What is the proper way to e-mail a cover letter and resume to an employer or recruiter who has requested you e-mail your resume? Great question and one I get asked quite frequently!

Notice I mentioned requested? You will never make a positive impression by randomly e-mailing your informaiton to any e-mail address you find that is not p;posted specifically for this purpose. Nor will a recruiter or potential employer appreciate being sent attachments they did not ask for.

First, include a brief and professional note with your attachment confirming their request.

Dear….:

Per our conversation, please find attached….

Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions you may have. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,
FirstName LastName
Phone

If they did not specifically give you a format that they prefer I would send my cover letter and resume in one Adobe PDF file.

The Adobe Reader is free and on almost every computer and will allow them to open one file to get both documents. PDF is the only format that will ensure that your layout will be viewed as intended on any operating system.

For example, if you send your resume and cover letter in Word format and the prospective employer has WordPerfect (or visa-versa), their software will convert to the native format and the layout of your documents can end up not being as impressive as you planned. You can loose complete control of your presentation.

If you don’t have Adobe Acrobat software to create a PDF file, there are several free services online that will convert your documents for you–just do a search at your favorite Search Engine.

Another suggestion is to name your file to be descriptive of what it is:

firstname-lastname-resume.pdf

This helps to make sure once the recruiter has your file on their computer they know who and what it is at a glance.

Good luck with your job search!

Every day through NetManners.com I get inquiries about the appropriateness of e-mailing other onliners about what others feel is important.   One side has an opinion; knows the other side disagrees and continues to e-mail them on the topic anyway.  While everyone has an opinion, that does not mean one has the right to send that opinion to those who didn’t ask for it.

Basically spam is unwanted e-mail of any kind. Yes, it tends to be tied into e-mails that are selling something for commercial gain, however, any unasked for e-mail is considered spam. To avoid being viewed as a thoughtless spammer — one who sends others e-mails they feel are important regardless of the other side’s known difference of opinion — be an adult and act with courtesy.

cour·te·sy

1. excellence of manners or social conduct; polite behavior.
2. a courteous, respectful, or considerate act or expression.
3. indulgence, consent

Don’t get me wrong, everyone is justified to have their opinion. However in today’s clearly emotionally and politically charged environment; many are leaving courtesy behind and becoming inbox bullies and blowhards.  Even if asked to stop sending their propaganda many are acting like they are on a mission — “I know better, I will continue to send you e-mails you don’t want and you will read them anyway!”

Regardless of how important or noble you think a topic may be — you don’t send it to those who you know are not interested or have asked you to stop.  Nor do you continue to send blurbs and forwards of a negative nature to those you know for a fact do not share the same opinion as you do.

The great thing about the online world is that you can find like minds to hang out with, share ideas and type to on about any subject you can imagine. Don’t use e-mail as your personal crusade tool to ram your opinions and viewpoints into the inboxes of those who have not solicited your input or opinion.

Instead, be better than that and show your tech savvy, maturity and courteousness by go to the sites, Blogs and forums where there are like minds to communicate with.   Because regardless of what you may like to think, no one likes know-it-all inbox bullies.

When do you put your e-mail addressees in the To: field or the Cc: field? There really are no hard and fast rules — you have to use your discretion based on the circumstances at hand.

As a general guideline, use the To: field if you want to address several contacts for the same reason as a group, while encouraging their input. If your name is in the To: field your response is being solicited and expected. If your comments need to be known by the others in the To: field, use Reply to All.

The Cc: field is generally used to keep people in the loop (FYI) with no expectation of a reply being required. That is unless you have something important to add to the conversation that needs to be pointed out. In that case, reply to the Sender only and do not hit Reply to All. Let the Sender determine if your reply holds information that needs to be disseminated or known by the others involved.

One thing is clear — refrain from playing politics with these fields to make someone feel less important or to make a point by putting them in the Cc: field when they should be in the To: field and be welcomed to contribute. That is never a successful strategy and can backfire making you look trivial.

Should you apologize if you get an e-mail virus that starts sending out to all your friends and contacts?  You bet you should!  There is no excuse in this day and age to get infected in the first place.

First you want to figure out how that was allowed to happen so it does not happen again. Lack of of understanding, software, updates? Whichever it is address it so you won’t you find yourself in this embarrassing situation again.

Then, you may want to send out a simple broadcast apology stating you are sorry for any inconvenience caused and noting that you’ve learned your lesson and have now put software/updates in place to prevent this from happening again.

Keep in mind however, that if your friends have good virus protection, it probably will not be an issue and they may not even notice because the infected e-mail will be quarantined on the download.  See, the only people who have problems with viruses are those who don’t make the effort to protect their own computers which includes constantly updating their virus software.

Make sure you use the built in update scheduler that comes with all virus/spamware software to ensure that your computer is kept informed of the latest new viruses to know what to protect you from.  And you have to have a program that is actively scanning your e-mail too.

The program I use is AVG Internet Security.  After years of using unreliable programs or bloated Norton Systemworks, I’ve seen the light!  This program doesn’t hog resources or require as much drive space to do a much better job!  My system is safe and has been running much smoother since I made the switch!

If you know someone who needs to be made aware of this information, check out my article on the topic. Simply click on the little “Email this to a Friend” button in the top right corner of the page to e-mail them a direct link:

Remaining Virus Free is YOUR Responsibility!