A client just emailed me asking, “Is it better to send my resume as a PDF rather than in Word?”
The answer is – probably not.
Despite the universal nature of PDFs, most executive recruiters and internal recruiters still require a Word document to import into their applicant tracking systems. As part of their process, executive recruiters also often replace your contact info in the header with their own or otherwise make slight edits based on particulars of individual job orders.
It’s hard to avoid sending your resume as a Word document. To help, here are two suggestions –
- If you’re using Word 2007, I would suggest saving the file as an earlier version of Word (i.e., a .doc file for with Word 97-2003), not a .docx, to avoid compatibility issues. To do this, go to: File_Save As_click the down arrow to the right of “Save as Type”_ select Word 97-2003.
- Since we’ve established recruiters prefer to receive Word documents and that we have all seen at one time or another how scary formatting can shift from one system to another, I use and would recommend you use a universally found font such as Garamond, Verdana, Tahoma, Palatino, or (if you must) Arial or Times New Roman. This is your best insurance against a font nightmare.
Now, the original questions was PDF vs. Word, but I would also suggest that you copy and paste a text version of your resume into the body of your email. This allows the recipient to save time and scan down to see your background without opening an attachment.
For at least the time being, Microsft Word remains the most commonly accepted form of resumes. Do what you can to facilitate the job search process!