
Ask HN: Resumes that look good but professional too - kreeWall
Share the format you use for your resume so that it looks good, but still professional. All of my &quot;creative&quot; friends (graphic designers, marketing people) have cool resumes, but mine is boring. What did you use to make yours look good?
======
alecgorge
I have had tremendous success with very unorthodox layouts, features and
subtle use of colors on my resume via Adobe InDesign.

[https://www.alecgorge.com/Alec%20Gorge%20Resume.pdf](https://www.alecgorge.com/Alec%20Gorge%20Resume.pdf)

I used to completely redo my layout every year while I was in school and had
success with it. Especially at the collegiate level when many resumes are the
same in practice, something new for the recruiter to look at goes a long way.

On quite a few occasions I have walked into an interview and been greeted with
some variant of "oh wow so you are the person with the cool resume!" or "we
have all been talking about how we love how your resume looks!"

I have never gotten negative feedback on my layouts and the positive feedback
has been a huge confidence boost in those interviews.

I spend hours and hours attempting to build a unique layout provides
personality _and_ the information needed—this means no pie charts or arbitrary
skill ratings. I view the design as a way for me to communicate something
about my passion for typography and layout while giving an insight into my
personality. I always want my resumes to be friendly and have a clear
hierarchy.

I'm still on the fence about using paragraphs instead of bullet-points but it
looks so much better with justified paragraphs that I think it is worth the
trade-off to stand out in a positive way.

Of course, all of the work into the design goes to waste if you don't write
clear, concrete supporting information. Too often I see resumes that contain
factual but boring/non-contextualized data. Why did you do X thing? What
problem was it solving? How did it solve it? What did YOU do that that was
special? Use numbers to give a sense of scope and size.

~~~
gcatalfamo
I honestly have trouble understanding the chronological order of you
experiences at first glance, plus they all seem to be given the same
importance.

If you really are contacted and complimented over this, I’m puzzled at how the
recruiter mind works, I would like a recruiter comment on this.

(This is entirely not directed against you, but towards trying to understand
if my way of conceiving resumes has been all wrong so far)

~~~
alecgorge
That's totally fair, but not entirely unintentional. I like highlighting the
fact that I ran a consulting business throughout high school and college as
well as the popularity of some of my side projects. Those have been just as
(if not more) valuable as the internships I have had when it came to looking
for full-time work.

I haven't updated the layout since I have been at Stack Overflow because I
like it and I don't need a resume. If I were to redesign my resume right now
it certainly would put more emphasis on the last two years of full-time
employment.

Plus, even if it might create some confusion I hope it communicates that I can
be trusted to not totally screw up the UI side of things if left by myself
haha

------
guessmyname
I have used and recommended this LaTeX template [1].

Template that I have also seen being used by many professional software
engineers both applying and currently working at some of the big corporations
like Apple, Google, Microsoft, Amazon. It is clean, easy to read, easy to
parse by most ATS _(Application Tracking System)_ [2].

[1] [https://github.com/sb2nov/resume](https://github.com/sb2nov/resume)

[2]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Applicant_tracking_system](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Applicant_tracking_system)

~~~
matthewbauer
I have to say that resume doesn’t look very good to me. Way too long lines and
not enough white space. Maybe that’s part of the strategy though? This whole
ATS thing annoys me because it seems like such a shallow way to hire. But
maybe that’s what you need to get into Big 5 tech companies now?

For anyone interested in what I’d consider cleaner: here is my Latex resume

[https://matthewbauer.us/resume.pdf](https://matthewbauer.us/resume.pdf)

I worry now it’s not ATS optimized though.

------
_ah
Counterpoint: be careful about going too far into the "cool" spectrum. When
I've been hiring, the best-looking resumes were often the least qualified. If
you're a visual artist, then sure, go nuts! But if you're a technical person
then stick to the basics. Forcing someone to decode your pie chart to
understand your skills is not a way to win points with a hiring manager. Go
for bullet points, short sentences, correct grammar, and no spelling mistakes.

