Many employers now accept résumés by electronic mail. Before you send your résumé, though, there are some things to consider:

• Does the employer really accept résumés by e-mail?
  Does the job announcement actually say that résumés are accepted through e-mail. If not, send yours through other means. E-mail addresses are often included in vacancy announcements in case applicants or potential applicants have questions; they do not necessarily mean that résumés should be e-mailed.
  
  
• Does the employer specify if résumés should be sent as attachments or within the body of the e-mail message itself?
  If the employer mentions attachments, make sure your cover letter and résumés are both in the word processor format specified by the employer. Most word processors can convert, or export, files into other word processing formats. The cover letter and résumé should be separate attachments and the cover letter should be repeated in the body of the e-mail message.
  
  If the job announcement specifies attachments in ASCII text format, does not specify a format, or does not mention attachments at all, create ASCII versions of your résumé and cover letter. Instructions on how to do this are below. If the job announcement does not mention attachments, copy the ASCII text into the body of your e-mail message, below the cover letter. Never e-mail the cover letter and résumé separately.
  
  

Creating an ASCII Text Version of your Résumé

• Load your résumé into your word processor and save it under a different name.
  
  
• Select all the text in the résumé and change the font to a non-proportional one such as Courier, in 12-point size.
  
  
• For the entire résumé, set the left margin at 0 inches and the right margin at 6.5 inches. The résumé will now have a similar appearance to that of an e-mail message.
  
  
• Remove all boldface, italics, underlining, shading, horizontal or vertical lines, boxes, borders, and graphics.
  
  
• Replace tabs with spaces.
  
  
• Remove (parentheses), [brackets], and slashes (/). Use dashes with telephone numbers: 123-456-7890.
  
  
• Change the section headers to all capitalized letters: EDUCATION, EXPERIENCE, etc. ASCII files do not contain boldface, underlining, or any other character formatting that may set the headers apart.
  
  
• Change bullets to asterisks (*).
  
  
• Make sure your name is at the very top of the résumé, followed by your address and telephone number. Make sure the information is on separate lines; for example:
  
  John Doe
  10 Main Street
  Anywhere CA  12345-6789
  123-456-7890
  
  
• Make sure the résumé is not formatted in columns; use a full-line layout, instead. Scanners cannot read column-formatted résumés properly.
  
  
• Avoid abbreviations and acronyms, except for common ones (BS, MBA, etc.) or ones used often in the environmental sector (EPA, UST, etc).
  
  
• Save the file as a text file with line breaks.
  
  
• Load the file into a text editor, such as Notepad for PC's, and correct any unusual characters. In general, ASCII files only support the characters that you see on your keyboard.
  
  
• Save the file again, if changes were made.
  
  
• The file is now ready to be included as an attachment or its text can be copied into the body of an e-mail message.