Category: Cover Letter

eMail Your Resume with Thought and Care




Use diligence in formatting your resume

In order to seek out and apply for the jobs in which you are interested, it might be necessary to post your profile and resume on a job search web site such as monster.com or hotjobs.com. These search engines allow you to upload your resume in a Microsoft Word or text file format, or create one using their forms.

Outside of job search web sites, e-mailing your resume as a form of application has become commonplace. However, each employer or headhunter has different rules on the file types they will accept via e-mail; because while most companies will accept an attachment in Microsoft Word–, you’ll have to be conscious of the font type and size, as well as margins you are using to compose your resume.

If a company requires a text file, you should follow these steps to convert your Microsoft Word document into a text resume:

  • Select File, Save As
  • Name the file (as a best practice, use your name as the file name, and use underscores as spaces);
  • Under Format, select Text Only
  • Select Save.

Carefully review resume before sending

Now that you have converted your file to a text file, make sure to open it and review how the spaces, tabs, and bullet points have transferred over. You may need to do some editing in order to format your resume so that it fits the file type. Note that a plain text file doesn’t allow for bold, italicized or underlined fonts, but you can make sure that all your text is left justified and the spacing is correct.

That having been said, if an employer asks you to include your resume in the body of an email, you should treat this as a text file when formatting. Copy and paste the entire resume in an email and keep the font styles basic; use Arial or Times New Roman fonts and keep the size in the 10 or 12 point range; you can also adjust all the spacing and bullet points as appropriate.

A good rule-of-thumb to follow is to keep the email simple and– avoid bolding or italicizing text, since you don’t really know the type of email software your recipient is using, if they accept HTML, or only text emails. If you are sending your resume as an attachment, format the email body as a cover letter. At the top of the email, include your name and address, as well as the address of your recipient. Typically, the address can be found either on the job listing or at the employer’s web site.

Adhere to employer’s website requirements

If you are sending your resume in the body of an email, follow the same guidelines in terms of the email content; however, don’t assume that including a resume in the body of an email is the only information you should include in your message to a potential employer. Even if the resume is copied into the email, you still need to let your employer know a little bit more about yourself via a cover letter.

Moreover, since you will include your address at the top of the email, feel free to start your resume with a career objective instead of including the heading with your name and address. Much like proofing is critical in perfecting your resume, testing how your resume is displayed in a body of an email or how it opens as an attachment via another computer is important.

Rally your friends or family for help, and send them sample emails with your resume included in the body of a message or as an attachment. This will provide a great opportunity for you to insure that your resume is reaching your potential employers in a format that is clean and professional.

Your Resume and Its Importance to You


The resume in brief

A resume is a one- to two-page document summarizing your career objectives, professional experiences and achievements, as well as your educational background. The resume heading should contain your name, address and contact information. The resume body should be broken into the following sections: career objective, profile and/or summary, professional experience, achievements, scholastics, and references.

Your career objective should be brief, up to two sentences, and it should give your potential employers an idea of how you wish to move forward in your professional life. A concise profile or summary should discuss who you are and how your skills and experience best apply to the job you are interested in. The summary, as well as other parts of your resume, should not contain personal information that discloses ethnicity, sexual orientation, marital status, age, living situations or any other personal information that is not directly related to your career.

It’s your professional representative

Personal profile and/or summary should only contain a few well-written sentences that convey what you can bring to the table in terms of the specific job. Use this section to attract an employer’s attention, but don’t go overboard by trying to be too creative;– keep it professional. Your experience listing should include information on one to five jobs you’ve held, starting with your current or last job, and listing previous positions in chronological order.

The listing should include a date range of your employment, name of the companies or person(s) you have worked for, and the city and state where a referenced place of employment is located (full address of employment is not necessary). List your title and your main responsibilities, with emphasis on duties that are applicable to the type of work you are seeking.

Your education should include college, graduate and post-graduate work, as well as any courses or professional certifications that are relevant to your career development. Achievements, volunteer positions, publications and interests should only be listed if they apply to your professional work experience. References should be listed if requested; best practices suggest not to list generic statements about references being available upon request as this is understood.

Attention to detail will serve you well

In the competitive, internet-driven world of job searches, your resume represents you to potential employers; and it serves as your tool to attract attention, get the interview and/or get a job. A great resume will make you stand out from other candidates by showcasing your aptitudes. Think of your resume as your sales pitch, since you need to sell yourself in the best possible way. Invest some time and research into developing your resume.

You will want to make sure that your resume is error free, so– double check your grammar and spelling, make sure that all company and school names and cities are spelled correctly. A resume containing errors, no matter how minimal, will give your potential employer the impression that you lack attention to detail, that you don’t take time to double check your work, and that you are a poor communicator.

Additionally, make sure that your resume is formatted well. Stick to basic fonts, like Arial and Times New Roman; and keep the font size and color standard. Do not use large fonts or multi-colors in your resume! And don’t go overboard with bold, italicized, or large-cap text. Keep your format consistent and make sure that the resume looks great when viewed online as well as in hard copy print.

In short, a good one gets the job done

Keep your resume to one or two pages, as– any additional pages could give an impression that you either don’t know how to concisely summarize your education and experience, or that you are listing unnecessary information for the sake of taking up space. If you’ve never written a resume before, reference books, Internet resources and assistance from a professional resume writing service are all available and can easily be accessed.

A well-written resume can make the difference between being stuck at your current job and getting an interview to land the job of your dreams, or as close to it as you can get depending on what your dream job is.