
Ask HN: Are plain resumes still relevant today? - enitihas
I am a Computer Science student in last year of my undergrad. While preparing my resume, I came across two conflicting sets of advice. One recommends a plain resume with minimal formatting, with black text on white background. The other set argues for using a modern looking resume built via sites like enhancv.com.
This made me curious: Are plain resumes still used by developers?
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willempienaar
Plain resume (I use LaTeX).

This also filters companies to an extent. I would rather work for a company
that values the content of the resume over the presentation.

Resume:
[http://willem.co/cv/wp_resume_2016.pdf](http://willem.co/cv/wp_resume_2016.pdf)

Template (LaTeX):
[http://willem.co/cv/wp_resume_template.tex](http://willem.co/cv/wp_resume_template.tex)

Awesome Resume Templates (LaTeX):
[https://www.rpi.edu/dept/arc/training/latex/resumes/](https://www.rpi.edu/dept/arc/training/latex/resumes/)

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ddebernardy
Your CV's format is irrelevant so long as it doesn't look like a dog's
breakfast or a Xmas tree.

When writing your CV, keep in mind that only three things count:

1\. Short. You're seriously testing a recruiter's patience if your CV is
longer than a page or two.

2\. Scannable. Your CV only gets a few seconds of attention before a recruiter
decides to read it or not. Make each second count.

3\. Results. Don't stick to writing what you worked on. Also spell out the
results and how it contributed to the business.

Last but not least, never forget that your CV's only purpose is to get an
interview. Just like a marketing brochure for a product that requires a sales
meeting, less is often more because it can give an employer a reason for
saying "no" before you ever get to talk to them:

[https://steveblank.com/2011/08/05/bonfire-of-the-
vanities/](https://steveblank.com/2011/08/05/bonfire-of-the-vanities/)

------
wott
Résumé is like raising children: they are plenty of people with definitive
advices about the perfect way to do it, all of them being contradictory.

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v33ra
I use a resume which I hand coded in HTML&css and while sending it to HR
folks, I manually turn the HTML page into a PDF and usually include a
reference to the online version too
([http://veerasundar.com/resume](http://veerasundar.com/resume))

~~~
aardvark291
Looks nice. I like it.

But what are the percentages next to your degrees in the education part, like
"B.E. CSE 72%"?

~~~
v33ra
It's the mark percentage.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_grading_in_India](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_grading_in_India)

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cjbprime
Yes, I use a plain resume:
[http://printf.net/resume.pdf](http://printf.net/resume.pdf)

~~~
cabbeer
Did you use LaTeX for that?

~~~
privong
> Did you use LaTeX for that?

I'm not OP, but yes. The "creator" field in the PDF is: "LaTeX with hyperref
package" and the "producer" field is "xdvipdfmx (0.7.9)".

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anexprogrammer
I'd much rather see a plain resume, especially if I have a lot to skim. Only
time I've ever seen more slightly creative approaches have been designers.

I'd be a bit wary receiving something like enhancecv - if you have space for a
quotes block, what are you leaving out? I might use something like that if
putting my CV on my website, but _as well as_ the boring traditional plain
format.

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kirykl
Put yourself in an employers shoes. They really care about the content, not
the design. They're sifting thru lots of resumes looking to spend 70,80,100k
on a person, a templated colorful design just is not an influencing factor at
best and a distraction compared to plain white at worst. (Unless it's for a
design/creative position).

~~~
godzillabrennus
Depends entirely on the role of the "resume". I call mine a BIO and use it to
tell people more about myself when they want my background.

[https://www.dropbox.com/s/mvn72sci1g2dy9d/lane-bio-
rev.pdf?d...](https://www.dropbox.com/s/mvn72sci1g2dy9d/lane-bio-rev.pdf?dl=0)

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kasey_junk
Your resume is so far down the list of things that will get you the job that
the formatting question should go to a specific person who can answer the
question.

That is, if you can't get the basic question of "best resume format to get
through hoops at company x" answered, any formating work you could do is
swamped by orders of magnitude by building contacts in the company work.

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vfulco
I am super disappointed that jsonresume.org can't fix their formatting issues
surrounding output to pdf and ms word. I am not casting stones as the
contributors are all a super talented bunch. Coming from the Python/R-project
universes and having started up a professional services firm for individuals
in Shanghai; English resume editing, interview coaching and LinkedIn Profile
creation, I simply don't have the time to learn and modify the underlying
node.js code. The ability to easily ingest and store the resumes I am supplied
with and then the highly improved product I create would be invaluable. I have
learned the hard way how difficult programmatic formatting for the mass market
really is. As a professional resume editor, I concur 1) simpler is always
better, 2) white space is as important as what is on the printed page, 3) use
1 1/2 to 2 pages for readability. Many resumes are run through ATS
parsers/processors and you do not want to use such fancy fonts and styling
that you provide any chance for your document to be rejected by the system.
There are other tips and tricks but those are the most basic. Great discussion
here.

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NumberCruncher
Is there any online resume solution (beside running my own website) where I
can hide some detailed information behind bullet points (like accordions) and
I can track the viewers activity on the page? I am curious whether this kind
of information could help me to build a better resume.

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jorgemf
Do you want to stand out above other CV and make the life of the person who is
reviewing the CVs a bit less boring? If you answer is not, then do a plain CV.
Otherwise do something different. Put some marketing in your CV, grab the
attention of the recruiter and get him out of his routine. I am not talking
about a lot of text with funny colors or a weird layout. Just take a look to
some CV of designers, they usually do something different to show their
creativity. Why wouldn't you do the same? There are a lot visual techniques to
show your working skills and past experience.

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nicklo
I use a plain pdf resume that is written in Latex. I host it on Overleaf so
its always easy to update.

[http://nicklocascio.com/resume.pdf](http://nicklocascio.com/resume.pdf)

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amirbehzad
Mine is not plain-text. I embrace rich-text.

[http://s3.amazonaws.com/amirbehzad/pro_resume.pdf](http://s3.amazonaws.com/amirbehzad/pro_resume.pdf)

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stirner
I use the moderncv template in LaTeX [1], which I prefer for a few reasons:

* It's fairly plain and minimal but looks nice and professional, and can still be customized so it doesn't look cookie-cutter.

* Using LaTeX means I can track my resume with Git and easily convert to plain text.

* Using a popular template included with many TeX distributions means finding help is easy.

* Using a template means you can just focus on the content and stop worrying about design.

[1] [https://www.ctan.org/pkg/moderncv](https://www.ctan.org/pkg/moderncv)

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felipellrocha
Plain resume, hands down. Whenever I see something that is supposed to be
"enhanced" I just assume they are trying to get my attention away from the
actual contents of the resume itself.

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guessmyname
I like how others are using this post to link to their own resumes.

I understand, a picture is worth a thousand words, but this is too convenient.

Anyway, I vote for _plain text_ too, somehow it looks more serious and clean.

