Sending out my resume in rich text format?

Question

I was just experimenting a bit with the format for sending out my resume through email and noticed it looks better in the rich text format than any other way.

Is there anything wrong with this format?

BTW, I did post a previous question on what format to use when emailing out your resume.

Thanks.

Answer 1

There's nothing wrong with the RTF format, except that the person on the other end may not be expecting that particular format and might not have the convertor installed on their computer.



Unless you are told otherwise by the company, you should either:



1) Send it within the body of the e-mail message.

2) Send your résumé in MS Word format (.doc).



Sent within the body of the e-mail, your formatting won't get through and your résumé won't exactly be looking its best. But it's better to follow instructions than to have your app end up in the circular file because you didn't, or to have your rez get stripped from your message because the company's mail server didn't like the look of the attachment.

Answer 2

Resume In Text Format

Answer 3

Besides setting all margins to 1", the most important criteria for setting up a professional resume besides relevant text, is "scanability." Here are some helpful tips:



1. Place just below your identification header [your hame, address, phone, email address] any Conditional Warning Statement such as "Confidential Resume,"Do Not Contact Current Employer," etc.

2. Always fill-in an Objectives category [just below the Conditional Warning Statement] and make sure that he Objective will contribute to the profitability of your future employer;

3. Select a mono-type font such as Helvetica, Arial, Courier or Times Roman; do not select any cursive handwriting styles which cannot scanned;

4. Keep font sizes within a range of 10 to 12 pts.;

5. Avoid styling text with a justified alignment, keep it flushed left;

6. Instead of using tabs to set up blocked text entries, generate a table and use the column and row settings accordingly;

7. Do not place an i.d. picture anywhere on the resume, this is a major taboo due to discrimination issues;

8. Do not place any graphic text [saved as .gifs] onto the resume since it may be overlooked during the scanning phase;

9. List at the very end of the resume your interests which should include travel experiences, language skills, social interactions such as golf, team sports, tennis, etc.



In conclusion, the above helpful hints were designed to allow ease of scanning of your resume into PDF which can then be text captured for seach purposes by your potential employer. Failure to conform the resume to appropriate fonts and styles as outlined above will result in rejection of the resume simply due to the inability of the scanning device to properly index relevant resume entries.



Good luck!

Answer 4

It's good to use a format that is most common. Such as PDF or Microsoft Word. Most companies now use some version of Microsoft Word. So you're probably safe with rtf as Word will open rtf files.



That being said, I'd suggest sending it as .doc format.

Answer 5

Hi there,



I always prefer Microsoft Word to send resumes. The basics for a perfect resume is make it simple enough, reduce the number of pages as much as you can. Always be simple, short, and sweet. Never exagerrate things. No italics format. Just plain fonts would be enough. Cheers.