So someone sent a resume into the company I work for today

[manlymatt83]

Originally posted by: Capt Caveman

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: Joemonkey

Originally posted by: manlymatt83

Originally posted by: quakefiend420

Originally posted by: Aberforth
Better not take risks, anti-Microsoft companies prefer text files.....I remember one weirdo asking me why I used MS word.

i've never heard anyone complain because they got a resume in .doc...i think the next time i shoot my resume out i'm going to PDF it

I have. In fact, I know of one company for sure where if your resume is *NOT* in text format OR if you show up to the interview in a suit, they on the spot do not hire you.

wtf kinda company WON'T hire you if you come to an interview in a suit?

A company that's trying to hard to force a "culture"

And more than likely has told you not to come to the interview wearing a suit and thus can not follow instructions.

Well, yes... true.

Any job I've ever had, I haven't had to wear a suit. I've had four jobs during & since College. Job #1 was shorts and a t shirt attire. Job #2 was jeans and a t shirt attire. Job #3 was Shorts and a t shirt attire, and job #4 was anything goes. So really the most restrictive one was job #2 (more of a corporate setting).

 

[Capt Caveman]

Originally posted by: manlymatt83

Originally posted by: Capt Caveman

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: Joemonkey

Originally posted by: manlymatt83

Originally posted by: quakefiend420

Originally posted by: Aberforth
Better not take risks, anti-Microsoft companies prefer text files.....I remember one weirdo asking me why I used MS word.

i've never heard anyone complain because they got a resume in .doc...i think the next time i shoot my resume out i'm going to PDF it

I have. In fact, I know of one company for sure where if your resume is *NOT* in text format OR if you show up to the interview in a suit, they on the spot do not hire you.

wtf kinda company WON'T hire you if you come to an interview in a suit?

A company that's trying to hard to force a "culture"

And more than likely has told you not to come to the interview wearing a suit and thus can not follow instructions.

Well, yes... true.

Any job I've ever had, I haven't had to wear a suit. I've had four jobs during & since College. Job #1 was shorts and a t shirt attire. Job #2 was jeans and a t shirt attire. Job #3 was Shorts and a t shirt attire, and job #4 was anything goes. So really the most restrictive one was job #2 (more of a corporate setting).

That's b/c you're so 'Manly'!

 

[finite automaton]

Who cares what format it's in as long as it's well written?

What company do you work for so I know to avoid it?

 

[NaOH]

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: Joemonkey

Originally posted by: manlymatt83

Originally posted by: quakefiend420

Originally posted by: Aberforth
Better not take risks, anti-Microsoft companies prefer text files.....I remember one weirdo asking me why I used MS word.

i've never heard anyone complain because they got a resume in .doc...i think the next time i shoot my resume out i'm going to PDF it

I have. In fact, I know of one company for sure where if your resume is *NOT* in text format OR if you show up to the interview in a suit, they on the spot do not hire you.

wtf kinda company WON'T hire you if you come to an interview in a suit?

A company that's trying to hard to force a "culture"

google

 

[sourceninja]

I only send PDF. Why? Because I do not own a license for microsoft office and open office doens't always look right when you open it in word.

 

[Saga]

Logically speaking, I'm pretty sure most of the frustration in this thread came from the OP failing to specify in their application process that a specific format would not be accepted, something that is (typically) easily solved by simply stating the specific formats you would prefer them to be in beforehand. The OP does not appear to understand that by arbitrarily selecting which formats they deem to be unacceptable POST the application process while reviewing the resumes, the OP has proven that he is ignorant and that his organization's hiring process is flawed.

Many people with lots of experience and skills are out of jobs in this current economic downturn. I would venture to suggest that a lot of animosity could potentially arise by coming off as an elitist jackass about hiring practices when many skilled and intelligent people are having problems even getting an interview for positions they are vastly overqualified for on a routine basis. The reality is by having unreasonable expectations of your applicants without having the common courtesy to simply state specifically what you want is morally wrong from a hiring perspective. If these are the practices you commit to and abide by, then I hope your six figure salary tides you over if you get canned for incompetence.

Personally, your blatant lack of direction simply means you represent an organization I would never even consider working for. I might make less than you, or I might make more than you; the reality is I don't have to console myself with salary figures online to justify ignorant actions of myself or my organization on a forum on the internet. That that how you will, I regret to say with every post you begin with a "lol.." or end with a smiley of some sort, you simply further dig yourself into a hole.