~~~
nilkn
As a hiring manager I've often noticed the same. There's a weak positive
correlation between candidate quality and the resume being one page in LaTeX.
There's a weak negative correlation between candidate quality and the resume
being very graphically fancy. That said, I try to completely forget these
correlations when reviewing resumes because it's just not fair to anyone for
me to go into the process with preconceptions like those.

------
bernardino
Definitely recommend LaTeX:

\- Templates:
[https://www.rpi.edu/dept/arc/training/latex/resumes/](https://www.rpi.edu/dept/arc/training/latex/resumes/)

\- For generating the resume, and minor custimizations:
[https://www.sharelatex.com/](https://www.sharelatex.com/)

\- For generating the resume, and advanced customization:
[http://pages.uoregon.edu/koch/texshop/](http://pages.uoregon.edu/koch/texshop/)

~~~
deeteecee
I've used latex but now I realize html/css might do the job better for me...

~~~
Xeago
I’ve adapted mine from from someone else doing this. Although I’m not front-
end savvy I’ve found it easy to develop, live reload helps. Prints to PDF with
a nice readable style sheet.

Source:
[https://github.com/prashnts/prashnts.github.io/tree/develop/...](https://github.com/prashnts/prashnts.github.io/tree/develop/riptide)
Resume: [https://noop.pw/resume](https://noop.pw/resume)

------
fuzzythinker
I use html and css, I like its simplicity yet elegant look.

[https://johnleung.com/resume](https://johnleung.com/resume) (pdf format is
linked there as well)

Template originally used by
[https://resume.stavros.io/](https://resume.stavros.io/) Which seems like he's
not using anymore. His current one looks good too.

~~~
ykl
Psst, I think you meant "Principal", not "Principle". :)

[http://www.dictionary.com/e/principal-vs-
principle/](http://www.dictionary.com/e/principal-vs-principle/)

~~~
fuzzythinker
Hey, thanks much! Appreciate it ;)

~~~
protoplant
I enjoyed your reversi game.

~~~
fuzzythinker
Thanks ;) planning to do a show hn on it soon.

------
iamalchemist
It could be as simple as this guy's ->
[http://ananthakumaran.in/resume.html](http://ananthakumaran.in/resume.html)

------
jakebasile
I'll add my personal LaTeX template to the pile. I think it looks pretty
snappy and I've gotten compliments on it before.

[https://github.com/jakebasile/classy-
latex](https://github.com/jakebasile/classy-latex)

~~~
nayuki
How about a degree in underwater basket weaving?

------
rileyt
Here is my resume:
[https://standardresume.co/rileyt](https://standardresume.co/rileyt)

It's built using Standard Resume [1], a tool that I built with two designers
to answer exactly this question.

I would love any feedback on the resume style, as we are contemplating adding
a few alternate styles to choose from.

[1] [https://standardresume.co/](https://standardresume.co/)

~~~
thestephen
This is a great tool!

I noted, though, that the Linkedin import didn't seem to work flawlessly –
after uploading, I was redirected to the resume list and I have no clue of
what actually happened.

Would you like more feedback?

~~~
rileyt
sorry about that. linkedin changed their pdf export a bit yesterday and it
broke our import. should be fixed today or tomorrow.

would love any other feedback you have. did you end up completing a resume?

------
piway
Mine was made from a google docs template. I think it looks really sleek and
has fairly worked for me so far.

The only problem is that when I add new stuff, I have to keep adjusting it so
that it all fits in one page

[https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YWsEDDSyJI0S7sy-
YlLLJ9O_...](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YWsEDDSyJI0S7sy-
YlLLJ9O_jRYAOoM43aKVWqkvNIA/edit?usp=sharing)

------
franciscop
Many people have asked about mine and given it compliments, so here it is. It
is a responsive website with some printing styles and a link to the pdf (which
is just a "print to file" of itself). Consider code/style as MIT/CC0:

[https://francisco.io/resume/](https://francisco.io/resume/)

