Blasting Your Resume To Enhance Your Job Search
	Creating And E-mailing A Plain Text Resume
	Distributing Your Resume For A Targeted Job Search
	Keeping Your Resume Out Of Spam Filters
	Resume Blasting-pros And Cons
	Resume Distribution Services
	Resume Posting Service
	The Merits Of Scannable Resumes

Blasting Your Resume To Enhance Your Job Search

The growth of the Internet has helped fuel a new trend in job searching - the resume blast. A resume blast is a mass e-mailing of your resume to potential employers, usually handled by an e-mail marketing firm or agency. The benefits of a resume blast vary depending on the type of blast you use, and many human resources specialists/recruiters have a somewhat neutral to negative view of this strategy.

Blasting services

The web is full of blasting services that promote themselves as your best option for finding a job, but in reality these services generally fall into one of three basic categories:

Company and industry - These services use databases that list thousands and thousands of companies. Many of them allow you to customize your blast by industry, company size, or region of the country.

Recruiters and headhunters - These services use databases containing contact information for professional recruiters and head hunters. Some people believe this choice is best suited for professional and executive level job seekers.

Job boards - These services send your resume to online job boards, where they post automatically. Some offer the option of posting to specialty or niche job boards that are industry or job specific.

Advantages of resume blasting

Blasting your resume, if you choose to do so, should be just one part of your overall job search strategy. It can be particularly helpful if you plan to post to online job boards, saving a great deal of time when compared to posting your resume on each site.

At some larger companies, human resources specialists do not mind receiving blasted resumes. They have a process in place to take all resumes received and scan them into the company database, where they can be searched when job positions come open.

Disadvantages of resume blasting

The biggest disadvantage of resume blasting is that many people who receive such messages simply discard them as junk mail and often block the sender, too. Blasting services like to promote themselves by emphasizing how many e-mails will be sent on your behalf, but make no claims regarding how many of the e-mails will actually be opened and read.

Blasting can backfire because you lose a lot of control over your job search. Your resume may be sent to companies for whom you have no interest in working, or to potential employers in parts of the country where you do not want to live. It also has a more subtle effect on your own job search motivation, because it is tempting to sit back and wait for the contacts to start rolling instead of actively networking and seeking opportunities for yourself.

Summary

The jury is still out on the effectiveness and desirability of e-mail blasting of resumes. Some people do not mind receiving resumes in this fashion, while others strongly dislike the method and do not even open these types of messages.

What is clear, though, is that if you choose to blast your resume you must be as targeted as possible with the effort, and use the tactic as only one part of your job search strategy.

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Creating And E-mailing A Plain Text Resume

In our modern age, everyone seems to want things much faster than ever. This sometimes also holds true for prospective employers. Many prefer to receive resumes by e-mail, and their reasons for doing this can be varied. Some don't want mounds of paper resumes. Some find it easier to weed out the good resumes from the bad simply by e-mail.

Others find e-mail resumes faster. Still others prefer e-mail resumes because the job position is virtual, so prospective employees can come from anywhere in the world. So it's simply more practical to accept e-mail resumes.

Regardless of the reasons prospective employers have for accepting or requesting e-mail resumes, there is one thing almost every single prospective employer has in common. Very few will want e-mail resumes sent as attachments.

The reason for this is simple. No company wants to risk a computer virus or Trojan infection on their expensive technological equipment. Neither are they interested in seeing fancy HTML coded e-mails. In some cases, companies' e-mail software might not be able to read HTML e-mail. Besides, nifty HTML e-mails are usually larger files. Which means they take up unnecessary space in a prospective employer's inbox.

It's best to e-mail your resume as a plain text resume.

Which brings up the question, what is a plain text resume? Well, plain text resumes are also often referred to as ASCII resumes. Plain text resumes have no text formatting. That means no bolding, italicizing or underlining. Plain text resumes have no centering or special characters like the copyright or trademark symbols.

Therefore, in short, plain text resumes contain only typed text and nothing else. Usually every character in a plain text resume is evenly spaced and the same size. This includes blank spaces and punctuation like apostrophes.

When you prepare to email your plain text resume, there are a few things to keep in mind. As tempting as it is to simply paste your entire Word-processed resume into a plain text format, don't do it.

Simply pasting a pre-written resume into plain text format will cause all sorts of layout and formatting problems. Sentences might get squished together. Paragraph breaks could disappear. In addition, characters as simple as commas could appear as gibberish.

A plain text resume with layout and formatting problems, and poorly converted characters will present you in a poor light. And a poorly presented resume, whether print or plain text, is less likely to be read by a prospective employer.

