What is the Proper Format for Submitting a Resume Via E-mail?

by Damarious Page

Employment agencies and career experts sometimes describe e-mail as one of the easiest and simplest ways to apply for jobs. However, your job search efforts can turn out to be for nothing if hiring employers don't receive or have trouble opening your resume attachment. How you compose e-mail messages and create resume documents can make them incompatible with some companies' e-mail client setups. A proper format does exist for sending resumes, and it is in line with the overall theme of being uncomplicated.

Hiring Employer Preference

Review original job advertisements to find specific e-mail formatting instructions. Some companies welcome e-mails and resumes in the ".DOC" word-processing format or the ".RTF" rich text format. You can often find a detailed section called "How to Apply" at the end of a job description. Additionally, you can call the company's main telephone number before composing and submitting the email. Ask the receptionist or human resources staff for guidance on the proper e-mail and resume format. You want to get this right on your first submission.

Plain-Text Format

American Standard Code for Information Interchange, ASCII, is a standard code that helps computers store and transmit information between machines without much complication. ASCII is commonly called plain-text format because it omits much of the advanced and exotic fonts that computer users are accustomed to seeing and using in e-mail messages and word processor documents, such as underlining and bold type. This less-fancy formatting on your resume and e-mail, can mean greater compatibility for the ultimate end-users, hiring managers.

Resume Document

Start the conversion to plain-text by opening your resume in your word-processing application. In general, you can click on the "File" menu and then "Save As," which opens a dialog box. Choose "Plain-Text" as the file type and then click the "Save" button. You might rename this second resume document to differentiate it from the heavily formatted original that is stored on your hard drive: "John Doe Resume -- Plain-Text Format." Review and edit your newly formatted document in case the conversion process pushed some sections or sentences out of place. In addition, note that menu options and button names vary by program.

E-mail Message

You may be better served copying and pasting the content of your resume document into the body of the e-mail message, according to resume expert Kim Isaacs writing on the ResumePower website. You should also type or paste the text of your cover letter into the body of the e-mail message, as well. Afterwards, click the "Plain-Text" link at the top of your e-mail client application to convert the entire e-mail message to the plain text format. Put a line of demarcation between the cover letter and resume text. Review and edit your final e-mail message to make sure nothing is out of place, and then hit "Send." Consider attaching the resume document, as well, in plain-text or rich-text format, in case the receiving manager wants to print your resume or read it separately from the e-mail client.

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