Monday, January 6, 2020

South Koreas Infatuation With Computer Gaming Culture

South Korea is a country infatuated with video games. It is a place where professional gamers earn six-figure contracts, date supermodels, and are treated as A-list celebrities. Cyber competitions are nationally televised and they fill-up stadiums. In this country, gaming is not just a hobby; it’s a way of life. Video Game Culture in South Korea Although the per capita access to broadband internet is high, most Koreans actually conduct their gaming activities outside of the home in local gaming rooms called â€Å"PC bangs.† A bang is simply a LAN (local area network) gaming center where patrons pay an hourly fee to play multiplayer games. Most bangs are cheap, ranging from $1.00 to $1.50 USD an hour. There are currently over 20,000 active PC bangs in South Korea and they have become an integral part of the country’s social fabric and cultural landscape. In Korea, going to a bang is equivalent to going to the movies or the bar in the West. They are especially prevalent in big cities like Seoul, where heightened population density and the lack of space offers residents few options for recreational and social interaction. The video game industry makes up a large share of South Korea’s GDP. According to the Ministry of Culture, in 2008 the online-gaming industry earned $1.1 billion dollars in exports. Nexon and NCSOFT, South Korea’s two largest game development companies reported a combined net income of over $370 million in 2012. The entire game market is estimated at approximately $5 billion dollars annually, or about $100 per resident, which is more than three times what Americans spend. Games like StarCraft have sold over 4.5 million copies in South Korea, out of a worldwide total of 11 million. Video games also stimulate the country’s informal economy, as millions of dollars are traded yearly through illegal gambling and betting on game matches. In South Korea, cyber competition is considered a national sport and numerous television channels broadcast video game matches regularly. The country even has two full-time video game television networks: Ongamenet and MBC Game. According to the Federal Game Institute, 10 million South Koreans regularly follow eSports, as they are known. Depending on the matches, some video game tournaments may garner more ratings than pro baseball, soccer, and basketball combined. There are currently 10 professional gaming leagues in the country and they are all sponsored by big corporations such as SK Telecom and Samsung. The monetary rewards for winning a league tournament are colossal. Some of South Korea’s most famous players like the StarCraft legend, Yo Hwan-lim could earn more than $400,000 a year just from league matches and sponsorships. The popularity eSports has even led to the creation of the World Cyber Games. Gaming Addiction in South Korea Over the past decade, the Korean government has spent millions of dollars on clinics, campaigns, and programs to minimize this problem. There are now publicly funded treatment centers for game addicts. Hospitals and clinics have installed programs that specialize in treating the disease. Some Korean game companies such as NCsoft also finances private counseling centers and hotlines. In late 2011, the government took a stern step further by imposing a â€Å"Cinderella Law† (also called the Shutdown Law), which prevents anyone under the age of 16 from playing online games on their PCs, handheld device, or at a PC bang from midnight until 6 a.m. Minors are required to register their national identification cards online so that they can be monitored and regulated. This law has been highly controversial and is contested by the majority of the general public, video game companies, and game associations. Many people argue that this law infringes on their liberty and would yield no positive results. Minors could just register using someone else’s identification or completely circumvent the ban by connecting to Western servers instead. Although by doing so, it certainly affirms one’s addiction.

