Resumes FAQ Page

Here, the resume poster will find many tips and suggestions tailored to making your time on resumes.autojobs.com a better experience. Take a few minutes to read through the questions and answers, and hopefully you will find what you are looking for. If you have questions that were not answered here, please direct your question via email to: dba@autojobs.com

Q: How can I know how my resume is doing? Is it getting the attention of employers? Has anyone read it?
A: You can see how many times your resume has been viewed by logging in with your personal username and password. Near the top of the screen, you will see a status bar that includes both your resume's expiration date and the number of times that your resume has been viewed by prospective employers. Note that this number does NOT include the number of times that YOU have logged in to view your resume, but only the number of times that actual employers have viewed your resume.

Q: I'm having trouble logging in to edit my resume. What gives?
A: First, make sure that you are using the correct username and password when attempting to log in. To assist you in this, after you successfully posted your resume on resumes.autojobs.com, you were emailed a confirmation message that included your username. If you still have trouble logging in with this username, then you can reset your password here. If resetting your password fails, and you are positive that you are using the correct username, then your resume has most likely been deleted from the AUTOjobs.com database. This usually only happens when your resume expires after its 90 day limit, so to avoid this, be sure to renew your resume before its expiration date.

Q: How long after registering on resumes.autojobs.com can I expect to wait before I'm contacted by an employer? ...And how exactly will they contact me?
A: That's a tough one. By posting your resume in AUTOjobs.com's resume database, your qualifications will be at the fingertips of hundreds of automotive employers across the nation, but this does not guarantee that you will meet the needs of these employers. Rest assured that if your resume is being viewed frequently (see above), then it is probably only a matter of time before you are contacted by a prospective employer. Speaking of which...when you are contacted, you will be contacted by whatever means you have listed in your resume. So for example, if you have elected to fill in the phone number field on your resume, then this is one means by which an employer will contact you. Keep in mind that a valid email address is required to make use of the AUTOjobs.com resume service, and this is the method that most employers will choose to contact you. So check your email frequently!

Q: What exactly does my resume look like when an employer chooses to view it? Does it look the same as when I log in to edit it?
A: No. When your resume turns up in a search made by an employer, we format the resume to be viewed full-screen and with your contact information prominently displayed on top. Click HERE to see an example resume as an employer would see it. If you want to see exactly how your personal resume appears to employers, you can do this through the resume editing page located HERE.

Q: What if I post my resume in the AUTOjobs.com database, and I don't get any responses from employers during my 90 day limit?
A: That would be an extremely rare occurance. If you get no responses in 120 days, then you might consider that your resume needs a little touching-up. If your resume's views are low, then you might also consider revising certain areas such as the "Desired Income" field. If your asking price is too high, then many employers may be passing you by. Try lowering, or even eliminating this field. Also, you should probably choose at least one "Position" in which to list your resume. When employers search for resumes, they are able to search on the specific positions that will meet their needs, so be sure that your resume is listed in the most appropriate position(s) or you may not be showing up in employers' searches.

Q: I can't seem to copy and paste my resume into the area provided. When I try to copy and paste my resume, nothing happens. What am I doing wrong?
A: Copying and pasting are basic functions of any GUI (Graphical User Interface) based operating system. To copy and paste your resume on a Microsoft Windows operating system, open the document containing your resume, click your mouse into the text area of the resume (anywhere in the resume will do) and then hit CTRL-A on your keyboard (that's the Control key and the "A" key at the same time). This will select/highlight your whole resume. Now hit CTRL-C on your keyboard to copy it. Lastly, go through the resume posting process at resumes.autojobs.com and when you're ready to paste your resume, click your mouse into the appropriate box on the data entry form and hit CTRL-V on your keyboard. This will paste your resume into the resume box on the data entry form. The same procedure can be accomplished on a Macintosh operating system by substituting the Command key for the Windows CTRL key.

Q: I see that when I copy & paste my resume into the AUTOjobs.com database, the results are in something called "ASCII" text. What exactly does this mean?
A: ASCII stands for "American Standardized Code for Information Interchange." Simply put, ASCII is a set of baseline characters used for constructing text--in your case, the text of your resume as it exists in the AUTOjobs.com database. ASCII consists mainly of the keys that you can see on your keyboard, but many word-processors are capable of producing characters and other output that are not a part of the normal ASCII character set. When attempting to copy & paste one of these special characters into an ASCII environment, the end result will usually be a placeholder control character () or an HTML character reference (e.g., ""). This means that the character you're trying to paste from your word-processor does not have an equivalent character in ASCII. This usually happens with various kinds of word processing bullets. In cases like this, you should use a replacement ASCII character such as an asterisk(*) or dash(-) instead. Tabs are also problematic when pasted directly from a word processor document. HTML (the language that most web pages are written in) has no tab character, so all tabs are interpreted as single spaces, which is usually just fine. Formatting problems can also occur when pasting tables/cells/columns of data from a word-processor into ASCII. ASCII has no means of arranging data in tables or columns because it is a plain-text medium. Any tabled data you paste into your resume will be converted to its plain-text equivalent, which will undoubtedly produce some formatting problems. You can correct these, if they occur, on a case-by-case basis by simply editing out any extraneous spaces and line breaks, thus making the text readable in a normal left to right fashion. Remember, if the text of your resume looks unnaturally broken or out-of-place in the resume editing area, then chances are it will look the same way to employers when they view your resume. In an ASCII medium, substance counts for much more than style, so keep it simple and straightforward and you'll be fine.