To prevent this, you have two options. You can originally write your resume in plain text. Alternatively, you can re- type your original resume into plain text format. Just be sure that your plain text resume is less than 65 characters wide.

Some experts also suggest you include several words related to the industry you're trying to get a job in. These are called keywords. And these keywords make it easier for a prospective employer to find your resume if he or she is searching through an online database.

When typing your plain text resume, be sure to use capital letters to emphasize headings. In addition, be sure to left align your content. Also, don't use your tab key. Use five spaces instead.

A plain text resume can be created in your Notepad program. (To access it, click the Start button, then Programs, and then Notepad. Type away and save.

To convert a word processor document into a text file, select all the text. Change the text to 10 or 12 point Courier font. Adjust your margin to 4.5 or 5 inches. Then re-save as a text only file.

Creating and e-mailing a plain text resume takes only a few minutes to do, but the rewards of doing one correctly could pay off for many, many months.

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Distributing Your Resume For A Targeted Job Search

When you have prepared your prospect list and you are satisfied that you have gathered all the relevant information for your job search, it is time to prepare your resume for distribution. To do this you must ensure that your resume accurately represents your candidacy and has been proofread to eliminate the risk of any grammatical errors that will impede your chances of success.

It is very important that when you distribute your resume you do so with the help of personalized cover letters. Distributing your resume is not unlike executing a successful marketing campaign. You should always secure the name of the contact person to whom you are sending the resume. Writing Dear Sir/Madam or To Whom it May Concern is simply not appropriate. You can verify this information by placing a call to the company receptionist. Always make sure that you get the spelling correct! Finally, ensure that you get the correct title for your contact name as nothing causes greater offence than using an incorrect title and name.

A strong introduction is required to make an immediate connection with a hiring manager. You must open the communication with a statement designed to generate interest. Quantifying accomplishments works very well in this situation as a hiring manager can immediately determine your potential contribution and ability to add value to their organization. Demonstrate the fact that you have actively researched their company and that you have familiarized yourself with their products, services, market and culture.

Your cover letter must be a persuasive marketing document that makes them want to pick up your resume and read on. They must want to see more of your accomplishments and identify your potential and viability as a potential employee. Offering a brief but carefully chosen insight into your professional background as well as demonstrating your skills, expertise and competencies is what will make you stand apart from the other candidates.

Your cover letter must be strongly worded and must challenge a prospective employer to read further. You must make them want to speak to you or at the very minimum pick up your resume and take it one step further. By quantifying selected accomplishments, you clearly demonstrate why you are an interesting prospect and highlight the contribution you can make to the bottom line.

Closing is always the hardest part as you don't want to simply say. Call me That won't work! You must make the employer call you and do this you have to give your candidacy one last marketing plug. Think of it as a very strong sales pitch where you get one final opportunity to convince a prospective employer of your worth. Finish strongly, cementing your potential in the employers mind.

Remember that each personalized cover letter should be brief, certainly no longer than one page. Review it several times in an effort to condense the language further. It should be punchy and reader friendly. It must flow naturally and generate interest from the very outset.

As with your resume the paper you use for printing your cover letter should be high quality watermarked or bonded white or off white paper. Only use a laser printer that won't blob ink all over the documents. The cover letter must be suitably pristine and the presentation impeccable.

Don't sit back once you have sent the letter and the resume and think you have played your part. You must follow up! As mentioned previously competition for jobs is particularly intense and managers are increasingly busier in their everyday working lives. Call one week after you have submitted your application and courteously request an update. This will ensure that your enthusiasm, good manners and commitment are on display and will prompt an employer to take a second look at your resume with a view to hiring you. Persistence and diligence are two key factors in a candidate's success.

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Keeping Your Resume Out Of Spam Filters

The vast majority of e-mail received today is SPAM - bulk messages that are unsolicited and quickly clog up servers and inboxes all across the internet. This is why so many businesses and individuals use aggressive SPAM filters in an attempt to separate legitimate e-mail from nuisance e-mail.

Unfortunately, many job seekers end up with their resume e-mails being flagged as junk or SPAM, making delivery to the right person unreliable at best. The worst part is that you will very seldom receive any kind of a response that tells you when a message is filtered out - it just gets deleted immediately or moved into a junk folder for deletion in a few days.

There are some things you can do, though, to reduce the chances of your messages being misidentified as junk and make sure they get through to the people you really want to reach with your resume.

Follow directions

When you submit your resume to a potential employer in response to a job posting, follow that employer's submission directions EXACTLY. No variations, no slight changes, do exactly as they request.

