E-mailing Resumes. Is there a problem?

Adobe Acrobat reader is free which allows you to read .pdf files.

The full version of Acrobat costs about $350. It allows you to write documents, spreadsheets, power point presentations into .pdf format.

I have the full version and will convert your file for you if you want. Email is in the profile.

Haj

Troy McClure SF wrote

I am a hiring person, and I feel the opposite. I won’t move somebody’s resume to the back if it’s PDF, but if for some reason I didn’t have Adobe on the machine I was reading the resume on, I’d likely toss it. I’m not going to install some software just so I can read someone’s resume.

In fairness, I’m a Windows user. If you’re interviewing for a job where the hiring manager will use a Mac, you’re very wise to follow Troy McClure’s advice.

It may not matter, but it might - PDF is not very accessible to disabled persons.

Also, it pisses a lot of people off. I use it only when directed to. Honestly, the best advice is to call and ask the contact person what format they’d like it in.

Our HR department prefers soft copy to hard. Word docs are fine, as plain text, PDF or RTF. Most word processors will save in RTF (Rich Text Format) and will also open them. I usually use PDF or RTF.

I, too, have been on both sides of this equation. Here’s my take on things:

Plain text in the body of the email is the safest and easiest method. It won’t offend or annoy anybody. All the content is there, but the presentation is drab and uninspiring. If you’re going to attach your resume to something, put the plain text in the body, also.

Microsoft Word gets mixed reviews. Many managers (myself included) detest Word resumes because they always seem to be for the wrong edition of Word, the files are large, and Word is a security nightmare, prone to viruses. I would never send a resume in Word unless it’s specifically requested. Why take a chance on pissing off someone you need a job from?

PDF also gets mixed reviews. They preserve the format perfectly, but the PDF reader is flaky, and there are so many variables involved that if you don’t know what you’re doing you can screw it up. I’ve gotten PDF files that I can’t cut and paste from, PDF files with printing disabled, and PDF files that crashed the reader. When they work, they’re fine. When they don’t, they’re beyond annoying.

RTF is fancier than plain text, simpler than PDF, more secure than Microsoft Word, and can be opened in the word processing application of your choice. Still, they require opening a program other than the email program, so if you attach one, make sure your resume is still in the email in plain text.

Personally, I email the resume in plain text. In the introduction paragraph, it explains that if you prefer MS Word, PDF, or RTF, all three formats (and plain text) are available on my Web site, and I embed a link. That way, if they pull out my resume a year later (it’s happened!), they know where to instantly fetch an updated copy, too. I’ve never had a complaint about that approach, and I appreciate it when others do it that way.

I do some of the hiring in my company, and in the company I previously worked for. I don’t care how the resume gets to me as long as I can read it, and everything is spelled and punctuated correctly.
My only beef with an emailed resume is when it comes from “slavemaster@aol.com” or “imaho@aol.com” etc. (And I’ve seen this,my favorite was from “bigD4you@xxx.com” We interviewed him just for the heck of it). At least get a free hotmail account with a respectable email address name!

I don’t see the Mac/Windows divide on this one. I would think that any computer made in the past few years would be more likely to have Acrobat Reader than the right version of Word. I’ve received Word docs on my NT box at work, and when I open them with Word, they’re absolute gibberish.

Using RTF or PDF would show me that the applicant understands that not everybody has everything, and that he wants me to be able to read his resume no matter what I’m using. S/he understands that even though just hitting save in Word is easiest, a little more effort is required to make sure communication goes smoothly.

I also think including the resume in plain text in the e-mail body is a good idea, no matter what the attachment is.

Yep, and I can’t think of any app or plug-in that’s crashed my WinMe system more than that cursed Acrobat reader. I had to install it four times to get it working on the old Win98 system upstairs. It’s fairly reliable on the WinXP system, but I still have to reboot sometimes to make it work.

Pah.

Please, it’s been almost a decade since I did a major job search.

When e-mailing a resume, is the e-mail itself the cover letter, or should one send a cover letter as an attachment? :confused:

Hi, BDoT:

In my last job, it was my job to send out resumes on behalf of our clients via email.

