Email resume formatting

[Peter Davidson]

Hi all,

Just wondering what views experienced jobhunters have on the most effective way to email a resume.

I've heard that pdf and doc attachments often arrive with very dodgy formatting because of the recruiter having a different version of acrobat reader or Word.

But I also find that the straight text resumes very dull to look at and very hard to read quickly. I wonder if the recruiter takes as much time to read it as a fully formatted and sharp looking resume?

What do you think is the best way????

Thanks for your help!

PD

 

[mike1mc]

100% PDF. You can create a PDF online at Adobe's website as a "trial". Acrobat files are the new standard and can be opened by anyone with the free software. I have never had any formatting issues when converting files from Word to PDF.

 

[Jeff Helgeson]

I agree!!!

100% PDF. You can create a PDF online at Adobe's website as a "trial". Acrobat files are the new standard and can be opened by anyone with the free software. I have never had any formatting issues when converting files from Word to PDF.

Other formats can be cumbersome and may not get opened.

 

[Peter Davidson]

Thanks guys, that sounds unaminous!

The reason I asked is that Air Inc's book "Airline Pilot Resume Kit" pushes the plain text email all the way in case of compatibility problems with attachments. It was published in 2002 so I guess it may be a bit dated.

Cheers!

PD

 

[Dan CFI/CFII]

Personally, I'd consider MS Word to be the default document file format. PDF may be growing, but I still know a few HR types who definately don't use PDF, and don't even have Acrobat installed on their computers.

Unless it asks for something in particular, I'd go with Word. Nearly every computer sold in the last five years has some sort of MS Office bundle with it...

.TXT only if they ask for it. ASCII is simple, but really, really ugly and has virtually NO text formatting built in.

Dan

 

[Ralgha]

Word is a bad move, you're not guarenteed that it will look the same in older versions of Word. There's a good chance it will, but are you willing to take that chance? Of course if they want it in Word, that's different.

PDF is probably the best thing to do if they don't want plain text. PDF is a bloated, POS format, and Acrobat is a bloated, POS program, but if your document will successfully translate into PDF, then you're set, it'll show up the same for the recipient. Bear in mind that not all documents will successfully translate, however something as simple as a resume will probably give you no problems. Make sure you give it a detailed look over after creating the PDF though.

Plain text is the safest bet as far as making sure it's seen correctly. Hard to make your resume stand out with plain text though. Guess you'll have to be creative!

 

[mike1mc]

All I can say about plain text is that the resumes I get that are typed (on a real typewriter) and sent in plain text usually go to the bottom of the pile. I think we've reached a stage in technology where everyone can (or at lest should learn) how to use a computer, and basic applications liek Word. Plain text resumes look like crap and will treated as such. If you can't get a PDF to work, then use Word, but many companies still use WordPerfect and other programs that will import Word documents, but may lose some formatting. PDF is a sure way to keep everything formatted correctly.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[wheelsup]

PDF is probably the best thing to do if they don't want plain text. PDF is a bloated, POS format

With Adobe products you can configure them to save the font if its an uncommon font (not a good thing for resumes) and have it so the .PDF is compatible with earlier versions (such as 4.0+). I think the current version is around 6.0, and 4.0 goes back years, so maybe that's why your documents are bloated.

My resume in Word is 26k, in PDF format is 36k. Proposals I write that have pictures in them are normally 3+ megs in word, and 300k in PDF (much more efficient than Word) when set to 72 dpi, not press quality (300 dpi plus).

~wheelsup

 

[Ralgha]

With Adobe products you can configure them to save the font if its an uncommon font (not a good thing for resumes) and have it so the .PDF is compatible with earlier versions (such as 4.0+). I think the current version is around 6.0, and 4.0 goes back years, so maybe that's why your documents are bloated.

My resume in Word is 26k, in PDF format is 36k. Proposals I write that have pictures in them are normally 3+ megs in word, and 300k in PDF (much more efficient than Word) when set to 72 dpi, not press quality (300 dpi plus).

~wheelsup

Acrobat is up to version 7, not 6. You can't compare Word and PDF for bloat comparison because Word is designed to edit, change, manipulate. PDF is not. Of course it's going to be smaller than a Word document. If it wasn't, there would be serious issues.

Look at how much crap Acrobat loads and how long it takes to load. For all that junk it has, it still screws up with complicated documents. I tried to change a thesis into PDF from Word and it just refused to do it correctly. I tried three different converters on two different platforms (Unix and Windows), and not a single one came out right (Adobe's converter was actually the worst at it). On top of that, I wasn't the only one who had problems. Since Kinkos (which also sucks) only accepts PDF (they change your document to PDF before printing it, they say that it ensures correct printing, bull**CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED**), I ended up printing it myself and taking it there to have them copy and bind it.

Like I said, it usually works just fine with simple documents like resumes. Start getting complicated with embedded Visio objects and other graphics and look out, it might puke it all down the front of your shirt.

 

[bafanguy]

Hi all,

Just wondering what views experienced jobhunters have on the most effective way to email a resume.



PD

Where is Kathy ?