Why? Because most employers provide specific directions so that resume submission are not filtered out as SPAM. For example, if the instructions say to put the job posting number in the subject line of your e-mail it is likely because they have set their filtering software to handle such messages in a specific manner. If you do not include the proper information, you risk having your message not being delivered as intended.

Check your e-mail provider

The ISP you use as an e-mail provider could be the cause of your messages not getting through. This is because most reputable e-mail networks subscribe to one of several SPAM-fighting services that keep "blacklists" of ISPs that are known sources of SPAM. If your message comes from a blacklist ISP then it will be blocked without ever even reaching your intended recipient.

You can check to see if your ISP is on a blacklist by looking it up on an anti-SPAM site such as spamcop.net. In most cases, an ISP on the blacklist will work very hard to get off of it so they will seldom stay on it for more than a few days. If, though, your ISP remains on the blacklist for any longer than that you should switch to another ISP for your e- mail services.

Other problem areas

A number of other message characteristics can trigger SPAM filters, so the best way to avoid this is to avoid sending messages with these elements. The most common things that are noted by SPAM filters are:

A message sent to several e-mail addresses at the same time

A blank subject field

A subject field with exclamation points, dollar signs, numbers, all-capitalized words, or suspicious words like "free", "exclusive offer", "important opportunity", etc.

A message with attachments

A message composed in HTML instead of plain text

In most cases, it takes more than one of these characteristics for your message to be flagged as SPAM, but it is a good idea to avoid all of them whenever possible. If you think your message has not gone through, you can contact the recipient directly to ensure it arrived and/or follow up with a hard copy of your resume sent via regular mail.

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Resume Blasting-pros And Cons

The computer has revolutionized the way that job searches are conducted. Thanks to the proliferation of job databases, job seekers can now search for employment with the click of a mouse. In addition, a number of employment services are using high-tech methods to introduce job applicants to employers. Perhaps one of the most controversial tools is resume blasting.

With resume blasting, an individual's resume is sent, or blasted, to the e-mail inboxes of thousands of recruiters, headhunters, human resource executives, and managers. It's the type of phenomenon that's only possible in the digital age. Of course, there are both advantages and disadvantages to resume blasting.

Pros

Resume blasting is a way for you to reach a large number of employers in a short period of time. It can take only a few minutes for your resume to be blasted to thousands of e-mail accounts. It would probably take you weeks to copy and mail your resume to that many employers-plus, you would have to spend a great deal of time researching in order to come up with a list of employers to send your resume to.

In addition, resume blasting is convenient. It requires very little work on your part. All you have to do is format a resume and upload it onto a blasting site. It is a simple procedure which could reap huge rewards in terms of helping you to secure your next job.

Cons

Since one of the greatest advantages to resume blasting is the amount of time it saves, you have to determine whether the time savings is truly worth the expense. And can you really afford to make resume blasting part of your job search? You may simply not have the cash needed to invest in a blasting service.

Also, some career coaches question the wisdom of resume blasting. You only need one job-not thousands-so is there really any need to blast your resume to thousands of employers? In addition, you have to wonder whether employers or even recruiters have the time to review all the resumes they receive via e-mail-particularly when those resumes are unsolicited. Company managers are often busy-too busy to spend time sifting through an electronic pile of resumes.

In the end, it may make more sense to conduct a targeted job search. This means sending your resume only to those companies that are looking for someone with your qualifications. You can e-mail the resumes yourself to some employers in your geographical area in response to positions that have been advertised in newspapers, on the radio, or via Internet. That way, you're spending nothing for the distribution of your resume, but the chances that your resume will receive a response are much greater.

Summary

Ultimately, only you can determine whether resume blasting is appropriate in your case. Carefully consider the pluses and minuses of blasting. Be sure to ask your mentor or a trusted friend for advice. Certainly, resume blasting is a high-tech wonder, but it's a tool that must be used wisely.

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Resume Distribution Services

Distributing your resume via the Internet is a very effective method of managing your job search. It is fast becoming the most widely used recruitment tool in the employment market. Gone are the traditional methods of reading through scores of personal applications.

Bear in mind that there are millions of recruiters and employers searching the Internet everyday for a suitable candidate that will become an integral part of their organization. They are delighted to be able to select a candidate from the many databases on offer to them across the World Wide Web.

The Resume distribution service allows you to choose the amount of resumes you wish to mail at any given time. Remember the more resumes you mail out the greater your options are when it comes to making career choices. It also affords you the opportunity to choose the sector, region, and industry you wish to work in.

