Filling in the E-Form
Most sites’ e-forms have some questions that are required and others that are optional. Here are some tips for handling both types.

Required Answers
Required questions are typically marked by asterisks, stars, or other symbols. Usually there are instructions on the site explaining that you must answer questions with a particular symbol next to them in order for your resume to be accepted. If you don't answer these questions, the e-form will come back to you when you try to submit it, with an error message saying you failed to answer the required questions.

If a resume site requires you to answer a question you don't want to answer (such as “What is your salary expectation?”), consider not submitting your resume on that particular website. There are plenty of resume banks out there; not all of them have the same requirements.

Optional Answers
Unless you have a particular reason not to respond to an optional question, it's a good idea to answer it. Your answer might be just the information that is searched for (and found!) by a recruiter. For example, your answer to “Where did you learn about this job opening?” could produce a code for that career fair you attended, which would be the easiest way for the career fair recruiter to find you in the database.

Counting Words
A few resume banks limit the number of words you can have in a field. If that's the situation, there will be a notice in small print just above or below the field where the info is to be entered. An easy way to be sure you don't exceed the limit is to type your answer in an MS Word document and use the Word Count function found in the Review menu in MS Word 2007, or in the Tools menu in MS Word 97-2003. Edit your text if necessary, spell check it, and then copy and paste the text into the field on the website.

Choosing a Job
Most database systems will allow (and may require) you to select one or more jobs to apply for. Don't worry about limiting your options by selecting a particular job or bunch of jobs — it will only increase your chances of being seen. The system will tag your resume file for those particular jobs (by inserting a requisition number into your file for each job you choose), and it will consider you for all jobs when the search engine looks for keywords to define a particular job — even for a job you didn't know existed.