Quick Question. Against A Deadline. Help?

A job posting I just read asks applicants to send their resumes in a text document format such as Microsoft word or equivalent.

Do you think equivalent includes PDF format?

It's an odd newspaper posting that does not specifically ask for clips. Is this normal on any level? I find that strange.

So I was going to send cover letter, portfolio and clips in PDF format.

But not sure how to take this posting.

 

NO!

PDF is not a word document.

But did it ask for resumes and clips in a word/text document or just resumes?

 

Just resumes Ace.

Which is why I found it odd.

This is for a reporter position.

 

Use any word-processing program and save them as rich text format. That allows the file to be opened in any word-processing program.

 

I'm betting they want resumes that can be scanned by a computer -- not optically scanned like a photo, but more cut-and-paste style -- so they can add it to an internal, searchable database of job candidates.

To achieve what I suspect they're seeking, you probably could even paste your resume into the body of an e-mail -- although I wouldn't recommend it, since they said they wanted it in Word or similar.

Just a thought: Rich-text format is kind of iffy ... most can, but not *every* word processor can open these files. Save it as a plain-text document instead, and you can be certain it can be opened by even old, pre-Word computers.

(For what it's worth, PDFs probably would work if they're created directly from your word processing program. If the PDF is created by scanning a printed document, it wouldn't work. But don't chance it.)

</geekmode>

 

Also, if you're using a newer Office, save it as a compatible 98-03 doc.

 

Do you really want to work for a company that can't open an RTF?

 

That's a different matter entirely.