Emailing a resume...

[Multislacking]

I'm in the process of a applying for my first real job and I'm unsure of the correct business etiquette in this situation: When a company leaves an email address to electronically send your resume should I include a cover letter? If so, should the cover letter be seperate or just the first page of my resume? Also, is MS Word format considered the "standard" or should I send it as an .rtf?

I really don't want to screw up my chances over something like this so I'm looking for a little advice.

 

[whateverdude]

the body of your email should be a formal cover letter with the resume attached, unless they request you paste the resume in the body of the email, which some do. Use alot of detail in your cover letter to explain why your qualified for the position

and yes, use word format, its the most universal.

good luck, I just found a job after 4 months of searching and sending resumes.

also, I found that mailing hard copies or applying in person was more effective than emailing, so do that in addition to emailing it if you have a physical address.

 

[StageLeft]

I'm on month 5 of doing this. I have a resume with cover letter being the top page in MS word format. When I send an email I attach it explaining that its in MS word format and please lemme know if there are any problems opening it.

 

[samgau]

Well the one time i did that, i had the cover letter as a seperate attachment "cover letter.doc" and the resume as a second attachment "resume.doc" also i saved them to "standard" for which ever version of office you are using(2000 in my case).. but i already knew that that was the standard for the employer. In "rtf" you do loose some of the more complex formatting of word2000 i think. In case of doubt call them and ask them about what format they would prefer. Push comes to shove send it in "pdf" format.

 

[Emulex]

remember recruiting firm: MSWORD
NT/2K Windows job: MSWORD

Unix job: Plain text file only!

I don't know how many unix admin resumes' i dumped because pine wouldn't open them. Guess they didn't have any common sense.

 

[Multislacking]

I appreciate the responses. I originally planned to do it like skoorb had mentioned but I think putting the cover letter in the body of the email makes a lot of sense.