Stringent Spam Filters Mistakenly Block E-Mailed Résumés - WSJ

[question everything]

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As companies have tightened e-mail filters in recent months to keep out spam and a spate of damaging computer viruses, they also unintentionally have blocked all sorts of legitimate e-mail. Few companies are talking about it, but e-mails containing job seekers' résumés are among the files commonly being deleted, according to recruiting-technology experts.

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Résumés, along with other legitimate e-mail, most commonly are blocked when companies set spam and virus filters too high... E-mail-filtering systems typically scan the content of messages for particular words that are common to spam. The mere presence of words such as "free," "expand," "trial," "mortgage," or exclamation points or colored backgrounds -- all of which might be used by résumé writers -- could trigger some filters, Mr. Nadir says.

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In some cases... résumés that get through the front door disappear when e-mailed from one employee to another -- such as when a manager wishes to alert another to the résumé of a promising candidate. Job seekers who sign up to receive e-mailed job announcements from companies may never receive them if their own Internet-service provider blocks the information.

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"Résumé-blasting" services that send out hundreds of résumés at a time also may run afoul of spam-filtering systems, say job seekers...
For several years, job seekers have been coached to include key words in their résumés to get picked up by electronic systems within companies that match résumés to particular job openings -- words denoting expertise, for example, or educational honors. Now, résumé experts warn job seekers that a seemingly innocuous word or phrase taken out of context might trigger spam filters.

Dylan Hunter, 34, of Northborough, Mass., notes on his résumé that he received a master's degree in business administration from Babson College, in Wellesley, Mass., in 1999 and graduated magna cum laude. About three weeks ago, he sent his résumé to a consumer packaged-goods company and received an automated e-mail response that said his résumé had been deleted because it contained a specific obscenity, which the response detailed. Mr. Hunter changed "magna cum laude" to "with high honors," resubmitted the résumé and received an automated reply thanking him for his interest in the company.

Write to Kris Maher at [e-mail]

URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB108180757556180689,0...

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1. BYPASSING THE BLOCKER

Ways to get e-mailed résumé and cover letters through prospective employers' spam guards:

• Send résumé in plain text, not as attachments, unless the employer asks otherwise

• Don't attach compressed files (.zip, .sit, .tar)

• Send e-mail to only one company at a time

• Keep words such as 'free,' 'trial,' 'singles' and 'cash' to a minimum

• Avoid subject lines with punctuation, all-capital-letter words, or the spam buzzwords above

• Don't use colored backgrounds

• Make sure there is a valid address in the 'reply to' field

• Don't use an e-mail address with too many numbers

Source: Job-Hunt.org