Q: I am currently a sophomore in college and am looking to apply for internships for this upcoming summer. I have inquired about internship opportunities and received an e-mail saying that they were still looking at applications. I am applying for a variety of internships through e-mail and was wondering if I should either attach my résumé or send my résumé in the actual text of the e-mail. The results I found were kind of mixed in this regard. Thanks for your help.
Adam
A: I would give serious thought to applying on paper, and here's why. Although we are heading toward less paperwork, we're not there yet. An editor who receives a variety of applications -- some digital, some on paper -- needs to get them into one system. It is easier to convert digital applications to paper than to scan paper applications, so most editors are still working with paper. There is also the issue of storage capacity. My computer simply does not have space for hundreds of applications letters, résumés, essays and the thousands of work samples that would come along with them. Add in the fact that some people send their work samples as image files, such as PDF's, I would be looking at a major blockage.
That said, if you still decide to apply by e-mail, or id editors ask you too, I would put my résumé within the body of the e-mail, or attach it as a plain-vanilla word document.
Not all editors have all the programs that people might use to create their résumés, and some newspaper systems network administrators discourage the opening of attachments from strangers, for obvious reasons.
When I get an attachment that does not open, I get miffed. (At my computer, of course!) And I might ask the sender to convert the resume into some other program. If I get a dozen of those in a day, I am more likely to go with the applications I can read.