 

[oogabooga]

Most companies I don't think care. The ones that do seem to state so. I know I applied at one place where they specified only word documents would be accepted, PDF and other formats would not be.

If I don't know what they specifically require I just email a word doc.

Was it at least kinda formatted well in notepad? Or was it just one long sentence on one line (with word wrap off)

 

[ivan2]

Originally posted by: manlymatt83

Any job I've ever had, I haven't had to wear a suit. I've had four jobs during & since College. Job #1 was shorts and a t shirt attire. Job #2 was jeans and a t shirt attire. Job #3 was Shorts and a t shirt attire, and job #4 was anything goes. So really the most restrictive one was job #2 (more of a corporate setting).

so job #4 is a male stripper?

 

[silverpig]

I keep my resume as a .pages file on my computer. When I send it out, I convert it to .pdf and send that as default unless their website specifically asks for something else.

/sensibility

 

[Steve]

I believe .sxw is the way of the future.

 

[huberm]

when i interviewed for the job i have now the recruiter for some reason sent a .txt version of my resume. This is what they all had during the 3+ hour interview. I asked all of them if they would like a nicely formatted resume and they all declined, saying they liked that one better. This was for an IT position.

 

[QueBert]

Originally posted by: quakefiend420

Originally posted by: Elganja

Originally posted by: QueBert
you can open a TXT file on every computer on the planet, don't even need a program installed. Hell I viewed one on my DOS box today "type list.txt" and I saw it! A .DOC or PDF require programs a person may or may not have. I'm not debating that everyone SHOULD have Word or Acrobat installed, but some still might not. I can't think of anyone unable to view a .txt file. My resume is about content not flash. If a company wouldn't even look at my resume because I saved it in the most universal file format in the world. Then that's a company I wouldn't want to work for, and would be glad they passed on me if the layout of my resume is that important to them.

QFT...the CONTENT is what matters not how pretty it looks... it's retarded how some of the compaines mentioned here work

so you would hire someone bright and who seems to know what they're doing who showed up to the interview in dirty gym shorts and a wife beater?

presentation...like i said, you're selling yourself, and if you don't care to put a bit of effort into finding a job, chances are you don't care to put effort into your job either

Presentation? Every single fancy resume I've seen was some fool using one of Microsoft's resume templates. Esentially all they're doing is editing a skeleton. Which I find about as impressive on the presentation tip as a web designer who uses a pre-made editable site layout and goes "look at my web site yo!"

Do you really think it shows more effort that a person chose to edit a pre-made resume than create one in pure Ascii? If a potential employer thinks that I wouldn't want to work for them, they would be far to easily impressed in my eyes.

I sell myself with my accomplishments and knowledge of what I know, not with my ability to modify a Microsoft resume. Which honestly takes less time than doing an Ascii one from scratch.

 

[HardcoreRobot]

rofl, not only would i not hire someone walking in with resume > 10 pages (let alone 60), that thing would be stapled to the bulletin board for ridicule

where tf did you get the idea that was a smart thing to do?

 

[CountZero]

So what have we learned today?

If you are looking for a job there's a fair chance some manager or HR person will reject you for reasons you couldn't have possibly known. If the company website doesn't specify a format that you had better guess which one the person that will see your resume first would like.

There is also a land, that apparently only a few have ever seen, where resumes include stories and pay is determined by page count. Due to their inability to be concise those poor folks are in a status update meeting that started nearly a decade ago. They can't summarize so they describe everything to the tiniest detail, they have now started describing the beginning of the status update meeting but it looks unlikely that they'll ever finish. I think ATOT should have a moment of silence for these poor people.

 

[AreaCode707]

As a former recruiter:
- NEVER send PDF. It can't be added to/searched in most applicant tracking systems because their use of OCR technology is nil. You will get overlooked for jobs you are qualified for.
- Always make sure your resume looks ok in plain text; most ATS will strip the formatting. Don't necessarily write it in Notepad, but always check it in notepad. If your resume format is too garbled to read, you shot your chances.
- IF possible send/attach a nicely formatted Word version. Check your formatting; if you've used spaces instead of tabs, etc. you tipped off the recruiter that you don't know how to use your tools properly.

 

[Babbles]

Hmm, guess many of those companies that request text only resumes need to be told that they shouldn't be asking for them in that format.

 

[bignateyk]

If you have a problem with a commonly used format, why don't you just tell the applicant what format to submit?

He should sue your ass IMO.

 

[AreaCode707]

Originally posted by: TechBoyJK
lol at the guy who rejects pdf's.

that's like rejecting CC's at your store.

