| attaching resume to e-mail.....help!
Posted: 11/18/2007 10:44:25 AM | how do you attach a resume to an e-mail when you aren't sure what word processing program the recipient has, which means that all the formatting gets totally screwed up?
I can't cut and paste it into the e-mail body as I lose the formatting and everything gets double spaced, and I don't have the option to resave the file as a jpeg so I am at a loss.
A lot of positions have a fax number, but some are strictly e-mail responses, so any ideas? | |
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| attaching resume to e-mail.....help!
Posted: 11/18/2007 11:04:33 AM | Although a lot of organizations with internet access say they will accept resumes in some (specified) word processing format, it really isn't good to do this. One reason is what you just pointed out, that you don't know if the other party has something "compatible".
If you are hoping the other party is only going to be printing the document, and you want nice formatting, the best solution is to send a PDF. The only thing you need to look out for is that some parts of the world want letter sized, and some want A4. But PDF is designed to describe how ink looks on a page, it is not designed to exchange editable documents. Since you really don't want the other party to edit what you send, PDF makes sense.
A better solution all around, is something based on XML. There is something called HR-XML designed by a group of companies, and another thing called XML Resume Library. They describe the document in such a way, that it is easy to extract out just the elements of interest and to generate a PDF for printing. But, not many places have caught onto this yet. Maybe in the future.
In summary, send a PDF (Adobe Acrobat file). | |
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| attaching resume to e-mail.....help!
Posted: 11/18/2007 11:13:17 AM | ok, this might sound dumb, but when I have the resume open it doesn't give me the option to save as a pdf, do I have to try to open the resume in Adobe and then save it there as a pdf?
so confused  | |
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| attaching resume to e-mail.....help!
Posted: 11/18/2007 11:26:22 AM | Okay, I'm getting out of my area now. I am assuming you are running on some variety of M$-Windows,
and it is M$-Office you are using to work with your resume. The reason it is out of my area, is that I don't use M$ stuff. :-)
Since PDF is not meant for editing, but is meant for printing, what probably happens is that it is part of the print menu. If you "print to file", it will probably give you the option of PDF as an output format. I believe that is what OpenOffice.org does on Windows and Linux (BSD, Mac, ...).
It's entirely possible, you (me, ...) will have to find someone who actually uses Office on M$-Windows in order to figure out how to get the PDF. If need be, I can track down an answer some other way. But, try the print to file route first.
Good luck. | |
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| attaching resume to e-mail.....help!
Posted: 11/18/2007 11:55:14 AM | Maybe it isn't that simple. Looking at Google, it seems that you might need to get a plugin for Office in order to Save as PDF. The following thread is from someone who works at M$. There are a number of aftermarket plugins you can buy, which are probably trustworthy. I don't know about free ones fro M$.
http://blogs.msdn.com/cyndy_wessling/archive/2005/10/08/478419.aspx
As you can see in the URL, this dates back to 2005. I think since that time, Adobe threatened legal action against M$ over PDF. So, it is possible that M$ does not offer a free PDF plugin for Office. I have seen other plugins advertised on the net, but I know nothing about them.
OpenOffice.org is an alternative to Office, it's free (free beer and free speech), and it does support PDF. You might want to try it. It should be able to read your Office .doc file, although there are occasionally hickups. (For my friends and relatives that run M$-Windows, I recommend they run OpenOffice, since then I can see what problems they might be having.)
Or, maybe someone else will read this thread who has done this on Windows, and give a definitive answer. :-) | |
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| attaching resume to e-mail.....help!
Posted: 11/18/2007 12:12:36 PM | | I just save my resume in MS Word format. If you have any doubts, you can put the resume in the body of the email for that matter. I di that on one occaision on my computer when I had reformatted and didn't have Word installed but I had to get the mail out ASAP. A little more pruimative than attaching a document but the info was all there | |
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| attaching resume to e-mail.....help!
Posted: 11/18/2007 12:42:45 PM | I see another option if you want to send PDF.
You can sign up with Adobe to get an account to use conversion software ($10 per month). If you don't edit your resume often (say once in a blue moon), it is like getting charge $10 to convert your resume once. There might be other people doing the same service for less. | |
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| attaching resume to e-mail.....help!
Posted: 11/18/2007 12:47:55 PM | Gee, I wish I could condense all of these into 1.
Someone does convert for free. There is also a way to get acrobat reader to convert it. Here is a page which describes this.
http://www.bloganything.net/857/tips-converting-doc-files-to-pdf
The idea is that you use print to file, and tell it that it is a postscript printer. This gets you a postscript (.ps) file. You might have to install a postscript printer device into Office, pick any postscript printer that is convenient. You then convert the postscript into PDF. | |
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| attaching resume to e-mail.....help!
Posted: 11/18/2007 1:25:22 PM | This note isn't specific to resumes, but is to emailing word processor files.
Word processor formats (probably most of them) store all kinds of things in them, which don't appear in the printed document. Things that were in old version, but now deleted, are one example. Another is that you are allowed to make notes/comments inside the document.
Several law firms, and the US government on a couple of occasions, have been written about, where they sent a word processor file to someone, who used this "hidden" information to their benefit.
So, if you do send a word processor file, make sure it is a sanitized copy, not your working copy. | |
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| attaching resume to e-mail.....help!
Posted: 11/18/2007 1:53:10 PM | A Freeware program that works well is "PrimoPDF" (google it).
Once installed on you computer, it mimics a printer.
Instead of printing your document with your regular printer, you send it to the PDF generator (virtual printer). Once created, the PDF document can be saved on your PC and attached to an email in the usual way.
The only other requirement is Adobe Acrobat (PDF) Reader, which is pretty standard freeware. | |
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| attaching resume to e-mail.....help!
Posted: 11/18/2007 5:05:09 PM | | I just send e-resumés, myself, when I have to send it online; I use my e-mail body as a coverletter and then send the resumé in a .txt file these days. | |
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| attaching resume to e-mail.....help!
Posted: 11/18/2007 6:24:46 PM |
A Freeware program that works well is "PrimoPDF" (google it).
Once installed on you computer, it mimics a printer.
Instead of printing your document with your regular printer, you send it to the PDF generator (virtual printer). Once created, the PDF document can be saved on your PC and attached to an email in the usual way.
The only other requirement is Adobe Acrobat (PDF) Reader, which is pretty standard freeware.[\quote\
PrimoPDF is also free. All you need to do to change your word, excel or whatever type of file it is, is click on file, then print, then in the drop down menu to choose printers, choose primopdf. This will save the file to pdf for you. | |
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| attaching resume to e-mail.....help!
Posted: 11/18/2007 11:02:57 PM | A Freeware program that works well is "PrimoPDF" (google it) .... it mimics a printer.
This is definitely the way to go in my opinion. The great thing about this solution (a virtual PDF printer) is that you're not limited to just word processing documents. Virtually anything that can be printed to a printer can be saved to a PDF document. Want to save a copy of a web page, print it out to the PDF printer. Print photos, spread sheets, virtually anything. Another free PDF writer that I have been using with very good success is Cute PDF
http://www.cutepdf.com/Products/CutePDF/writer.asp | |
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