We would write a traditional coverletter as the body of the email. (I didn’t include the recipients address, though. Just start with “Dear Mr. Bla-de-bla”.)

Depending on whether you attach the resume or include it in the body of the email, note that in your concluding paragraph.

If including as part of the body of the email, I usually used asterisks to note a “page break”.

Closing ("Sincerely,… "), I would leave three spaces and then type the client’s name. Yours won’t have a formal signature, but that never seemed to be a problem.

It wouldn’t hurt to do both. Especially if you’re sending a PDF or (gasp) a Word Doc attachment, including the cover letter in the attachment will make it easy for the recipient to keep them together, but including it in the body of the email will also help them categorize your app quickly if they’re dealing with applications for multiple positions.

Just speaking for myself, nothing says “attention to detail” like an applicant who took the time to create a PDF version of their cover letter + resume. This gives me the format I requested and makes it obvious they took the application seriously enough to create a new attachment customized for me rather than just attaching their generic resume.

Bosda, are you sending resumes directly to companies, or are you sending resumes to head hunters?

Haven’t sent any, yet.
No clear idea where, or even what field I want.
But a career change is a must-do–chemical photography, even a specialized field of it like mine, is a dinosaur.

Why?

In my last job (at a career transition and coaching firm) our tactics regarding coverletters was different, depending on whether you were “cold mailing” headhunting firms or whether you were sending a resume to a company contact directly.

If we were sending a large email blast to headhunting firms, we would simply write an email that said: “I am a successful bla-de-bla with 10 years experience in the such and so industry. Attached is my resume in the event that you are looking for a blibbedy-blah.” And that was it.

We found that a busy recruiter isn’t going to read a whole coverletter, so we just got to the good stuff.

(BTW, I would recommend contacting whomever you’re sending and asking what format they prefer/attachment/in body text, etc. Make their life easier! They appreciate it. And their secretary should be able to give you this info.)

My gut feeling is that you can send an e-mail as a cover letter, but for a job I am seriously interested in, I would mail – or hand-carry – the resume with cover letter, and attend the interview with a paper copy of same in your possession. Old-fashioned paper in an envelope has a certain cachet. I understand that for your particular career change, doing things the old-fashioned way may not be the best move, so here’s my advice:

  • Write your e-mail as though it were the cover letter: formal salutation, formal signature block, paragraphs indented with spaces.

  • Use OpenOffice to encode your resume as a PDF; this retains your formatting while staying platform- and version-independent. Also attach a plaintext (TXT) file of your resume with no formatting.

  • Include a line in your cover letter that says “Attached find my resumé in the Portable Document Format (PDF) and as an ASCII text file.” You don’t want to work for an employer who can’t figure out how to read at least one of these.

  • Do not include your resume as plain text in the body of your e-mail unless you are positive that it will come out correctly on your employer’s client; if possible, contact the department secretary and ask what program the company uses for e-mail so you can do a test ahead of time.

Troy McClure SF wrote

That isn’t the case in my life, and it isn’t the case in most PC office environments I know of. Word is by far the de-facto standard in PC offices, and PDF is a nice add-on.

I’ll also add that I have Adobe pretty much for the express purpose of reading stuff from people who don’t “conform” to what’s pretty much the standard. And that’s why I disagreed with your original assessment that getting it in Word would offend you and PDF would please you. I wouldn’t say I’d be annoyed with someone sending a resume in PDF, but it’s sort of like receiving it on pink paper or something. It starts you off with a bit of a non-conformist look. Which isn’t good.

Now, if your job is more Mac-oriented, and the hiring Manager is likely to read your resume on a Mac, than I very much agree that PDF is better.

If you’re not positive that plain text in the body of the e-mail will come out correctly, then you’re even less positive about attachments in some other format. If plain text in the body won’t go through, then you don’t have e-mail at all.

If there’s an email client that won’t display plain text in the body of an email, then about the only thing it will receive is the all-graphics spam I’ve been getting lately.

Plain text is the body of the email. As Chronos said, without the plain text, there is no email.