Thursday, July 29, 2010

Electronically Submitting Your Resume

In order for those large job sites like monster.com and hotjobs.com to work in your favor, you are going to have to submit a personal profile and a copy of your resume. If the website that you are using to find a job doesn't have a ‘fill in the blank’ template for your resume, you should be able to upload your resume as a Microsoft Word document.

In addition to having to figure out how to upload your resume to a job hunting website, you should also learn how to email a copy of your resume. It is not at all unusual for an employer to ask for another copy of your resume (they want to see if anything has changed since you first uploaded your original resume).

Follow the Directions

Don't zone out when a potential employer asks you to email a copy of your resume. Different employers have different ways in which they want your resume to be emailed. The most common methods for sending a resume are attached to the email, or as the body of the email. Make sure that you listen very carefully when they tell you how they want the resume sent. If they don't give you any specific instructions, you should ask. A perspective employer would rather have you ask questions when you don't understand something as opposed to you sending something incorrectly.

You should also make sure that you know exactly who you are supposed to send your resume to. Some employer's will have you email directly to them while others will have want you to send it to someone else. Not following these simple instructions can cost you the job.

Proof Before You Hit Send

Before you attach the resume to your email, you should spend a few minutes looking it over. Not only do you want to make sure that all of the information is correct, but you want to make sure that it is free of typos and other mistakes.

After attaching your resume and before you hit the send button, take a few minutes that you are sending your resume exactly the way you were instructed and that you have entered the correct address for the recipient.

Be Professional

Due to the fact that you aren't dealing with any people face to face, there may be a tendency to forget that a lot hinges on your professionalism. Make sure that all of your correspondence uses proper grammar and is properly punctuated. Treat all of your email correspondence just like you would a physical application.