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It seems like the majority of job ads today can be sent through the mail, e-mail, or faxed in. Does anyone know if employers have a preference? Do I need to show off my nice resume paper, or can I just e-mail it in?
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Sara:
Just my two cents, but pay close attention as to how the employer wants you to submit your resume and cover letter, and do not deviate. I traveled to a library school early last year to discuss hiring issues with faculty, and one thing I remember from that meeting was one instructor bringing up the issue of job seekers not paying attention to the requirements for submitting resumes and cover letters. Submitting a resume as an email attachment to an employer when the employer has not requested it in that format can turn people off.
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I completely agree that you should only choose among the formats suggested by the prospective employer. With that in mind, I prefer email with attachments. I would put my letter in the body of the email, and then attach a formatted version of it called something like "Letter as MS Word doc.doc" along with my "Surname resume.doc" so the employer would know that nicely-formatted versions of each were available if they wanted to print them out (but that they didn't have to open the letter if the email were okay for them).
Particularly with a resume, I think attaching it is far better than attempting to paste it in, because you can control how it lays out. I've seen resumes that got put through as plaintext will all sort of bizarre line breaks and spaces. Whatever the person was trying to emphasize could really get lost in the mess that way.
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I agree that submitting application materials by following the guidelines of the position announcement is key. If snail mail is an option, that is my personal preference because you have the most control over the look of your application. For my current position, online applications were requested. They showed me my application during the interview, and it had no formatting whatsoever after coming through their online appplication form! Luckily, I brought multiple copies of my resume to the interview, along with a photo page as an overview of my professional work with children.
I graduated in 2005, and it is my experience that job searching in the field of Public Library Youth Services is more relaxed than other fields. It is a good thing to be creative and show off your talents. I ended the interview with a high five...that won't fly everywhere!
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I think the best way to send your resume depends on the library and on the people who are hiring you. Different directors/interviewers will have different preferences. As mentioned, the job ad can give you a clue. (For example, which one is listed first... mail, email, or fax?) Can you tell if the library has an active online presence? Do they have a good website? Are they into 2.0 apps? If so, email would probably be a good way to go.... However, if you submit your resume electronically, whether by cutting & pasting, or by email attachment, it is quite possible that your resume formatting will appear differently on someone else's computer, especially if you have used any usual formatting or unusual fonts. If you use snail mail, I recommend using a high quality paper that will help your resume stand out from others. At a place I used to work, I know a person who INSISTED on delivering her resume in person to the director. The director was very impressed by this and hired that candidate for the position. Would this happen in all cases? No - in some cases it might have the exact opposite effect and appear too bold. But, in that case, it worked for her, and gave her the extra "edge" to get the position.
Check out my blog on Talking Books at http://talkingbookslibrarian.blogspot.com
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In addition to what others have already mentioned, I highly recommend having your resume readily available in multiple online formats: plain text for email and/or pasting in online application fields, Word document, and PDF to avoid any word processing software issues. A free & fast PDF converter is available at the National Library of Medicine's DocMorph ( http://docmorph.nlm.nih.gov/docmorph/).
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SaraD wrote:It seems like the majority of job ads today can be sent through the mail, e-mail, or faxed in. Does anyone know if employers have a preference? Do I need to show off my nice resume paper, or can I just e-mail it in? You should send it by the method they request. And your nice resume paper means little when copies are made for everyone that needs to see your materials.
Brian C. Gray Head of Reference & Engineering Librarian Kelvin Smith Library Case Western Reserve University http://blog.case.edu/bcg8bcg8@case.edu
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Rank: Advanced Member
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Keryth wrote:In addition to what others have already mentioned, I highly recommend having your resume readily available in multiple online formats: plain text for email and/or pasting in online application fields, Word document, and PDF to avoid any word processing software issues. A free & fast PDF converter is available at the National Library of Medicine's DocMorph ( http://docmorph.nlm.nih.gov/docmorph/). I agree. When I was sending out my materials a few years ago, I sent them in PDF. I felt more confident that everyone would have access.
Brian C. Gray Head of Reference & Engineering Librarian Kelvin Smith Library Case Western Reserve University http://blog.case.edu/bcg8bcg8@case.edu
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To echo a few comments: convert Word docs to PDF before you email them. And don't worry about paper because there's a good chance the original is going to sit in a drawer in HR and the search committee will only see copies. Or, your application might get scanned and put on an intranet, which means nice paper can be bad if it copies or scans poorly.
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