~~~
DonHopkins
I appreciate seeing the concrete examples of people's real resumes, and
they're interesting glimpses into somebody else's life that I would have never
have experienced, since I'm not a recruiter.

I'd advise plain or simply formatted resumes (unless you're a designer who can
apply your specialty in a relevant way to a resume).

At Sun, one of the interns applying to the SunTools desktop user interface
group made an interactive GUI version of their resume called ResumeTool!

But now days (at least for software development jobs) isn't it easier to just
provide a link to your LinkedIn page and GitHub pages?

LinkedIn has a "View Profile As => Save as PDF" feature. A quick google [1]
reveals there are a bunch of tools to convert your LinkedIn profile into a
resume, even one from LinkedIn labs [2] (which seems to be offline now, but
here's an quora question about it [3]).

[1]
[https://www.google.com/search?q=linkedin+export+profile+as+r...](https://www.google.com/search?q=linkedin+export+profile+as+resume&oq=linkedin+export+profile+as+resume+&aqs=chrome..69i57.4173j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#q=linkedin+profile+as+resume)

[2] [http://resume.linkedinlabs.com/](http://resume.linkedinlabs.com/)

[3] [https://www.quora.com/Is-there-a-useful-tool-for-
converting-...](https://www.quora.com/Is-there-a-useful-tool-for-converting-a-
LinkedIn-profile-into-a-resume-or-equivalent-even-if-all-it-provides-is-a-
good-starting-point)

------
rtcoms
I really like plain resume. I had my resume in .doc/.docx format, but couldn't
a proper way to edit it on linux. So I moved to web based resume. Here it is :
[http://resume.rohittrivedi.com/](http://resume.rohittrivedi.com/) .

I've taken the source code from here [https://github.com/jglovier/resume-
template](https://github.com/jglovier/resume-template) and made changes
according to my requriement.

~~~
contingencies
This may be a cultural thing as I see you are apparently Bengali but I would
put your title/responsibilities in bold for the sub-headings, and the employer
name smaller. At least internationally speaking, nobody really ever cares more
about the employer than what you did there. Secondly, terms like MNC are hyper
South Asian and should be dropped 99% of the time in international
communication. Something like "...have experience working effectively within
all scales of organization" would arguably be more
natural/generic/international. Also replace "%age" with "%".

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smelendez
Make a plain PDF resume that's as easy to read as possible. If you want, also
make an enhanced portfolio or a personal site.

Someone might print a stack of resumes on a crappy printer that's running out
of ink. A recruiter might fax your resume to a client. Someone might want to
read your resume on an off brand PDF viewer on a phone with a slow connection.
Someone might have 200 resumes to look through and not want to figure out the
unique UI for yours.

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joeclark77
I think it depends on the company you're applying to. Big companies routinely
get thousands of resumes and may use some form of automation to screen them.
If the software can't pick out the basic details, the whole thing may be
skipped.

On the other hand if a human is reading your resume, creativity may be a plus.
So that might apply to small businesses, start-ups, etc.

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DrNuke
At an undergrad level, it really matters you understand the fundamentals and
are quick to learn both technically (the frameworks in your field) and
socially (to interact with people in a team). That said, a plain resume with
any past volunteering / team-based appointment would suffice.

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michaelchisari
I much prefer a plain resume. It's so effortless to pass around a pdf file
that sites like enhancv.com should be considered supplements, not
requirements.

[https://michael.chisari.us/michaelchisari-
resume.pdf](https://michael.chisari.us/michaelchisari-resume.pdf)

~~~
atmosx
Looks good, I would remove the underlines though. In this context makes text
harder to read. I would use light blue-black for links instead of underline.

~~~
michaelchisari
Point very well taken. Updated. Thanks!

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phamilton
My last round of interviewing and taking a new job was resume-free. Most
companies just printed out my linked in, and really only to give interviewers
something to take into an interview.

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aardvark291
Yes; in fact they are preferred.