Except that most companies are constrained by the capabilities of their ATS software and most ATS on the market still suck at document handling. I used to do ATS deployment and support and now I do the same for legal software. Legal software does a MUCH better job at accepting any file format and doing appropriate indexing of content. Most HR technology just isn't there yet, and replacing that technology is lengthy, expensive and painful.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Originally posted by: bignateyk
If you have a problem with a commonly used format, why don't you just tell the applicant what format to submit?

He should sue your ass IMO.

For what?

 

[AreaCode707]

Originally posted by: CountZero
So what have we learned today?

If you are looking for a job there's a fair chance some manager or HR person will reject you for reasons you couldn't have possibly known. If the company website doesn't specify a format that you had better guess which one the person that will see your resume first would like.

I've never seen a recruiter reject somebody simply for the format of their resume, or because they included multiple formats. If they like the resume content and can't use the format, they will email and request a new format. (With the exception of paper resumes from job fairs; I've seen them throw those away without looking...) The issue with PDF/doc is that most become not searchable or not easily searchable based on the way they are stored, and even if they are searchable it takes extra clicks for the recruiter to access and review them over a plain text resume that is typically displayed directly on the applicant's profile page.

 

[AstroManLuca]

Honestly I don't get the whole "we trash any resume sent in * format" thing. Unless you state somewhere pretty clearly how you want the resume to be formatted, how can you fault someone for sending a resume in a format that you don't personally like. The only time when that might be appropriate would be, say, applying for a job at Apple and sending them a .doc. I say I always send PDFs because the formatting is the most consistent of all formats, but obviously I'll use a different format if that's what the employer wants.

As for the dude with the 67 page resume... I don't know what you're on, guy, but that's not a resume. Like others said, it's an autobiography. Maybe you're incorrectly using the term "resume" to refer collectively to someone's resume, cover letter, full employment history, tax forms, and a bunch of other crap (honestly I'm not sure I could write 60+ pages about myself unless I was writing a full memoir).

 

[imported_Imp]

Originally posted by: AstroManLuca
Honestly I don't get the whole "we trash any resume sent in * format" thing. Unless you state somewhere pretty clearly how you want the resume to be formatted, how can you fault someone for sending a resume in a format that you don't personally like. The only time when that might be appropriate would be, say, applying for a job at Apple and sending them a .doc. I say I always send PDFs because the formatting is the most consistent of all formats, but obviously I'll use a different format if that's what the employer wants.

As for the dude with the 67 page resume... I don't know what you're on, guy, but that's not a resume. Like others said, it's an autobiography. Maybe you're incorrectly using the term "resume" to refer collectively to someone's resume, cover letter, full employment history, tax forms, and a bunch of other crap (honestly I'm not sure I could write 60+ pages about myself unless I was writing a full memoir).

It's probably just an easy excuse to trim the stack. I've been put in the position where I had to process a lot of paperwork from individuals. I had no authority to trash anything, but if I did, I'd do what everyone else does. I've only got so much patience, and so much time, if you don't do it my way that makes it easy for me, too bad. I might lose a good potential employee, but I've got another 50 people that are probably as good, if not better, so whatever.

 

[Leros]

Originally posted by: AreaCode707
As a former recruiter:
- NEVER send PDF. It can't be added to/searched in most applicant tracking systems because their use of OCR technology is nil. You will get overlooked for jobs you are qualified for.
- Always make sure your resume looks ok in plain text; most ATS will strip the formatting. Don't necessarily write it in Notepad, but always check it in notepad. If your resume format is too garbled to read, you shot your chances.
- IF possible send/attach a nicely formatted Word version. Check your formatting; if you've used spaces instead of tabs, etc. you tipped off the recruiter that you don't know how to use your tools properly.

Except some editors will format tabs differently, so you might not get the look you are going for. Spaces will always be consistent.

 

[SphinxnihpS]

The resume accomplished it's purpose (for the company), which is to weed people out. You get resumes so you don't have to interview everyone. Was the guy that sent it in stupid, yes, but that's what your company is trying to figure out.

 

[xcript]

Originally posted by: Soundmanred
I always hand write my resume, then scan it, then use text recognition to convert it to type. I then print it out, read it out loud to my speech recognition software, print that out, scan it again, convert it to .PDF, then take a picture of the screen using my 1.2 MP digital camera. I transfer the picture to the computer, convert it to an 8 bit greyscale .BMP and scale it to 240x360.
I have received no offers of employment as of yet.

:laugh: