Where To Send Your Brilliant Resume

So you have invested much of your precious time on writing and tweaking your resume, getting feedback and, now, you are extremely happy with the final version.Replying To A Job Advert - Sending Your Resume

The vast majority of companies now ask you to send in your resume by either post, fax or email.

What's the most convenient for you?

Most probably email.

And guess what their preference is?

Email - without any argument.

Emailed resumes end up in the company's email accounts and that prevents them from being lost or from failing to reach the right manager.

Agencies have a very strong preference for resumes to be emailed or online applications as this makes their job easier when distributing your information to recruiting companies.

Speculative Resume Sending

Now let's talk about sending your resume speculatively. Where best to send your resume takes a little research.

Email may not be the most appropriate.

Most organisations have a set way in which they would like resumes submitted.

In smaller organisations, it is often most appropriate to send your resume directly to the line manager concerned. In this situation a paper resume is more likely to catch the manager's attention (emails are easily deleted without being properly read) although you may wish to send an electronic version as backup, with your email referring to the fact you have already sent a paper copy.

Most sizeable organisations will have their own website and detail the process to take. You may have to apply online or they may ask you to send your resume to a particular email address.

If the company doesn't have a website or do not tell you the process to use, ring the company and ask for the Personnel or HR (Human Resources) department. Then once you are put through, ask what's the best way to send your resume in.

The Personnel or HR department usually handle resumes before sending onto the recruiting Line Manager.

Can Your Resume Be Read?

By the time your resume has been automatically processed by the recruiter, it may look very different from the document you saw on your screen.

Here are some ideas you can use to ensure your resume can be read:

Never send a scanned copy of your resume. Scanned documents are harder to read.

Your resume needs to be a separate document attached to your email. If you simply cut and paste your resume into the body of your email, the formatting will be lost and your resume will be unreadable.

For my own personal documents like a resume, I always add a security password. Remember to remove the password protection before sending your resume out.

Follow any instructions given in an advertisement for quoting reference numbers in your email; these are often used to automatically sort applications.

If you are applying for a specific post, put the title in the covering email

Keep the formatting in your resume simple. Spacing is often altered dramatically when a resume is entered onto an organisation's database and features such as bold and underline are lost. Make sure that your resume will be understandable even after the recruiter has processed it.

Don't attach a covering letter as a separate document as it is likely to become detached from the resume itself in the course of the processing. Include introductory information in the body of the email.

These guidelines will help get your brilliant resume read.