You’ve agonized over your resume and cover letter and perfected its content (hopefully), and now you’re ready to submit it. But applying for jobs isn’t always straightforward, and online application systems can sometimes be confusing or unwieldy.
You’ve got questions about applying online, and U.S. News has answers. Let’s get started.
What format should your resume be in — Word, PDF or something else?
Either one is fine. There are advantages to using a PDF though, since it will preserve your formatting exactly as you want it, where Word documents can display differently from computer to computer. Do stick with one of these two formats though; your recipient may not have the software to open documents in other formats.
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If you’re applying by email, should you attach your cover letter in a separate document or put it in the body of the email?
Either one is fine! People do it both ways, and employers aren’t going to penalize you for picking one over the other.
That said, attaching the cover letter as a separate document will keep your formatting and can make it easier for hiring managers to share your materials with colleagues. If you choose to attach it, then before you send it you should write something like this in the body of the email: “I’d like to apply for your communications director position. Attached please find my cover letter and resume.” (But don’t get tempted to write more than that, or you’ll end up with a whole second cover letter.)
If an application system asks you to fill out questions that are already answered on your resume, can you just write “see resume”?
Sadly, no. The temptation is understandable, but it will annoy a lot of employers. They’re asking, so they want you to answer.
But to make this easier, a good trick is to keep a plain-text version of your resume that you can easily copy and paste from without having to deal with formatting issues that can result if you’re copying and pasting heavily formatted text.
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If an online application system wants to know your salary requirements, do you have to answer?
This is an incredibly frustrating element of some online application systems, since your answer may depend on details you don’t currently know about the job responsibilities and the broader company benefits package. And yet, many systems won’t allow you to submit your application if you don’t answer this question. Sometimes the system will let you enter a number like $1 — which makes it clear you’re not answering right now, but lets the system move your application forward.
Is it true that your application will be screened by a computer and a human won’t even look at it?
People think this happens far more than it does! It’s true that some employers do some automated screening of resumes at the start of the process, and the system may automatically reject you if you don’t meet certain requirements, like a specific degree or X number of years of experience in the field. But those searches are programmed by humans, and humans mostly do look at applications early in the process. Good hiring managers and good recruiters aren’t relying on computers to do the majority of their screening — it’s an aid in the process, but it’s not the main thing driving the process.
If you have a strong resume that clearly describes your experience and speaks to the requirements outlined in the job posting, a human should see your application.
Plus, many employers don’t use automated screening at all, and simply use their online application systems as a way to keep all the information about candidates in one place that many people involved in the process can access.
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With LinkedIn being so well-known, can you submit a link to your LinkedIn profile in place of a traditional resume?
No, not unless an employer explicitly says you can do that. Most won’t, since when you’re screening hundreds or resumes, it’s much easier if they’re all in a relatively consistent format. Plus, if the employer uses an applicant tracking system, most of those systems aren’t set up to take LinkedIn pages. On top of all that, it’s not even necessarily to your advantage to submit your LinkedIn profile instead of a resume, since that would mean you couldn’t customize your resume to the particular job posting you’re applying for. You can of course include a link to your LinkedIn profile on your resume, but it shouldn’t take the place of your resume.
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Here’s the Right Way to Submit Your Resume Online originally appeared on usnews.com