Q: Why can't I use bolding and underlining and different font sizes/styles in my resume?
A: By keeping resumes simple and uniform in terms of visual presentation, we hope that we are fostering an atmosphere in which the content of a resume, not its visual appeal, is the determining factor in attracting an employer's attention. Also, many employers search the AUTOjobs.com resume database on a regular basis, so by keeping the process as simple and straightforward as possible, we are streamlining their time on our site and thereby enhancing everyone's experience.

Q: Why can't I properly center/left-justify/right-justify the text of my resume?
A: First, see the above question/answer. Now, consider that you're an employer using the AUTOjobs.com resume database to locate just the right candidate for your growing dealership. You're looking through dozens of potential resumes and it doesn't take too long before all you're interested in is the meat of the text. You don't particularly care whether or not a resume's work history section is centered and in 12 point Arial; all you really care about is whether or not what's written in the resume speaks to this candidate's qualifications for your shop. We think that by holding everyone to the same baseline standards (ASCII text, in this case), we can focus attention back where it should be: on your qualifications for the job. So, with this in mind, here are some pointers when posting your resume on AUTOjobs.com:

• You can cut & paste your (insert the brand name of your word-processor here) document into the AUTOjobs.com database (in fact, this is probably how you should be posting your resume), but please be aware that your word-processor makes use of many more characters than does the HTML standard on which the internet is based. HTML is generally limited to displaying only plain ASCII text characters, which basically means all the characters that you can see on your keyboard. If you should paste a character into your AUTOjobs.com resume that has no HTML equivalent, it will appear as a control character () or as an HTML character reference (e.g., ""). Most commonly, you will see this happen with several styles of bullets, which we have taken the liberty of substituting with the middle dot character "•". This can be easily replaced in your resume with some good ASCII mainstays if you don't like our substitute: the asterisk(*), dash(-), or hash (#) all make good ASCII bullets.
• Don't try to pad your resume headings out with extra spaces to make them look as if they were in columns or centered or right-justified in the input textarea. The extra whitespace will be stripped out when an employer views your resume anyhow, so you're not gaining anything by doing this. Your resume will be formatted in a standard fashion with all text left-justified and will look just fine to employers.
• Don't try to use HTML tags (or any other kind of programming script) in your resume. For example, trying to bold the word "Qualifications" in your resume with "<b>Qualifications</b>" will not work. In fact, the HTML tags (i.e., "<b>" and "</b>") will be ignored and will appear literally in your resume as "<b>Qualifications</b>". This is done for the sake of uniformity (we want employers to be focused on your skills as an automotive specialist/worker, not a word-processing/HTML guru), and for simplicity (we don't want you to be so worried about how your resume looks that you end up with more style than substance). And if you don't know what an HTML tag is, then don't worry, you'll be just fine.

Q: I have tried to register my resume, but everytime I click on the "submit" button, I'm taken to a page that says "You are not registered" and then it says something about enabling "cookies" in my browser. What does this mean?
A: resumes.autojobs.com uses something called session cookies to keep track of user data while you are on our site. This is strictly for authentication purposes (to be sure that certain users have access only to certain areas of the site), and no sensitive information (e.g., passwords) is contained in the cookies that we place on your personal computer. However, we do not absolutely require that our clients have cookies enabled in their browsers to make use of the site. If you do not accept cookies (at the very least, session cookies) from resumes.autojobs.com, then the site should adapt accordingly. Having cookies enabled while on resumes.autojobs.com will present the optimal experience, but if you choose to reject cookies, the site will still function. Any warnings you see on the site about "cookies" are strictly informational--should you want to enable cookies in your browser, we provide you instructions to do so, but this is not required of you. To perform a test that will determine whether or not cookies are enabled in your browser, click HERE.

Q: What exactly am I buying when I spend $75.00 on a Premium Resume Listing?
A: Take a look HERE to see the differences that an employer sees between a standard resume listing and a premium listing. If you choose to take advantage of the AUTOjobs.com Premium listing plan, your resume will always appear above/before all standard resumes, the listing for your resume will be in boldface type, and it will also include an identifying graphic to further set your Premium listing apart from standard listings. A Premium account is good for 120 days, just like a standard listing accout. When time comes for you to renew after 120 days, you can choose to continue the Premium account for another 120 days for $75.00, or you can convert your account to a standard listing for free (also 120 days).