Resumes:

You may want to prepare a basic resume in several formats.  

Most resumes will originally be prepared as a word processed resume, which can then be converted to another format.  This resume lend itself well to printing hard copies and can be emailed as an attachment.  You can easily make changes to the document to tailor each application.

Some employers will specify a plain text resume, also known as an ASCII (acronym for American Standard Code for Information Interchange) resume,  because it is easily scanned into their computer system.  Employers can then search the resumes they receive for keywords.  It is frequently recommended that you use the same keywords in your resume that the employer uses in their posting -- when the resume is scanned for those words, yours is more likely be among the ones that are chosen for further review.  A plain text resume is also easier  to copy and paste into the body of an email.  Instructions to create a plain text resume can be found here.  

Resumes in pdf format will keep their formatting when sent as an attachment; it is also unlikely that anyone will be able to make changes to the document, since  Adobe Acrobat Professional is required to edit pdf.   This  format is also regarded as a safer attachment in that it is much less likely to carry a virus.  Word 2007 allows you to save documents in pdf format, but keep in mind that you will not be able to make changes to the pdf, so be sure to save the original Word file. Adobe Acrobat Reader, a free download, is required to open the document.

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