 Be seen and not herd. | Do-It-Yourself resume hints
Before you press ‘send’: submitting your resume digitally The internet and email is so integral to business these days that lots of companies are accepting resumes and job applications via email. This is great news for most job hunters: it’s inexpensive, easy and almost instant. Gone are the days of spending lots of money on printed copies of your resume! No more worrying about whether your resume is lost in the mail! But before you send out your job-winning masterpiece, there are a couple of things you simply must get right. Essential #1: your resume’s format Without a doubt, the format in which you choose to send your resume is the single most important part of digitally submitting your resume. Getting this part wrong can mean your resume is never even seen. First and foremost: before you send, always check with the recipient about their preferred format and file size! Many large companies will automatically reject certain file types, such as .zip, .exe or even .doc files, because of the possibility of viruses or other nasties hiding inside. That means if you attach your resume to an email as an MS Word file, it might not even make it into the recipient’s email box. File size is another crucial factor. Generally, try to keep your file size under 500Kb. No one wants a 3MB resume clogging up their inbox. And if the receiver’s inbox is full, your large-size resume might be rejected outright. Our DIY background files aren’t large, but if your resume is 3, 4 or more pages, the finished Word file will be massive! So what’s the best format to submit your resume? The safest format by far is an Adobe Acrobat PDF. A PDF, or Portable Document Format, has several advantages: >> PDF file sizes are usually smaller than Word files >> PDFs embed fonts, so you don’t have to worry about if the recipient has a certain font >> the software needed to read a PDF is free, and most new computers come with it installed You don’t even need to own the software to make a PDF. Just go to www.adobe.com to learn how to make your own PDFs online, or click on the image below.  Essential #2: the right fonts We at Ready Resumes are big fans of Acrobat PDFs. Not only do they make files that are nice and small, they also embed fonts, giving you the freedom to use whatever font you want! However, if you still decide to submit your resume as a Word file, it’s wise to think about fonts before you press ‘send’. When you’re designing your resume, use ‘safe fonts’ that most computers have already installed. If you use fonts that the receiver doesn’t have installed on their computer, your resume will look messy, out of alignment and hard to read – and might just end up in the bin! The following safe fonts are common to all versions of Windows (95, 98, ME, 2000, NT and XP). These (or the equivalent with similar names) are also available on Macintosh systems. Arial Arial Bold Arial Bold Italic Arial Italic Courier Courier New Courier New Bold Courier New Bold Italic Courier New Italic MS Sans Serif MS Serif Small Fonts Symbol Times New Roman Times New Roman Bold Times New Roman Bold Italic Times New Roman Italic |