The Problem with Resume Scanning
No matter how perfectly you follow the resume scanning guidelines for creating a scannable resume, the OCR (Optical Character Recognition) software is bound to make some errors in translating your characters. The result: Your resume will have words that are unreadable, and therefore unsearchable unless the person entering your resume into the database catches the mistakes and corrects them.

Getting Around Resume Scanners
The way to solve this problem is to avoid scanners whenever possible by sending an e-resume instead of a hardcopy resume. In other words, if you see an ad that says “send or email your resume,” by all means, email it! Your emailed resume will bypass the resume scanner (which converts a hardcopy resume into an e-resume) because it's already an e-resume. Another excellent way to beat the resume scanning dilemma is to post your resume on the company's website, which delivers your resume electronically and therefore doesn't require resume scanning.

Do You Need a Scannable Resume?
If you must send a hardcopy resume, find out if it's likely to encounter a resume scanner. The best way to determine this is to contact the Human Resources department of the company in which you are interested, and ask if they use resume scanning. If they do, request that they forward guidelines to you so you can tailor your resume specifically for their system. If they do not use scanning, ask whether it's best to send your original paper resume, or an electronic version via email or through their recruiting website.