Friday, December 20, 2019

Essay on The Government Stimulus - 1697 Words

In these current economic times, people have lost jobs. People have lost faith in the economy since the worth of their money keeps falling. Businesses are failing left and right because of the lack of confidence in the system. Banks have folded because of the amount of people who are unable to pay their loans, leaving the banks without funds. The auto industry is failing as people cannot afford the new cars being produced by Detroit. Confidence in the economic system of the United States is very low. How can the country recover from this economic recession? Some economists would say that the government should step in to save the day by pumping funds into the system. President Obama signed a massive stimulus bill in an attempt to turn the†¦show more content†¦See Figure 1 To help gain support for the bill, President Obama made statements about how the bill would help the economy. In his January 10th radio address, President-elect Obama said: †¦I asked my nominee for chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, Dr. Christina Romer, and the vice president-elects chief economic adviser, Dr. Jared Bernstein , to conduct a rigorous analysis of this plan and come up with projections of how many jobs it will create—and what kind of jobs they will be†¦ The report confirms that our plan will likely save or create 3 to 4 million jobs†¦ The jobs we create will be in businesses large and small across a wide range of industries. And theyll be the kind of jobs that dont just put people to work in the short term, but position our economy to lead the world in the long-term†¦ The jobs being created by the House bill could cost as much as 2.5 times more than jobs created without the stimulus bill. (Grassley) The funds from the bill were to be allocated to different projects that were designed to create jobs. Part of this was a distribution of the funds to states based on how effectively they would use the funds (Chenn). In an article quoted by Chenn, Daniel Wilson says that the bill is aimed at states that are in need of funds, therefore they will spend the moneyShow MoreRelatedGovernment Intervention in the Economy: Are Monetary and Fiscal Stimulus Policies Possible Tools for Getting an Economy Out of a Recession2541 Words   |  11 PagesSubject Area: Economics Topic: Deficit Spending Essential Question: Should the government use instruments of monetary and fiscal stimulus policies to reactivate the economy? Imagine people living in parks called Bushville’s, lines for soup kitchens that go for blocks, and all across the country kids running away from home travelling on trains searching for your next meal. This is just a taste of what 2009 could have been, but thankfully, the year did not go down this way although it will be rememberedRead MoreThe Recession Of A Recession1035 Words   |  5 Pagescrisis, numerous government policies were enforced. A recession usually last 6 to 18 months and interest rate fall to stimulate the economy. During a recession, people tend not to spend, borrow, but to save money because of a fall in confidence. The government initiates an expansionary fiscal policy which involves increasing stimulus government spending and cutting taxes. However, the question is can increased stimulus spending help end the recession. The first article, â€Å"Increased Stimulus Spending CanRead MoreU.s. Economic Stimulus Package843 Words   |  4 Pages U.S. Economic Stimulus Package Jason Leitch-Williams St. Gregory’s University U.S. Economic Stimulus The Great Recession has been one of the largest fiscal crises of the current generation and the economic downturn that resulted has been recorded as the longest and most severe since the Great Depression (The Impact of the Recovery Act on Economic Growth). Although the economy has reached a stage of recovery, the effects of the recession to real GDP can be seen in business cycleRead MoreFinancial Crisis During World War II1119 Words   |  5 Pagesfeel the onset of a recession or the economy starts to slow down, the government looks to restore the economic growth through different stimulus plans. The recession of 2008 was one example. When the housing bubble burst it caused panic with quick financial fallout, â€Å"the government took immediate measure to stimulate the economy back to normal and to restore confidence in the economic market†. Congress approved the Economic Stimulus Package in 2008 that the Bush Administration put together. â€Å"The packageRead MoreGlobal Economic Recession Essay810 Words   |  4 PagesCountries began taking action in 2008 by implementing stimulus packages and bailout plans, which can help a country locally, federally and on a global scale. The United States stimulus package has been in effect for over a year and they have been distributing bailout money to large corporations, investing in infrastructure and public services as well as investing into green incentives. The States were one of the first countries to begin a stimulus package in 2008 under the Bush administration. InRead MoreThe Great Recession Fiscal Policy: Analyzing Problems and Solutions1429 Words   |  6 PagesAs a result of the Great Recession of 2007 to 2009, the United States government implemented various fiscal policies in an effort to stimulate the economy. How the government responded as well as how those responses will affect the U.S. economy into the future are the focus of a proposed research study. In order to ensure an appropriate focus for the proposed research study, problems in existing literature must be evaluated. This paper is structured as follows. In order to better understand theRead MoreKeynesian Vs Real Business Cycle School741 Words   |  3 PagesEconomists have always had differing views on whether government stimulus packages help or hurt the economy when it’s in a recession. This stems from the same schools of economic theory as mentioned in the response to the first question above – Keynesian vs Real Business Cycle school. On one end you have the Keynesian philosophy, where government fiscal intervention during a recession is deemed necessary. It’s intention is to keep consumer spending afloat by way of public spending or altering theRead MoreFinancial Crisis During World War II1171 Words   |  5 Pagesonset of a recession or the economy starts to slow down, the government looks to restore the economic growth through different stimulus plans. The recession of 2008 was one example. When the housing bubble burst it caused panic with quick financial fallout, à ¢â‚¬Å"the government took immediate measure to stimulate the economy back to normal and to restore confidence in the economic market† (Mitchell). Congress approved the Economic Stimulus Package in 2008 that the Bush Administration put together. â€Å"TheRead MoreJohn Maynard Keynes s Economic Theories Essay1245 Words   |  5 Pagesexpectations. When an economy is in a recession Keynes proposed that the government should buy more output, employ more people, provide more income transfers and make more money available. Keynesian policy popularity changed significantly from the time of the Great Depression to today. During the time of the Great Depression, no one could figure out how to get people to keep spending, but then Keynes came along and suggested that the government must spend the money when all else fails. Keynesian policy wasRead MoreFiscal Policy On Employment, Potential Gdp, And The Economic Growth Rate935 Words   |  4 Pageshistory of tax revenues, outlays, deficits, and debts†. The second object is to â€Å"explain how fiscal stimulus is used to fight a recession†. The third objective is to â€Å"explain the supply-side effects of fiscal policy on employment, potential GDP, and the economic growth rate†. The federal budget has two main reasons it was created. The first is to fund the activities of the federal government. The second was and still is to attain macroeconomic objectives. In order to create the Federal Budget

