> If I want to apply for a position over the internet, I ABSOLUTELY must do things to stand out from the piles of emails Agreed! Regardless of your background

> If I want to apply for a position over the internet, I ABSOLUTELY must do things to stand out from the piles of emails Agreed! Regardless of your background, taking the time to write a specific cover letter and tweak your resume to highlight experience you think a particular place would appreciate is well worth it. Consider it this way: your application is one entry into a huge priority queue heap. You want it to be picked up by the comparison operator in every significant way you can. Don't be afraid to leave out work you did if it doesn't seem relevant; it will just dilute the signal.