Once you have made your selections you will be provided with detail on each of the companies. This information will assist you as you prepare responses after initial contact has been made.

The purpose of effective resume distribution is to maximise your exposure. To do this you must be in a position to mail a high quality resume that reflects your skills and abilities, experience and expertise, successes and achievements.

Getting your resume out there is one thing, making sure that you get noticed is another.

There are many positions that are never advertised, to circumvent this particular problem, use an effective distribution service that taps into the hidden job market and ensures that top recruiters and industries have your resume on hand when a position becomes available.

Your profile will be carefully measured against available job opportunities and selected for targeted roles within selected organizations, thus putting you right under the nose of a hiring manager.

It is by far a most effective method of performing an extensive job search with a lot less stress and trauma than is experienced the old fashioned way.

Thankfully the days of writing countless cover letters and addressing envelopes is at an end. Take a leap and enrol your resume in a distribution service, sit back and wait for the job offers to roll in.

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Resume Posting Service

Posting your resume online gives you a very effective head start in your job search. There are now hundreds of sites available where you may post your resume online. The added benefit is the simplicity involved, you can upload your resume with the click of your mouse.

Begin your posting at the top sites where you are guaranteed visibility and traffic. Don’t forget to maintain your password so that you may make updates and revisions as necessary.

These sites have gained credibility with employers and recruiters alike and will ensure that your resume gets the visibility it needs for your job search.

Job searches can be a frustrating and often difficult process, writing countless targeted cover letters can be a slow and wearisome process. Effective job posting on sites such as Monster or Hot Jobs puts your resume within the domain of the employers and recruiters who are seeking professional skilled candidates.

It allows you to apply directly for job advertisements posted on these sites and saves you considerable time foraging through newspapers and periodicals seeking new positions.

Everyday recruiters and employers search job postings as they seek out the exact match in their prospective employers. Get on board now and become part of the technological recruitment revolution.

Don’t underestimate the power of the Internet; posting your resume on the top sites gives you the opportunity to display your potential to over a million recruitment specialists and hiring employers every day.

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The Merits Of Scannable Resumes

The resume you have crafted to grab the attention of your potential employer may have one serious flaw. It may not be the employer that you have to appeal to. Technology has allowed recruiters and employers to become more efficient when it comes to searching for viable candidates for a position. Using scanning technology employers are scanning print resumes into databases for computer reference. The computer references the resumes using keywords and matches candidates to positions in this way. If your resume is not formatted correctly you may be losing valuable opportunities to be seen at all.

There are a number of ways in which the process of scanning a resume may occur. The scan will either maintain the resume as a graphic image or it will convert it into text. If the scanner maintains it as an image your resume will remain the same. If it converts it into text certain elements may not translate. This means that you have a 50% chance that your resume will translate correctly into a computer program. These are not the kind of odds you want to be playing with when it comes to your career.

Scannable resumes are becoming more and more common. Fundamentally the scannable resume contains the same information and does the same job as a print resume. The difference is in the formatting. Remember instead of appealing to a human audience you are formatting for a computer. The best user-friendly universal format is the text file. Text files have no formatting and are easily read by most computer scanning programs.

It is advisable to have two versions of your resume, a print version and a scannable version. The merits of having a scannable version are many. If your resume is not computer friendly and your employer uses this technology you may as well not apply. Your vital information and selling points may get lost in cyber space. The format of your resume will change and certain information may not show up at all.

You can use a scannable resume to get ahead in the job market. By using text format and proven keywords you will send your resume straight to the top of the computer search. In order to efficiently select candidates, match skills and experience the computer will scan your resume for keywords and phrases related to the required skills and qualifications.

A scannable resume is no different to a print resume; it is a chance to sell your skills to a potential employer. In the same way as you would target your employer with a print resume you need to target the computer in your scannable one. The vital difference is format. You should stick to a simplistic computer friendly format. Graphics, designs, bullets, bolding and underlining make it harder for the computer to get to important keywords in your resume. Use normal serif fonts such as Times, Ariel or Courier and stick to a font size between 11 and 14. Print your resume on a high quality laser printer or inkjet. Stick to printing on white or very pale colored paper to get maximum scan quality.

The most important thing to remember with a scannable resume is keywords. This is what will match your resume with the job description. Use words and phrases that are job and industry specific. Use words that are used in the job outline. Try to preempt what kinds of words and phrases might be used to describe the requirements for the job. It is essential that you use industry jargon and company specific terminology. The use of keywords can influence how your resume is read and if it is read at all.

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