Making your resume look better on career websites?

You're in a little bit of a bind here. The job finder websites you mentioned usually don't allow you to jazz up your resume, so you're left with plain text as you've described. Some of them do allow you to upload your resume as a pdf or word document, so check to make sure there isn't that option.

Note that these sites do give you a lot of value even though they don't let you format your resume. They have a lot of employers who search their resume databases, so it's good to submit a resume to them even if it's not terribly pretty.

Keep this in mind: everybody else's resume looks the same way. This means that despite the fact that yours doesn't look as nice as the original you saved as a word document or pdf, it will not really hurt your relative chances of impressing an employer.

The reasons for restricting formatting are numerous: it's difficult for them to add this function, it makes searching their databases more difficult because there is a lot of formatting data mixed in with the text of your resume, etc.

There are other options out there that do allow formatting: For instance, http://www.myresume.org/ allows you to upload your resume as a word document, or it you can build your resume similarly to the other websites you've used. But it doesn't allow you to format everything in your resume -- it forces you to use their template. This website also lacks the benefits that careerbuilder and monster give you in that it doesn't have job listings or a lot of employers searching for your resume.

If you search for resume builders you can probably find a bevy of other sites, and some of them may also allow you to format your resume on site, but I myself have been satisfied with the results I got from monster.

If you find a better one that satisfies all your needs please come back and let us know. I've only used the free ones, but I'm sure there are others out there that cost money that work better.

perhaps there's a way to include your resume as an attachment? that way you can attach a word document that includes your formatting etc.

The flip side to this whole thing is that everyone else is limited to the basic text version resume that those sites offer.... so then it comes down to content and the way you present yourself. So if you're feeling good about that, you're ahead of all the other people like you (and me!) that don't want to pay the money!!!

for seeing a good resume u should go to the web sites where jobs applications are filled (i.e) the websites like jobsearch sign it as employee and see the application of many others as a recuiter, u will get some good idea about resume...

idk