or .html extension. The browsers don't care which extension you use. For your own sanity, pick one as your file extension, and stick with it.
  
  To improve your personal resume web page's "find-ability," name your resume, "resume.html." Searching on file names is one of the ways recruiters find resumes, so make it easy for them.
  
  View your HTML file as you go along to see how it looks. See viewing my HTML file for details.
  
  
• Most (not all) tags start and end an effect - like making words bold or italicized.
  
  
• Some tags just are an effect, but we'll get to that later.
  
  
• Tags are set apart from the regular text using the angle brackets
  • < left angle bracket (above the comma on the keyboard)
  • >right angle bracket (above the period on the keyboard)
    
    
• Starting tags and ending tags look very similar, except that the ending tag has a forward slash in front of the tag name.
  
  <starting tag>effected text</ending tag>
  
  This word is <B>bold</b>. ==>This word is bold.
  
  This word is <I>italicized</I> ==> This word is italicized.
  
  
• Tags may be "nested" - words may be both bold and italicized.
  
  These words are <B><I>bold and italicized</I></B>. ==>
  These words are bold and italicized.
  
  If you want to use more than one effect at the same time, as above with bolding and italicizing, the tags must be nested very carefully, or they won't work consistently. Like parenthesis in algebra, most tags come in pairs, and are closed in the opposite order in which they were opened, as above.
  
  
• To add a single blank line, as between paragraphs, use a Paragraph tag - <P>
  
  You can also start and end a paragraph with a pair of Paragraph tags, in the conventional HTML style with the <P> at the beginning of the paragraph. End the paragraph with a </P>.
  
  
• To end one line and start another one, use a Break tag - <BR>
  
  Note: Break tags don't work in pairs. Just the <BR>
  
  For multiple blank lines, use multiple Break tags (not multiple Paragraph tags) - <BR><BR><BR><BR> <== about 2.5 or 3 blank lines depending on the browser.
  
  
• Change the font, size, and color using the Font tags. All 3 may be specified in the same <font> tag. See below.
  
  Font size ranges from 1 (teeny, tiny) to 7 (gigantic). Most web pages are built using font size 2 or 3.
  
  <font size="4">Large text</font> ==> Large text
  
  <font size="2" face="Times New Roman, Times">Times text</font> ==>Times text
  
  <font face="Verdana, Helvetica, Sans Serif">Verdana text </font> ==> Verdana text
  
  Because the text is displayed by the visitor's computer, you should use common fonts found on most computers. If you pick an exotic font that is not available on the visitor's computer, the browser's default font will be what is seen by the visitor. Multiple fonts should be listed so that the effect can be somewhat consistent depending on the computer being used (PC, Mac, etc.).
  
  Font color is specified using hexadecimal codes, preceded by a pound sign (#). You can find an excellent list matching color to color code at http://www.dotparagon.com/resources/color.html. Just pick out the color, and the code is there.
  
  <font face="Verdana, Helvetica, Sans Serif" color="#FF0000"><B>Bold, Red Verdana Text</B></font> ==> Bold, Red Verdana Text
  
  Don't go crazy trying to match a specific color. Colors are notoriously unreliable on the web because of the differences in computers, monitors, and browsers. Pick a color that looks good on your computer's monitor.
  
  
• Every HTML file should have some basic structure tags. Follow the order and the punctuation of these tags EXACTLY to ensure that your HTML file can be seen by every browser.
  
  <HTML> <== the first and last tag in the file
  
  <HEAD> <== housekeeping for the HTML file, opening the HTML file's head.
  
  <TITLE>Resume - experienced optical engineer in California</TITLE>
  Use the title tag for some marketing. It's also good to improve "find-ability" and to identify your resume if someone makes it a "favorite" or sets a browser "bookmark" on your page.
  
  

  Note: This is where your <META> tags should go.

  
  </HEAD> <== closes the head (top, administrative) section of the HTML file
  
  Everything above this line is the "head" of your HTML file. Only the <TITLE> text will be seen by visitors to your Web page.
  
  <BODY> <== where everything (except your META tags) goes
  
  This is what is visible in the main browser window, so this is where you put your resume's text with the HTML tags described above.
  

  < /BODY>
  </HTML> <== the last tag
  

• View your HTML file to see how it looks, if you haven't already done that.
  
  
• Upload your HTML file to your Web server so that the whole world can see it as a personal resume web page. Talk to your ISP's technical support people to see how to do that on their Web server, if you plan to use your Internet access provider as your Web host. Or, if you plan to have your Web site hosted by AOL, they will have an easy method to upload your HTML files.
  

For best results:

Do what good web developers do -- view your HTML file in more than one browser before you upload it to the host computer. Look at it in a Mozilla FireFox browser as well as Microsoft Internet Explorer. If possible, check it out in AOL, too, to make sure it looks OK. See Viewing Your HTML file for more information.

(See Protecting Your Privacy and Choosing a Job Site for more information.)

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About the author...

Online job search expert Susan P. Joyce has been observing the online job search world and teaching online job search skills since 1995. Susan is a two-time layoff "graduate" who has worked in human resources at Harvard University and in a compensation consulting firm. In 1998, her company, NETability, Inc. purchased Job-Hunt.org, and Susan has been editor and publisher of Job-Hunt since then. Follow Susan on Twitter at @jobhuntorg.

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