Thursday, December 12, 2019

Ottawa Charter Action Areas-Free-Samples for Student-Myassignement

Question: Discuss about the Ottawa Charter Action Areas. Answer: Ottawa Charter Action Areas Diabetes is increasingly becoming a health risk among young people in Australia. Ottawa Charter has described five actions to assist in reducing the risk. The first action involves developing an individual skill set. For example, a person may attend awareness meetings that educate them on the appropriate diet to take (Maximova, Hanusaik, Kishchuk, Paradis, OLoughlin, 2016). The second action involves strengthening a community through health walks to various health centers to visit the sick and also educate other members about the dangers. The third action involves the reorientation of the health facilities through upgrade their systems to help detect this disease at an earlier stage. The fourth action is creating a supportive environment through donations from organizations to help facilities increase their medicine supply (Thompson, Watson, Tilford, 2017). Lastly, it is also essential to build health policies such as the introduction of physical activities in schools to ensure tha t students keep their bodies fit. These actions have a link among individuals, community, and the government. Each group requires the participation of the other to achieve the ultimate health goal. References Maximova, K., Hanusaik, N., Kishchuk, N., Paradis, G., OLoughlin, J. L. (2016). Public health strategies promoting physical activity and healthy eating in Canada: are we changing paradigms? International journal of public health,61(5), 565-572. Thompson, S. R., Watson, M. C., Tilford, S. (2017). The Ottawa Charter 30 years on still an important standard for health promotion.International Journal of Health Promotion and Education, 1-12.

