The paperless resume wins more fans

Job hunters can still print stacks of resumes at the local Kinko's. But many now hit cybercafes instead.

E-mailed resumes account for 34 percent of all submissions to prospective employers, according to a new survey of 150 executives representing the country's 1,000 largest companies. And 48 percent of employers now prefer to receive resumes by e-mail according to Officeteam, the outplacement firm that conducted the study. That's a striking contrast to two years ago, when just 4 percent of respondents stated a preference for resumes via e-mail.

And the others? The poll revealed that 21 percent of executives prefer getting resumes by mail, 11 percent prefer faxes, and the rest had no stated preference.

Even with an informal medium like e-mail, job hunters should still pay strict attention to professional presentation of credentials. E-mails sent from a user name like "FastCar" or "Sherlock" is a strict no-no, says Management Recruitment International, a staffing-service firm. Domain name matters, too. Using an AOL, Hotmail, or Juno account indicates the candidate probably isn't using an office e-mail account for personal business.

Other tips: Ensure that the resume is in a format friendly to most browsers, and send the document in both text form and as an attachment, prefaced by a brief cover letter. Also, include your name and the position you're interested in on the e-mail's subject line to distinguish your resume from others submitted.

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