Q: In the past, you seem to have always advised questioners to submit hard copy application packages for jobs rather than sending them through e-mail. Is that still your preference?
I try not to make a habit of it, but I have found it necessary in the past to submit application materials through e-mail for one reason or another — because the job listing asks for it or because deadline for the application period is about to run out — and I’ve had some debates with friends over best practices for e-mail application materials that I was hoping you could help with.
Is it ever acceptable to provide links to stories on a newspaper’s website as clips? It’s not nearly as bulky as sending PDFs, which I’ve done in the past to avoid sending Word documents or something editable, or other types of files. If it is acceptable, how should one go about it? Listing a headline, first graf, then the link in the body of the e-mail? Or perhaps at the bottom of a cover letter? Maybe on a separate document?
Also, when sending e-mail applications, should the person applying copy and paste the cover letter into the body of the e-mail, or attach it to the e-mail as a PDF or some other type of document? If the latter is the case, what should be in the body of the e-mail?
Thank you!
Jessica
A: Things are changing rapidly. We are in a transitional period in which some employers want hard copies and others want digital applications.
If they ask for digital, by all means, go that way. If you can inquire about preferences, that will help. Generally, the more digital an operation has become, the more it is expecting you to act that way, too.
In recruiting for Patch.com, an entirely online news operation, I have encouraged candidates to submit only digital applications. I have handled almost no paper for Patch. A candidate who mails a hard-copy application to all-digital Patch would be sending the wrong message. It would be time-consuming to convert the application to digital files and to forward it to other people. It would be a mistake.
Employers with multiple locations, such as news companies like Gannett, can better circulate the applications if they are digital. And the big job boards, like CareerBuilder, rely on digital applications. Even single-location newsrooms are doing more and more digitally, too. So an initial inquiry by e-mail as to whether you should apply on paper or digitally is smart.
No organization can run parallel systems for handing applications effectively, certainly not if some candidates are in one stream and others are in the other. All organizations will reach a tipping point where they essentially are all digital, but I don’t think we’re there quite yet.
In addition to saving paper, space and time, digital applications are so much easier to search — either to locate a person or to find skills buried in the resume — than paper is.
As for your links/PDF question — go that way whenever you can. It can be a mess to have to open PDF after PDF to look at the clips. This, though, is something else you can ask about in that e-mail.