Thursday, December 5, 2019

Corporate Finance for Introduction to Accounting- myassignmenthelp

Question: Discuss about theCorporate Finance for Short Introduction to Accounting. Answer: Introduction A cash-generating unit is the smallest identifiable group of assets capable of generating cash inflows that are, to a large extent, independent of cash flows derived from other assets or groups of assets. Impairment is important and therefore,An organization should evaluate if there are indications that any asset or, if applicable, any cash-generating unit may be impaired, in which case, it must estimate its recoverable amounts by making any applicable corrections (Hitchner, Hyden and Mard, 2013). intangible assets are irreplaceable as a source of cash flow generation for a number of entities around the world. The presentation and disclosure of information of this item constitutes a challenge for the accounting systems and for the profession in general.International regulatory agencies have expressed the need to achieve a high degree of standardization in accounting practices, the subject of intangible accounting is at the apex of the pyramid in issues of importance and topicality (H itchner, Hyden and Mard, 2013).This paper presents a summary of the basic criteria for accounting for intangible assets by several accounting standard setting bodies in the world. The term "purchased goodwill" and "intangible asset" is sometimes referred to as synonymous, but the differences between the two are deep; the definition of acquired goodwill evidences it:Goodwill is the future economic benefits from assets that have not been individually identifiable and recognized separately."The calculation of the useful life can be determined by reference to the time or units of production. Assets with an indefinite useful life are not amortized. The entity shall disclose all relevant information according to the "usefulness paradigm for decision making". It seeks the adequate information to the users framed within groups of interest, as is deduced from the pretension of the New International Financial Architecture. Impairment loss In case the company must recognize an impairment loss of a cash-generating unit to which all or part of a goodwill has been allotted, it will first reduce the book value of the goodwill corresponding to that unit. If the impairment exceeds the amount of the latter, secondly, it will reduce in proportion to its book value the other assets of the cash-generating unit, up to the limit of the greater of the following: its fair value less costs to sell and its value in use (Rajasekaran and Lalitha, 2011). Assets with definite or indefinite useful lives The 5th standard of valuation of the General Accounting Plan, related to intangible assets, establishes that for the subsequent valuation of the same it must be assessed whether the useful life of the intangible fixed assets is defined or indefinite. Problem of impairment of goodwill :We know that a fixed asset with a definite useful life will be amortized in a systematic and rational way, taking into account its life and residual value.On the other hand, an asset with an indefinite useful life will not be amortized, although its possible deterioration should be analyzed, whenever there is evidence of it, at least annually (Anil Kumar, Kumar and Mariyappa, 2010). How this affects the Goodwill The Goodwill may only be included in the asset when its value is evidenced by an onerous acquisition, in the context of a business combination. Goodwill will not be amortized. Instead, the cash-generating units to which the goodwill has been allocated shall be subject at least annually to the impairment test, where appropriate to the recording of the impairment charge. The impairment losses recognized in the goodwill will not be reversed in subsequent periods. How we interpret this When we acquire a business in progress, we assume both its assets and its liabilities. The difference between one and the other would be the net value of the business but, nevertheless, we must pay a higher price for it, this would be the Goodwill.The goodwill, therefore, appears as an intangible asset in a business combination and will remain there, without being amortized, until we are aware of its possible deterioration (Sellhorn, 2004). If over time we estimate the impairment, at the end of the year we must do the following: First, we must calculate the value of the cash generating unit where the fund is recognized. That is, we assume that the business in progress had a series of assets and liabilities that, over time, will have changed (debts that have been paid, clients that we have already collected, items of property that are being amortized, etc.) (Hitchner, Hyden and Mard, 2013).Second, We compare it with the current value of the cash flows that we estimate will generate this cash-generating unit. If, in fact, we understand that there is a impairment, we take it as a valuation correction of the Goodwill; taking into account that, since it is not reversible, we must pay it in the Fund's own account. In the event that the company must recognize an impairment loss of a cash-generating unit to which all or part of a goodwill has been allotted, it will first reduce the book value of the goodwill corresponding to that unit. If the deterioration exceeds the amount of this second, it will reduce in proportion to its book value the remaining assets of the unit generating cash.Therefore, we first account for the deterioration of the Goodwill, paying in its own account, since it is not reversible (Barker, 2011). The historical value of these assets must correspond to the amount of clearly identifiable expenditures in which they are actually incurred or must be incurred in order to acquire, form or use them. , which, when applicable, should be re-expressed as a consequence of inflation. Acceptable methods for amortizing them are straight-line items, production units and others of recognized technical value, which are adequate according to the nature of the corresponding asset. Also in this case must choose the one that best complies with the basic standard of association (Weil, 2017). Conclusion Impairment losses consist of asset value adjustments (current assets, property, plant and equipment, intangible assets, financial instruments) that correspond to impairment losses reversible. "An impairment loss on the value of an item of property, plant and equipment when its book value exceeds its recoverable amount, this being understood as the greater of its fair value less costs to sell and its value in use. The recognition of this loss generates an expense in the profit and loss account, as well as its reversion, an income (Thomas and Ward, 2015). It should be taken into account that the reversal of the impairment shall be limited to the book value of the property, which would be recognized at the date of reversal if the impairment had not been recorded. References Anil Kumar, S., Kumar, V. and Mariyappa, B. (2010).Corporate accounting. Mumbai [India]: Himalaya Pub. House. Barker, R. (2011).Short introduction to accounting. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Harrington, J., Nunes, C. and Roland, G. (2010).2010 goodwill impairment study. [Morristown, N.J.]: Financial Executives Research Foundation. Hitchner, J., Hyden, S. and Mard, M. (2013).Valuation for financial reporting. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley. Rajasekaran, V. and Lalitha, R. (2011).Corporate accounting. Noida, India: Pearson. Sellhorn, T. (2004).Goodwill impairment. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang. Thomas, A. and Ward, A. (2015).Introduction to financial accounting. London: McGraw-Hill Education. Weil, R. (2017).Financial accounting. [Place of publication not identified]: Cengage Learning.

