Tips on Creating a Professional Emailed Job Application

With the advantage of the Internet, job portals many of us have the opportunity to apply for work through email.

However, just because the Internet and email is so fast and convenient, does not mean that you should give up professionalism and polish ness!

I recently looked over a few emailed applications, and let me tell you, it was an eye-opening experience! Here are a few examples of how *not* to do things.. .

One person simply forwarded the job description to the hiring company. There was no explanatory letter, no name (just some garbled email address), and nothing. Why should a company hire someone who is not bothered to make an effort?

Spelling mistakes, typos, grammatical errors, and formatting problems like you wouldn't believe. One person wrote her greatest strength is her attention to 'detal' (should have been 'DETAIL'); another wrote it was his responsibility to 'a tent to customers' ('ATTEND to customers').

Several people got the name of the hiring party wrong. Some misspelled it. Others substituted someone else's name.

It almost goes without saying that you should always follow the application instructions provided. If you're inquiring or applying for a job - regardless of whether it's online or in the 'real world' - there are certain rules of etiquette that apply:

• Greet the person. Don't just barge in and start writing. A simple "Dear ___" is great.

• Correctly write the company's name and that of the hiring manager. If you don't know how to spell them, take a few seconds and find out.

• Indicate which position you're applying for. Be specific; the company may be hiring for more than one job position.

• Check your spellings and grammatical errors. It takes just a few minutes. If you are not confident about doing this yourself, ask a friend or family member to check it for you.

• Tell them how to contact you. As the bare minimum, leave your phone number and email address.

• Format your email to 60 characters per line. Many email programs automatically 'word-wrap' somewhere between 60 and 70 characters. Add a hard return when you reach 60 characters on a line; this ensures the company a nicely formatted application, just like you intended.

• And for goodness' sakes, tell them your name. This is so obvious n painful, yet I've seen dozens of applications they are not signed even. End your letter with 'Sincerely', 'Regards' or 'Yours Truly', and then sign your name.

• Be courteous! Don't make demands. Remember that the 'only' thing the hiring manager sees is your email - he or she can't see your facial expressions or body language, so take extra care about the words you select and how you put them together.

• Provide a brief summary of your relevant skills. Be short and to the point.

• And a few practical suggestions...

Save your resume in Microsoft Word (.doc) format. Virtually every recruiter usually opens a Word document. If you make it difficult for a recruiter to open your resume (e.g. by zipping it), he/she will be more likely to delete it and move on to another resume.

Your resume will not "get" you a job. At the best, it will catch the employer's attention and make that person eager to learn more about you. There are many different ways to create an attractive resume, matters not how you arrange your resume

Virtually all recruiters and hiring authorities store resumes electronically and it's much easier to forward a clean copy of your resume via email. Never fax a resume to a company unless requested to do so.

Competition for home based jobs is fierce, so companies can be choosy. Don't give them a reason to pass you by! Professionalism still counts! - Even on the web!