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E-Résumés: Cut & Paste
Not just for kids

When sending your résumé electronically you have two choices:

1. Cut-and-paste it in an email
2. Send it as an attached file

You're better off taking the first option, cut-and-paste, because employers generally don't like attached files (There's the danger of transmitting a virus, not to mention it's extra work for them to download the document and then open it in another application, assuming they have the same application).

Here are some helpful hints for making a effective "cut and paste" or "copy and paste" résumé.

• Register every line to the left margin. This will enable you to keep your résumé neatly formatted.
• Use dashes (-) instead of bullets.
• Use spaces to separate words to make them stand out.
• Use more lines to keep the design simple and easy to read.
• Put résumé categories in UPPER CASE.

We also recommend that you do the following to make sure that your résumé will be as attractive as possible and easily read by employers and your career counselors.

• View your résumé after you save it.
• Test your résumé before sending it to employers by mailing it to yourself.

• Send an additional hard copy (snail mail) to your top employers.
• Add a key-word search list to the end of your résumé.

Please note:

• Boldface, underline and italics will be lost when you copy then paste your résumé onto a Web site.
• Graphics, shading, parenthesis and symbols will not appear on a résumé that you paste into the box.
• Bullets (except for a dash - ) (asterisks sometimes work) cannot transfer over from word processor to Web.
• While you can edit within the box, tabs, indents and centering will not help you properly format your résumé.

Special thanks to Mark Schmiedeshoff, Director of Career Services at Hudson Valley Community College, Troy, NY for these tips on doing an effective cut and paste résumé.

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