Online Job Search – Resume Submission Secrets
Follow the rules when submitting a resume for consideration by a potential employer or job board. Target potential employers through resume submission channels and in the formats they request. Those aspects of the resume presentation will generally vary from employer to employer and by workplace. Don’t get creative with their processes. Many of us are tempted to embellish and submit five references, when the employer only asks for three, for example, or, as is often the case, a job candidate will submit their resume to an employer in a document file format. that does not match what the employer uses, so that no one in the company can read it. Follow the procedure.
Sometimes you’ll be prompted to send your resume in the body of an email and not as an attachment. Sometimes the request is to send the resume only as an attachment and only as an ASCII text file. Sometimes you will be asked to submit your credentials via an online submission form or other alternate method. Requirements change frequently, so you need to be adaptable. Variations in file type requests are caused by many considerations: bandwidth usage, how a company can distribute the resumes they collect, sometimes it’s for computer virus management, as viruses are often found in email attachments, to name just a few of the reasons why you should follow the resume submission guidelines carefully. And while it may be hard to take now, there will come a time when all the great custom design work you put on your resume—if you did—will never be seen.
Most of the time, employers want text-only resumes. No colors, background patterns, or digital artwork. Plain text. If you don’t know the mechanics of saving your files as text-only files or other text formats, or how to prepare your resume for scanning into the database, ask someone who is computer literate to walk you through it. through the procedures. Or look online, where there are plenty of free tutorials on those topics. These are not difficult tasks to perform or learn. And you’ll use such basic digital skills over and over again in a modern job search.
On the other hand, there are times when a company will request that your resume be submitted as an MS WORD file, which is not a text-only document. So it makes sense to have your resume ready as a text-only file as well as an MS WORD document. An MS WORD document has a file name that ends with the file suffix “.doc”. The text-only ASCII file ends with “.txt” after the period. These two file formats will allow you to submit your resume in ASCII or MS WORD format, if requested. Whichever format the employer asks you to use is the system they have devised to process applicants quickly and efficiently. By complying with their requests, you help keep their workload to a minimum and show your own willingness to be courteous and cooperative.
Another option, ask the potential employer if it’s okay to send your resume in the easiest way possible: copy and paste your resume directly into the body of an email. Eliminate the need for attachments. Once you do that, your short comments at the top of the email will turn into a short, basic cover letter, leading the reader directly to your resume, located below.
A job search strategy has job seekers send resumes to multiple contacts within the same company. In some cases, that’s a viable approach to marketing one’s skills. But keep in mind that sending copies of your resume to multiple people at the same company is now starting to look like a violation of ‘netiquette’. Get permission first. If you are required to submit your resume via email, please do not submit it via regular mail as well, unless otherwise requested. If you make changes to your resume, sending only a second copy is acceptable, as long as the body of the email containing the attachment explains that there are revisions and tells the reader where they can be found in the body. of the abstract. You should also feel free to resubmit your abstract after ninety days if there is no immediate progress. Most companies remove candidates from their “active” databases on a 90-day cycle, so quarterly mailings will keep you up to date on the database of a company you want to work for.
Savvy job seekers should realize that there are some critical requirements for submitting resumes online, whether through a web form, email, as an attachment, or some other method. Get it wrong and your resume will be lost or off track. Get it right, and your resume will make its way to the hiring decision maker in the morning. The resume submission strategies described in this article may appear to exert a weak force in your job search universe. When you consider how many things can go wrong in a job search, sometimes it’s like gravity itself kicks in and pulls your job search to the ground quickly, or propels it forward at full speed, depending on your balance and focus. . The same is true for sending resumes. Wait for the details. Follow the rules.
GOOD LUCK IN YOUR JOB SEARCH