electronically submitting resumes?

[livendive 8]

Anyone here work with whatever standard computer program HR types use? I'm trying to submit my resume to a company for a couple job openings they have, and they say, in part "If submitting by E-mail, make sure that your documents are in ASCII text format and left justified. "

Can someone translate that for me? Does that mean I can't use Word versions of my cover letter/resume, but rather have to save them as Notepad .txt files? Also, does "left justified" preclude the use of tabs to make something look centered?

Blues,
Dave

"I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!"
(drink Mountain Dew)

[wmw999 2,589]

The safest answer to that is "yes." Spaces, not tabs, little dashes, not bullets, no bold. They claim to emphasize the content over the form, but they make such mincemeat of the form.

Wendy W.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[livendive 8]

I just noticed that on this computer I have something called "textpad" (as opposed to "notepad"). It saves .txt files, but lists the encoding as "ANSI". Is that different than ASCII?

Thanks!
Dave

"I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!"
(drink Mountain Dew)

[wmw999 2,589]

The biggest thing to remember is to use a monospaced font. If you save something in TextPad as a .txt, then it'll type out OK.

Whatever you create it as, just save it as a sample, then on a DOS prompt, issue a TYPE command to see if it looks right on the screen. If it doesn't, try again.

Then you should be able to copy and paste, but even then maybe not, depending on how the resume application handles line-ends that are pasted in. Look at it -- if some lines are short and some long, then it's wrong.

With TextPad, you can use the Configure pulldown, and make sure that word wrap is turned on. then, DO NOT use the carriage return to get a new line unless you want a new one for a new paragraph or something -- the resume application will take care of the rest.

When you type something into the box here, you let the application take care of word wrap, right? Same thing with the resume application. If you treat the tool like it's stupid, then you're more likely to know exactly what you're going to get.

And good luck on the job.

Wendy W.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[CrazyIvan 0]

It means a TEXT file created by something like NOTEPAD.

__________________________________________
Blue Skies and May the Force be with you.

[wmw999 2,589]

I have TextPad here at work; it'll create text files.

Wendy W.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[pilotdave 0]

word can save files as plain text. It'll lose all formatting. They must be entering everything into a database or something.

Dave

[Clownburner 0]

No, we're just really sick of people emailing us Word files that are in versions we can't open, or are infected with any of about 2,000 viruses.

Use notepad; there is then no doubt about the format, it's just plain text. If you do a "Save as.." in word you can specify plain text but be sure to open it in Notepad afterwards so you can fix all the things it'll mangle.

7CP#1 | BTR#2 | Payaso en fuego Rodriguez
"I want hot chicks in my boobies!"- McBeth

[rjackson 0]

This also means that, more than likely, a human is never going to see the document. Your resume text will get load into a database and will get scanned for keywords. If your file gets enough matches then your document will get pulled out.

The bottom line is your chance of getting a "hit" in one of these systems is low. If your really interested in the place your submitting to, do some research to see if there is a human that you can send your paperwork to. i.e. hiring manager.

There is a great book out there called "what color is your parachute" (no pun intended for this forum). This book really talks about the job search process. I used it and it was very helpful

Hope this helps

---------------------------------------------

Randy

[livendive 8]

Quote

This also means that, more than likely, a human is never going to see the document. Your resume text will get load into a database and will get scanned for keywords. If your file gets enough matches then your document will get pulled out.

The bottom line is your chance of getting a "hit" in one of these systems is low. If your really interested in the place your submitting to, do some research to see if there is a human that you can send your paperwork to. i.e. hiring manager.

I was kind of wondering how these automated systems work. I figured some clerk in HR would briefly scan for whether I meet the minimum requirements for the two (identical) job postings, and if so, forward them to the hiring manager. I've done as you've suggested (cc:'d resume to hiring manager simultaneous to "official" submission) on every other job I've ever applied for, but this company has a centralized HR department in San Antonio. I'm not sure the hiring manager is even on the job site (in Washington), so I don't know how to go about finding out who/where to cc.

Anyhow, thanks for all the help folks. Did you know it can be a little nerve-wracking to start actively looking for a way to leave a company you've been with for almost a decade?
Blues,
Dave

"I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!"
(drink Mountain Dew)