A common problem that many job seekers may not be aware of is the power
of spam filters to stop their resume from reaching employers and
recruiters. Below are a few tips
on how job seekers can help decrease the chances of a spam filter blocking their
resume:
1. Once you make a
contact within a company you want to work with, ask them to add you to their
“white list.” The white list will
tell the spam filter that your email address is safe, thus allowing your resume
to avoid the spam filter snag.
2. Do not blast
your resume out to a large amount of people at the same time. Although we have warned against this,
there are still some job seekers who mass email their resume to 50 or more
people at one time. If you send
out a message to 50 or more email addresses at one time your message may be
stopped by your ISP (internet service provider) and marked as spam.
3. Do not send
your resume with a blank subject field or a subject that includes numbers,
symbols or punctuation. Many spam
filters mark messages that have numbers, symbols or punctuation as spam because
many spammers format their subject line in this way. Also, do not ever use all caps in your subject line because
many spam filters will block the message, plus it is considered shouting.
4. Do not send
your resume as an attachment if possible and never send your resume as a
compressed file unless the employer has requested it in that format. It is best to paste your resume as
plain text into the body of your resume to reduce your chances of being blocked
by a spam filter.