While you don’t have to go out and buy that fancy watermarked resume paper, buy postage, and address all of those envelopes, you do need to manage other important aspects of sending your resume when you use email.

Many employers have their own preferred method for receiving your resume. Some request ASCII format (plain text) while others may request a Microsoft Word document. If you are sending an unsolicited resume, you won’t have the benefit of seeing resume submission policies. One thing you can do is check to see if they have a company profile on JobsInME.com, or go directly to their website and find the "jobs" page to find instructions for applying.

When employers tell you that your resume will be kept "on file," they actually mean it. I have asked hiring mangers from various companies if they do actually search through resumes that were submitted but not selected for a specific position, and they all said that they do. One former job seeker told me that he was contacted for a new job that was being created in a company two months after getting rejected for a different position. His resume had stood out in their mind as being a good match.

I asked Mary Labbe, who works in human resources at L.L.Bean, how her department handles the resumes that they receive: "Resumes are scanned into our database, so if a candidate is not interviewed for the position for which they are applying, they can be considered for future positions by our searching the database. Resumes can be received via email or snail mail. Sometimes candidates will send their resume both ways, but when the second resume is scanned into our system, it will state we already have a resume on file. We check to see if the resume is a duplicate or an updated version. If it's a 'dupe', it's deleted; if it's an updated version, the new resume replaces the old one."

Each company has their own method for screening and filing resumes, but be assured that emailing the same resume to the same company for the same job multiple times is not a good way to get their attention. They may remember you, but not for the right reasons

Many job seekers will be surprised to discover that a resume posted on an online job board isn’t designed to resemble a paper resume, since the emphasis is on keywords, not fancy fonts.

When an employer conducts a candidate search online, they type in the key words associated with the position they are seeking. Therefore, the name of your resume is key, since that is the first thing an employer will see. If you are too vague, they may not click on your resume. An example would be "Hard Working Individual." If you are too specific they may not look at your resume, either: "Biotechnology Marketing Expert." Do you really want to screen yourself out for other opportunities? The title should invite further reading, not allow them to screen you out before they even look at it. A good title might be: "Account Manager with inside and outside sales experience."

Formatting Online

If you copy and paste your resume from a Microsoft Word document and paste it into a field online, you will lose your formatting completely. Some sites allow you to use HTML so that you can make certain words bold, in color, or italics. If you don’t have that option, you can use asterisks instead of bullets. Just be sure to check how your resume looks to the employer. On JobsInME.com you simply select "view" after you have posted your resume. If you are looking for a job in marketing, make sure your resume is infused with "marketing" and other terms relevant to the industry. What makes an online resume literally stand out is the presentation of your experiences and the presence of keywords specific to your industry.

Your goal is to keep employers clicking to find out more about you, and not give them any reason to scroll past your resume.