| When submitting your resume to a company for | | | | paste your resume into the body of an e-mail, it's good |
| employment consideration, it's become almost a rule to | | | | to consider a few rules of cutting and pasting. First, |
| do so over the Internet. Many companies use | | | | remember to add a brief introduction of yourself, |
| software and other electronic methods to evaluate | | | | something that would do the job of a cover letter. You |
| some resumes, and as such they'll refuse resumes | | | | should also limit your introduction to two paragraphs or |
| received via any other method. | | | | less, and limit each paragraph to two or three |
| So now that you know that you will very likely continue | | | | sentences. |
| to be required to submit your resume online, it's a good | | | | Third, use text for the e-mail instead of HTML. Word |
| idea to learn how to do so the right way. Here are a | | | | processing programs can wreak havoc with the layout |
| few tips to consider: | | | | of your resume text when you use copy and paste, |
| Attachments | | | | as pointed out earlier. If you don't know how to change |
| There is a little bit of a debate going on about whether | | | | your emails into simple text, try writing your resume out |
| you should add the resume as an attachment when | | | | in a text only program like Notepad (under |
| submitting it or placing it in the body of the e-mail. | | | | Accessories on the Windows menu) and then copying |
| Some say that attachments aren't a good idea, as | | | | and pasting into your email. You'll have to offset text |
| they take up space in the employer's inbox and may | | | | with special characters (for instance, |
| possibly contain viruses. It's also worthwhile to consider | | | | ====Introduction====) or use capitals in order to |
| that a company's email security might block the | | | | differentiate between sections, since plain text |
| message, or the hiring manager might avoid the | | | | removes formatting like bold or italics. |
| message altogether if he doesn't want to take the | | | | Avoiding Spam Folders |
| time to open it. | | | | As mentioned previously, your resume can sometimes |
| On the other hand, depending on what e-mail program | | | | get lost in a company's security efforts. So to help you |
| you're using (and the employer is using) cutting and | | | | avoid spam folders and other issues, you could |
| pasting your resume into the body of an email could | | | | consider keeping punctuation (especially exclamation |
| look ill-formatted. Spacing could be weird - and worse, | | | | marks) out of the subject line and avoiding any other |
| the fonts you worked so hard to choose could | | | | words that might be misinterpreted as something |
| change. It is for this reason that many pros suggest | | | | inappropriate by spam folders. |
| doing both. This method pleases those who dislike plain | | | | The last thing that you want is to create the perfect |
| text formatting as well as those hiring managers who | | | | resume only to not have it reach its destination |
| detest opening attachments. You should consider using | | | | appropriately. It doesn't make sense to spend hours |
| the PDF format for your attached resume, since it's | | | | and hours on your resume, only to submit it incorrectly |
| very clean, it looks clear and concise, and PDFs can't | | | | via email and ruin your chances of getting a job, so be |
| be changed after they're created. | | | | sure to consider the above tips before clicking that |
| If You Are Cutting and Pasting... | | | | send button. |
| If you've decided that you want to go ahead and | | | | |