Thursday, November 28, 2019

Banking Service Marketing Mix free essay sample

BANKING SERVICE MARKETING MIX SERVICE MARKETING MIX ELEMENT The service marketing mix comprises off the 7p’s. These include: * Product * Price * Place * Promotion * People * Process * Physical evidence. PRODUCT: 1. BANK PRODUCTS (A)DEPOSITS: savings, current, fixed etc. (B)ADVANCES: (1) FUND ORIENTED: a. Term loan, b. Clean loan, c. Bill discounting, d. Advances, e. Pre-shipment finance, f. Post-shipment finance, g. Secured and unsecured lines of credit. (2) NON-FUND ORIENTED: a. Guarantees, and b. Letter of credit C) INTERNATIONAL BANKING: a. Letter of credit, and b) Foreign Currency. D) CONSULTANCY: a. Investment Counseling, b. Project Counseling, c. Merchant Banking, and d) Tax Consultancy. (E)MISCELLANEOUS: a. Traveller Cheques, b. Credit Card, c. Remittances, d. Collections, e. Sale of Draft, f. Standing instructions, and g. Trusteeship. In banking the products are services. Services cannot be seen or protected like goods. The potential buyer of the services can form an opinion about the services offered. The product should suit the market needs. We will write a custom essay sample on Banking Service Marketing Mix or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Bank services are viewed in terms of the satisfaction they deliver and not just the things that are created with value. The banks primarily deal in services and therefore, the formulation of product mix is required to be in the face of changing business environment conditions. The changing psychology, the increasing expectation, the rising income, the changing lifestyles, the increasing dominations of foreign banks and the changing needs and requirements of the customers at large make it essential that they innovate their service mix and make them of worked class. In the formulation of service mix, the banks can follow two guidelines, first is related to the processing of product to market needs and the second is concerned with the processing of market needs to product. Marketing aims not only offering but also at creating/innovating the services/schemes found new to the competitors vis -a-vis- to the customers. The additional attraction, the product attractiveness would be a plus point, which would b e of great help in many ways. Thus, the formulation of product mix is found to be difficult task that requires world-class professionalism. PRICE: Pricing in banking relates to the interest rates paid by the bankers on deposits, interest charged by the banker on loans and demand draft, charges for various types of transactions and fees for certain services. In India deposit and lending rates are prescribed by RBI. Pricing policy of a bank is considered important for raising the number of actual customer. In the formulation of marketing mix, the pricing decisions occupy a place of outstanding significance. The pricing decision include the decisions related to interest and fee or commission charged by bank. Keeping in view the level of satisfaction of a particular segment, the bank have to frame the pricing strategies. The banks are required to frame two-fold strategies. Strategies concerned with interest and commissions to be paid to the customer and interest and commissions to be paid by the customers for different types of services PLACE: The place decision mainly deals with selection of a suitable location for the branch. Sound location decisions help in activating the business. The location should have adequate availability of transportation, communication, electricity and other necessary facilities for the smooth functioning of the banks. Technological development, increased customer satisfaction, inadequacy of the traditional challenge to serve all customer segments have brought about ATM, telebanking, home banking, Internet banking and now SMS Banking. Another significant development is a strategic alliance set up by the private banks to overcome the handicap of limited branch network. In such alliance the branch network of one branch will be used by the other for selected transaction like bill collection, cheque collection, etc. PROMOTION: The object of a promotion programme are to inform about the new service product, to persuade the customer, to remind the customer, build image of the bank, etc. Banking services can be promoted in two ways: 1. Personal Promotion: The bank marketer gets opportunity to tangibilise the product through personal selling; persuasion is more effective with direct contact. It helps in creating impulse buying. 