eCV helpful hints
Helpful hints to ensure your CV gets seen by prospective employers when you apply online.
The e-cv or e-resume, short for electronic CV or Resume, is a vital tool for today's job-seeker.
But what exactly is an electronic cv or resume? Whilst opinions vary about what is or is not an electronic cv, it's a broadly used term that covers several types of cv's. What ties these cv types together is mode of delivery. Rather than traditional modes of cv delivery - snail-mail, faxing, and hand-delivery - e-cv's are delivered electronically -- via e-mail, submitted to Internet job boards, or residing on their own Web page. Then there are sort of middle-tech cousins of e-cv's, scannable cv's - used less and less frequently these days - that are in print format but are ready to become electronic cv's through optical scanning.
- 1. You absolutely MUST have one.
- 2. Your e-cv must be loaded with keywords.
- 3. Your e-cv must be achievements-driven .
- 4. An e-cv is not too difficult to create.
- 5. Text-based e-cv's are pretty ugly, but you can dress them up a bit.
- 6. E-Cv's are highly versatile.
- 7. You must tailor the use of your e-cv to each employer's or job board's instructions.
- 8. Take advantage of job-board features to protect yourself and get the most out of posting your e-cv on the boards.
- 9. A few finishing touches can increase your e-cv's effectiveness.
- 10. Use your common sense
7. You must tailor the use of your e-cv to each employer's or job board's instructions.
As you might have guessed from what you've read so far in this article, there is no universally accepted way to submit your e-cv to an employer. Some employers want your cv as an attachment, usually as a Word document (but if no format is specified, and you can't find out, RTF is the safest bet). Others want your cv as text pasted into the body of an e-mail message. Still others want you to paste your resume into an online form.If you absolutely cannot find out an employer's preference, the following is a fairly safe bet:
A formatted, "print" cv in document or RTF form sent as an attachment to an e-mail message to the employer.
A text-based e-cv stripped of most formatting and pasted directly into the same e-mail message into which your print cv is attached. Since the employer has this text-based cv, he or she can choose whether or not to open the attached version, based on compatibility, virus protection, and company policy on opening attachments. For a truly complete e-mailable, electronic package, add a text-based cover letter stripped of formatting and pasted directly into the same e-mail message into which your print cv is attached. In your cover letter state: "I have attached an MS Word version of my CV, as well as pasted a plain-text version below. (If the plain-text version is sufficient for your database, it is not necessary to download the formatted attachment.)"
The same lack of universality goes for job boards. Some enable you to paste your cv into a form in any format, but the board automatically converts it to text. Others require that the cv be in text format to begin with before you can paste it into the form. These variations underscore the importance of having a text-based e-cv.
A text-based e-cv is not only vital for boards with a text-cv requirement -- but also extremely helpful when the boards convert any cv to text. Just because a job board turns your cv into text doesn't mean it will look decent; it's better to have a text cv to begin with so you know it will look appropriate when pasted in.
Also note that some job boards/employers limit the number of words or the size of the file that you can paste into any one field. Others, such as Monster.com, have a very rigid format for constructing your cv/profile that does not allow for functional or chrono-functional resume formats, for example.
