A briefcase full of pretty resumes won’t get you very far in today’s job search. As he travels from company to company, knocking on doors with paper in hand, his competitors surround him electronically. He should join them: Submit his resume online, via email and online forms. To do so, he must have his electronic resume formatted for such.
Electronic Resumes: 3 Formats You Must Have
1) word document. Fully embellished, text-processed resumes still rule. Plain text formats gave it a run for its money in recent years. But as resume evaluation software improves and human eyes tire of reading plain text, your fully formatted MS Word resume is increasingly being incorporated into email correspondence.
With a note of caution. In the interest of security, many of these attachments are not opened for fear of a virus. Call or email your Human Resources department or your corporate contact person to find out the preferred method of getting a resume on your computer screen. Just ask if you can send your resume as an attachment, in Word for example. If it’s impractical to pose the question, or if you’re responding to an ad without a clear address, go with plan B: Send your resume as a Word attachment and a plain text version as part of the email.
two) ASCII format. This is the plain text file version of the fully formatted Word document. Keep it handy. You’ll need it for times when email attachments aren’t allowed, for pasting into web forms (for example, on job boards and when applying directly to job listings on corporate websites), and when responding via email to an employer requesting a plain text resume only. In the latter cases, simply copy and paste your ASCII resume into the body of your email.
3) Pdf format. Adobe Systems’ “Portable Document Format” (PDF) has become the de facto standard for printable documents on the Web and is an increasingly common format for email resume attachments. It allows the sender to send a fully formatted resume (stylized graphics, attractive fonts, etc.) regardless of their application software.
Depending on the version of Word you’re working with, you should be able to convert your Word resume to PDF directly on your own computer, though you may need to download an “add-in” from Microsoft (i.e., “Microsoft Save as PDF” to 2007 Microsoft Office programs). If your computer is struggling, you can find sources on the Web for help. For a simple, free conversion, consider www.pdfonline.com On its home page, click the “Free PDF Services” heading and follow the instructions. Basically, you’ll upload your fully formatted Word or WordPerfect resume and receive a PDF version of it, which will be sent to you as an email attachment.
Your electronic CV – Ready to go
Prepare these three electronic resume formats ahead of time so you can be ready at a moment’s notice to submit one in response to a job listing, or a nod from a hiring officer.