2. Impersonal Promotion: i. e. Advertising, Publicity and Sales Promotion measures. An advertisement in banking is a promotion measures. An advertisement in banking is a promise- a promise of satisfaction to prospectus who buy the service offered by the bank. Banks use all types of advertisement such as n ewspaper, radio, television, magazines and hoardings. Also, sales promotion device such as Point of Purchase material, brochures and advertisement specialties like ball pens, calendars, diaries, etc. Publicity is a major strength as a promotion tool than advertising as customers tend to believe a news item rather than an advertisement. Word of promotion is yet another important promotion tool as it is a better persuader and convincer than advertising and personal selling, as banking services are narrated by customer themselves. Besides, as Social welfare and Corporate Social Responsibility are considered to be an important part of banking services, the publicity measures need due care. PEOPLE: Banking products cannot be separated from the person (banker) who markets them. The product and the seller together constitute the banking product. Banks should adopt internal marketing in order to make the whole business customer-oriented. The bank products should be marketed to the employees first before they are marketed to customer. The corporate mission should be communicated repeatedly and effectively to all employees by the top management. The placement policy should emphasize that the recruits should not only be conversant with all aspects of banking businesses but also have the skill for social interaction and tolerance for interpersonal contact. The quality for banking sector is an aggregation of all the properties, which are found essential for satisfaction to prospectus who buy the service offered by the bank. Banks use all types of advertisement such as n ewspaper, radio, television, magazines and hoardings. Also, sales promotion device such as Point of Purchase material, brochures and advertisement specialties like ball pens, calendars, diaries, etc. Publicity is a major strength as a promotion tool than advertising as customers tend to believe a news item rather than an advertisement. Word of promotion is yet another important promotion tool as it is a better persuader and convincer than advertising and personal selling, as banking services are narrated by customer themselves. Besides, as Social welfare and Corporate Social Responsibility are considered to be an important part of banking services, the publicity measures need due care. PEOPLE: Banking products cannot be separated from the person (banker) who markets them. The product and the seller together constitute the banking product. Banks should adopt internal marketing in order to make the whole business customer-oriented. The bank products should be marketed to the employees first before they are marketed to customer. The corporate mission should be communicated repeatedly and effectively to all employees by the top management. The placement policy should emphasize that the recruits should not only be conversant with all aspects of banking businesses but also have the skill for social interaction and tolerance for interpersonal contact. The quality for banking sector is an aggregation of all the properties, which are found essential for generating the efficiency and projecting a fair image. Even efficiency essentially is supported by ethical dimension, humanity and humanism. The development of human resources makes the way for the formation of human capital. Human resource can be developed through education, training and by psychological tests. Even incentives can inject efficiency and can motivate people for productive and qualitative work. PROCESS: It involves all activities right from the product conception stage, to product designing and development down to its marketing at the branch level. Flow of activities: all the major activities of banks follow RBI guidelines. There has to be adherence to certain rules and principles in the banking operations. The activities have been segregated into various departments accordingly. a) Standardization: banks have got standardized procedures got typical transactions. In fact not only all the branches of a single- bank, but all the banks have some standardization in them. This is because of the rules they are subject to. Besides this, each of the banks has its standard forms, documentations etc. Standardization saves a lot of time behind individual transaction. b) Customization: There are specialty counters at each branch to deal with customers of a particular scheme. Besides this the customers can select their deposit period among the available alternatives. Number of stores: numbers of the steps are usually specified and a specific pattern is followed to minimize time taken. Simplicity: in banks various functions are segregated. Separate counters exist with clear indication. Thus a customer wanting to deposit money goes to deposits counter and does not mingle elsewhere. This makes procedures not only simple but consume less time. Besides instruction boards in national boards in national and regional language help the customers further. Customer involvement: ATM does not involve any bank employees. Besides, during usual bank transactions, there is definite customer involvement at some or the other place because of the money matters and signature requires. PHYSICAL EVIDENCE: The physical evidences include signage, reports, punch lines, other tangibles, employees dress code etc. The companys financial reports are issued to the customers to emphasis or credibility. Even some of the banks follow a dress code for their internal customers. This helps the customers to feel the ease and comfort. Signage: each and every bank has its logo by which a person can identify the company. Thus such signages are significant for creating visualization and corporate identity . Tangibles: banks give pens, writing pads to the internal customers. Even the passbooks, chequebooks, etc reduce the inherent Intangibility of services.

