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I was just wondering something, since it has bugged me for a while... when applying for a job where they simply request "email resume as attachment," what else do you include? Meaning, do you just attach a resume and write in the body "Dear Hiring Manager, I have attached a resume for your consideration in regards to the xxx position. I look forward to hearing from you, yadda yadda." Or do you type a full cover letter into the body?
FYI, I'm mostly applying for educational-type jobs... librarian, senior library assistant, tutor/teacher, program manager, youth literacy, etc. So these are professional jobs where they expect good writing, and that's not a problem for me - just curious as to what they WANT, since I don't like to overdo OR "under-do" it (if you know what I mean). Any tips or comments?
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I also have been applying to public and non-profit type jobs and have emailed many resumes during my search. When emailing my resume, I usually do a brief cover letter within the body of the email itself along with my contact info (unless they specifically are asking for an attached cover letter). Make sure you indicate that the resume is attached and what file format the resume is in (Word, PDF, etc). Try to format the email like a cover letter but keep it brief. If a more detailed cover letter is needed, I would just attach that along with the resume. Hope this helps.
Most companies I've applied for ask for the cover letter and resume in the body of the e-mail. They don't want attachments.
They all request things differently, which is why I'm curious as to the common protocol... specifically for when they request resumes as an attachment, which leaves the body of your email blank. Communication (email, text, fax, PDFs, etc, etc) can get complicated these days, huh?!
They all request things differently, which is why I'm curious as to the common protocol... specifically for when they request resumes as an attachment, which leaves the body of your email blank. Communication (email, text, fax, PDFs, etc, etc) can get complicated these days, huh?!
Yes, to be honest, I never sent my cover letter and resume as an attachment, it's always in the body of the e-mail. It's just easier for the hiring manager/HR personnel to open and view them. I've sent out hundreds that way.
But if you have to, send your resume as a PDF file, it's safer that way; and put your cover letter in the body of the e-mail so it's not left blank(tweek it a little to kind of personalize it for the specific company you're sending it to.
I send both the resume and cover letter as attachments.
The subject of the email is usually something like "Finance Job X12345", and in the body of the email I include a very, very brief message. Something along the lines of:
Dear X.
I am interested in job X, and have attached a cover letter and resume for your consideration. Please do not hesitate to contact me.
This is a bit redundant if you include the same info with your cover letter, but avoids that awkward blank email message.
I send both the resume and cover letter as attachments.
The subject of the email is usually something like "Finance Job X12345", and in the body of the email I include a very, very brief message. Something along the lines of:
Dear X.
I am interested in job X, and have attached a cover letter and resume for your consideration. Please do not hesitate to contact me.
This is a bit redundant if you include the same info with your cover letter, but avoids that awkward blank email message.
Yes, that's good. When I send out my cover letter and resume (in the body of the e-mail), I put on the subject line "position and job ID# (if any)."
I was just wondering something, since it has bugged me for a while... when applying for a job where they simply request "email resume as attachment," what else do you include? Meaning, do you just attach a resume and write in the body "Dear Hiring Manager, I have attached a resume for your consideration in regards to the xxx position. I look forward to hearing from you, yadda yadda." Or do you type a full cover letter into the body?
FYI, I'm mostly applying for educational-type jobs... librarian, senior library assistant, tutor/teacher, program manager, youth literacy, etc. So these are professional jobs where they expect good writing, and that's not a problem for me - just curious as to what they WANT, since I don't like to overdo OR "under-do" it (if you know what I mean). Any tips or comments?
Always write a full cover letter in the body of your email. It's also a good idea to include the text of your resume after your signature, on the off-chance that the receiver's security settings strip out attachments. Yes, they might be telling you to send it as an attachment, but still. Stranger things have happened. It's a pain to have to create a text-only version without the fancy formatting to paste in, but it's worth it.
Also, use the simplest font possible. When I pitch to clients (which is pretty much the same thing as applying for job, only freelancing) I try a test run and send it to myself first. Sometimes cutting and pasting a cover letter from a Word document will give you bizarre formatting in the email text box that you can't see while you are composing, but that looks ridiculous to the recipient--especially if you then decide to edit your letter. You may think everything morphed into Times Roman, but then when you type in a few extra words, they show up as Arial. Strange characters can gank things up, too. I was a stickler for the accent marks in the word "resume," but when I pasted that into the text box, it wouldn't adapt to the email font even though I tried to get it to conform. Besides, it's always easiest to read a san-serif font like Arial or Helvetica on a computer screen.
And ye gods, no crazy colors or flashing sigs. Plain black. Big joke in publishing is, "Ye shall know greenies by their fonts."
Not for nothing, but avoid using webmail programs like AOL, Yahoo, and Hotmail. They are all notorious spam-generators, and academia in particular is known for blocking them entirely. I can think of several prominent universities that require recipients to go in and manually allow either the domain or the whole address because the default for the entire system is either "block" or "send to spam folder." I've had problems with cable like Optimum, Comcast, and Cox, but 90% of the time those work.
As far as I know, Gmail seems to be okay, though. (Maybe resistance to the Google Borg is futile.) And of course if you have your own domain, that would be ideal, as long as the name sounds professional.
Last edited by Yzette; 12-04-2010 at 11:56 AM..
Reason: Fonts!
I also have been applying to public and non-profit type jobs and have emailed many resumes during my search. When emailing my resume, I usually do a brief cover letter within the body of the email itself along with my contact info (unless they specifically are asking for an attached cover letter). Make sure you indicate that the resume is attached and what file format the resume is in (Word, PDF, etc). Try to format the email like a cover letter but keep it brief. If a more detailed cover letter is needed, I would just attach that along with the resume. Hope this helps.
This is exactly what I did when I was looking.
I tailored my writing to the specific position. Some required only a very brief cover; some called for more. I always did some homework about the company and included a brief blurb stating why I would like to be associated with that particular company (or organization.)
I know two people who are recruiters for huge companies in Chicago, and both say they don't like to receive lengthy cover letters with resumes. Not enough time to read them all. But they expect something that indicates the writer understands the position s/he is applying for and knows at least a little about the company.
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