How do I successfully email my resume?

Question

I have a resume on Word and when I tell SBCGlobal to email it, something gets screwed up and the person at the other end sees a mess! The email program has all sorts of fun with the traditional format. So, I need to configure an email-ready resume. Trouble is: I have no idea what one of those looks like. I've trolled around the net, can find all sorts of resumes, but nothing for emails! Help!

Answer 1

You can do a few things to see what's happening. One suggestion copy your resume and paste it into wordpad which is found off the start-> programs-> Accessories menu in Windows. This makes it into a .txt file Save it and send it.

A text file (or plain text file) is a computer file which contains only ordinary textual characters with essentially no formatting.

Another option is to open word and click on formatting, reveal formating (or Shift+F1) and then click CTRL+A and select clear all formatting which will do essentially the same thing. This is format free and ready for email

Answer 2

If simply adding it as an attachment doesn't solve the problem (as many others have suggested) it could be that your resume is overly formatted. Possibly with one of Word's resume templates. Hiring managers hate those templates, because they always look messed up on other computers beside the one they were created on.

The best way to make a resume is to use as little formatting as possible. Use bold, underline, or italic to highlight headings. Use the enter key a couple times to seperate sections, and use the tab key to indent sections. These are very basic functions that Word has supported for years. Do not use boxes, pictures, strange fonts, and never use the resume templates. These are fine for printing a resume, but not for emailing one.

If this still does not work, you can copy and paste the resume into Notepad to work with the resume as a .txt file. No formatting (no bold, italic, or tabbing). Use enter to seperate sections, and use all caps to make headings stand out.

Answer 3

Your best bet is to change it into a .pdf file which will keep all of the formatting.

The best way I have found to do this it to go to Zamzar.com (completly free) upload your resume, and in the files list select pdf. Then enter in your email address (They do not spam, or send you any unwanted email, just the file) and hit 'Convert.' In a couple minutes you will get an email with a link to where you can download the file. From there attach the new file in your email and everything should work just fine.

By the way there is a slight chance it will end up in your spam email, but most likely you need to wait a few more minutes, the sender of the email will just say something like Zamzar.

Answer 4

Okay, you've gotten tons of responses, but I just wanted to put my two cents in.

Although it seems to be pretty taboo to do so, I recommend copying and pasting it in the body of the email. It avoids the response of "Please resend in (another) format." Also, it's very convenient for the employer. I recently started doing this and it didn't hinder my job search at all (I just got an amazing job after doing this). If anything it only helped. I was called in for an interview more than any other time I've sent out my resume.

I just wrote a quick blurb (in letter form) at the top to the effect of:
Please review my resume, which I have pasted below for your convenience, and contact me to discuss same.

The only problem I've had with doing that is when one company replied stating "There is no resume attached." But honestly, I don't think I'd want to work for a company who doesn't even read the emails they receive, especially when they're the ones looking for an employee. It just made them look unprofessional.

As for formatting, I'd just paste it first in notepad/wordpad to make sure there are no unnecessary spaces or lines, and then just paste it into the email.

When all is said and done, your skills, experience, and qualifications should speak for themselves. Even the most visually appealing resume can't compensate for those. Good luck!

Answer 5

It sounds like you're possibly sending your resume by pasting it into the body of the e-mail? If that's the case, then attaching the resume to the e-mail would be the quick fix. If you're using Outlook or Outlook Express, there are several ways to send it. When you're in Word, you can click on the "file" menu and go down to "Send" and then choose the "send as attachment". You can also open a new e-mail and choose the "Insert" menu, then go to "file" and search for the file that holds your resume. The other option to attach is by dragging your resume's icon into the body of the e-mail.

You may also try sending your resume through one of the e-mail services such as Yahoo, Google or others. You may have less problems that using one of those services.

As a recruiter, I would NOT recommend sending resumes as a PDF and 95% of recruiters would agree. They're not an efficient resume for us to work with and we'll often send an e-mail asking for a Word version.

If you're working off a Mac, I'd recommend getting support from Apple. Good luck!

Answer 6

Hello... If it's a CV, I strongly suggest you don't include graphics, etc. A CV is supposed to a brief but very concise document, trying to send as much relevant and powerful information about yourself as possible, in the minimum of space, because people reading them do NOT want to waste time in grinding through unnecessary detail. Try not to have it longer than two pages long. Long CV's are a definite put-off!

Therefore, make it a MS Word document, grammar and spell check it first (!!!!!), then do File, Save As, and save it in a location where you KNOW where it is! Then open your email programme and attach your CV from the location you just saved it to. This should work fine. Most company's have CV's to be sent as an MS Word document as a requirement, and any other types are not acceptable.

All the best.

Reevo

Answer 7

Use word to email it. An even better suggestion would be use something other than M$ Word to create your resume. What you might ask, well Open Office of course! http://www.openoffice.org

And by the way, you can save a word document as a PDF using word, for free. Wow, that's a contradiction...well without need to purchase adobe acrobat, is what I mean.

Answer 8

Since you have the resume typed out in MS Word, it carries with it (usually not visible to you) formatting (such as fonts used, sizes etc.) The first issue is how you are actually sending this resume to [e-mail] (say).

If you copy + paste the text from word directly into your email client and send a message, most likely the hidden information will be messed up. There are a few alternatives:

1. Compromise on formatting and make your resume text-only e.g. typing it in notepad (without formatting)

2. Send your word document as an attachment with your email, which I'm not sure how your SBC account will send out.

3. Install a free PDF printer (e.g. http://www.cutepdf.com/ ) on your PC and from your Word document, issue File --> Print and select "CutePDF Writer", which will convert your resume to a PDF file ( if it helps, P stands for portable :) ). Now you need to send this file as an attachment with your e-mail message. This might also depend on how your SBC account sends out attachments. (Possibly same problem as option 2)

3. Upload your resume to a free file server online (e.g. http://www.bigupload.com/ ). It will give you a link to the file you have saved on their server. Send that link to the person who wants it. This is guaranteed to work. If you need to, you can delete this file after a while, or even send the same link to multiple people. This method is guaranteed to work because you're not depending on your SBC account for anything except sending out a webpage link and we know that works.

Good luck!

Answer 9

Just write a resume in Microsoft Word and then save it.
File--->Save As
Then select where you want to save it.
Change file type to rich text format.

Whatever email you use when you are "composing" a message there should be somewhere to click that says "attach file." If you click on attach file then you can select your resume and attach it to the email.

Microsoft Word files are saved with the extension .doc.
That's great unless the other person does't have Word on their computer. Then they could have a problem with opening it. Anytime I write something in Word I save it as .rtf (rich text format) as the "file type"..........a file saved as .rtf can be opened with any word processing program with no problems. So when I send someone a document I don't have to be concerned with what programs they have on their computer. Do they use Word, or Works, or Wordperfect?

Of course you can always the change the extension (file type), but when I am sending something I assume the recipient doesn't know computers that well.

Answer 10

I have never had a problem with just creating a resume in Microsoft Word and adding it as an attachment in my email program. PDF is another good example, if you want to spend the money and get Adobe Acrobat. Microsoft WORD is on virtually every PC in corporate America.