I was going to turn my resume into a PDF document as I thought it would look nicer. But I see some employers specifically ask for a word doc. Which format do you think should be used or does it even matter.
I typically send in my resumes as a pdf file because I don’t like how word underlines my last name and address. But if it explicitly asks for a word document I would send it as a word document. But if it doesn’t specify, I send it as a PDF.
If specifically asked for it, go with Word, otherwise I would PDF. I am occassionally hiring analysts and our HR group typically dumps all of the resumes onto a shared folder for me to review. At least 90% that come in are Word, so if nothing else, the PDF ones at least stand out in a long list when reviewing the list of files to open. Silly, perhaps, but definitely true in my (limited) experience.
A lot of HR departments use software that filters for specific words to narrow the one’s that they actually put human eyes on; since they’re built to scan .doc’s, its the preferred format. Obviously, if this is a personal contact as opposed to a submit via website, this method probably wouldn’t be employed.
I sent both (DOC and PDF) … Freedom of choice, baby!!
How would you go about putting your res on PDF? Is there an agency that could do this?
I second pdfonline. By far the best pdf web-based conversion tool.
always pdf if you can… do not want any one accidentally messing with your resume in word… also, you do not want to worry that it formats incorrectly when some one opens it. any scanner can pdf it as well.
There is also the problem of people potentially being able to see your edits in word. Note to self: PDF resume.
Ya, be careful in word about showing your previous edits. I once received a resume from a kid who forgot to turn off the track changes tool. Needless to say, although he told me he was interesting in pursuing his CFA, he told the last place he applied that he was excited to being the path towards the CA designation. He was fairly surprised when i asked him in an interview how his application with Deloitte was progressing. In the end I didn’t hire him, but it made for good comic relief around the office.
The reason headhunters ask for Word documents sometimes is so that they can submit your resume to the company with your contact information removed. It’s just the recruiter’s little way of making sure they get paid if you end up getting hired. Otherwise, no need to send a Word document.
striker - after hearing that, I’m going to start with a fresh .doc file. Hard to say what I’ve had on that resume before…
XSellSide Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > striker - after hearing that, I’m going to start > with a fresh .doc file. Hard to say what I’ve had > on that resume before… I’ve heard about this, especially in law arena. In fact, some firms are so concerned about this that they send out documents only after it has been scanned into a fresh pdf or word doc. Apparently there are tools than can even view edits from files converted to pdf. This is well beyond my expertise - just relaying info from my girlfriend who works for a medical malpractice defense firm.
Numi’s right. I send PDF to anyone who isn’t a headhunter. Word documents paginate differently on different machines (usually depending on what printer it’s hooked up to), so you write a one page resume, but it shows up as two pages when someone else prints it. Not that I think a line on a second page is the end of the world in my book, but if that line contains something important, they might not see it if they forget to pick up the second page, and if you’ve done all this format tweaking to get to one page, then it seems like wasted effort. Headhunters do like to remove your contact information so that the employer has to go through them to follow up, so send word documents to headhunters, and post word documents to sites like efinancialcareers, since headhunters seem to use it more than HR. When I had a PDF up there, I had some headhunters say that “something went wrong on efinancial careers, can I please resend in word format.” Once I realized that it was just a lie to get me to send something they can tweak, I got pretty put off by it, but at least I understood what was going on.
pdf995 - freeware for converting word docs to pdf. cheers