Sunday, November 24, 2019

How to Write a Resume that Beats the Computers

How to Write a Resume that Beats the Computers Your Resume:   Humans vs. Computers When I give webinars on writing resumes, one of the topics I cover is how to make your resume visually appealing.   I often get this question: Why would I want to spend so much time and money making my resume pretty if it’s just going to confuse the computers? My answer is that yes, the computers are important, and that you ALSO need to have a resume that’s designed to be read by human beings.   We all know that you are most likely to find your job through networking or the â€Å"hidden job market.† When you send materials to someone in your network or to a decision-maker in the hidden job market, you want to include a professional-looking resume.   And when it’s time for an interview, it’s also advisable to have a nicely formatted resume to hand across the table. For those of you who are hoping to get those interviews by applying online, the question still remains: How can I write a resume that makes it past the computers?   In other words:   How can I raise my odds above 2%? Keep reading. There are two issues with submitting online resumes.   One is the format of the resume; the second is the keywords it contains. Formatting for Robots: ATS (Applicant Tracking System) software is not the smartest software in the world.   It gets confused by bullets, non-traditional headings, graphs, tables, and text boxes.   So you need to have a version of your resume that is stripped down and organized just for the computers. We call this your â€Å"text-based† resume. Your text-based resume should follow these guidelines: Create it in (or copy it into) a text editor such as Notepad, SimpleText or TextEdit. Use easily understandable headings like â€Å"Summary of Qualifications,† â€Å"Professional Experience† and â€Å"Education.† Don’t get fancy or creative with your headings, and don’t put two categories together in one section.   Do NOT, for instance, use the heading â€Å"Education Certifications† or â€Å"Skills Interests.† Use dashes or asterisks instead of bullets. List your address in standard â€Å"tombstone† style, one line on top of the next. Put spaces between sections. Here’s what your text-based resume might look like (beautiful, isnt it?): How will you know what keywords to use in your resume? Just because the computers can read your resume doesn’t mean you will have the right keywords to make it past their screening systems. Perhaps counter-intuitively, the keywords that truly make a difference with computer scanners are the ones you have on your resume that not everyone else includes. I have no doubt that you have great experience that qualifies you for many positions. If the computer can understand and rank it properly, it will help you immensely.