~~~
Jedd
FYI -occasional has two c's.

~~~
franciscop
Thanks! It doesn't have it in Spanish: "ocasional". Should have checked
better.

------
vfulco
Be really careful with some of the graphically rich resumes. If in a creative
field and you are pretty sure if will only be looked at by a human, use it. If
applying to Fortune 1000, there is a good chance yours will be ingested by an
applicant tracking system (ATS). Not all resume parsers work well on these
fancy resumes. I have frustrated clients, on the job search quite a while, who
come to me with edit jobs for a lot of simplification so their response rates
to go up. Additionally be careful with some of the "progress bars" or "pie
charts" of skills. How does a prospective employer gauge the competency of an
applicant with 3 bars a opposed to 4 in Adobe Photoshop, as an example?

------
fencepost
I don't want to post mine, but I just followed Clippy's advice on what would
look good.

------
VelNZ
A bunch of LaTeX templates to do the job:
[http://www.latextemplates.com/cat/curricula-
vitae](http://www.latextemplates.com/cat/curricula-vitae)

Disclosure: my site.

------
dbg31415
Advice on Resumes...

Keep it short. As short as possible anyway.

Keep it readable. Plug what you write into Microsoft Word, or some other tool
that measures readability, and aim for like a 9th grade reading level.
Grammarly can help.

Keep it relevant. Use a tool like JobScan to make sure the keywords line up.
Why? Because recruiters are lazy and use these tools to sift through the
applicants.

Talk about your achievements, using numbers. Not: I did the thing everyone
with the role does... Instead: I wrote code that improved page load weights by
50% and times by 75% using Foo and Var for website that got 20M views a month;
this will save BumbleCo over $7M next 24 months in AWS charges.

List some reviews. Don't assume they're going to go to your LinkedIn. People
are lazy. Recruiters are people. HR generally doesn't know anything about the
subject matter at hand, and can only read into personality, accolades, and
"culture" fit. Your first goal is to get past them.

* Resume of First Last (Template) - Google Docs || [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YvUmlAKF-mlx2zNDITfV_VWC...](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YvUmlAKF-mlx2zNDITfV_VWCRxqyx5OMo1Sgf5rKHM8)

------
eimg
I have one created for one of my friend. You can download it here if you want.
[https://www.dropbox.com/s/zjxj13z5j6ra2x2/cv.doc?dl=0](https://www.dropbox.com/s/zjxj13z5j6ra2x2/cv.doc?dl=0)

Sample [Image]: [https://imgur.com/a/1Ldov](https://imgur.com/a/1Ldov)

------
pbnjay
I used Google Docs. Boring is OK, it's more important that the critical info
is easy to find (e.g. it is well laid out and easy to read).

------
Theodores
'Good' is in the eye of the beholder and sometimes the psychology is not what
you think it is. Sometimes content really is king.

If you have a key skill that is in demand then you can have a very old CV, not
updated for years, in some old text only format on some database somewhere,
and still get the work with no problems.

This I manage to do, with a CV that lists projects done with dates, but with
no alphabet soup of skills, no mention of what I might do in my spare time and
no fancy colours. Oh, and no Github either and certainly not on LinkedIn.

Ultimately CVs end up in some database that is text only to all intents and
purposes. The goal is to get the interview and if you are dealing with
recruiters then they look for different things and probably only ever send a
mangled text only version of your CV to the client.

So there is reverse psychology in not being apparently available. Sometimes
employers want the employee that is already spoken for and too busy working to
have such a thing as an up to date CV.

------
hoodoof
[http://ineedaresu.me/#/](http://ineedaresu.me/#/)

------
nikkwong
I had an Ask HN about a subject very similar to this a few weeks ago, and got
a lot of great feedback, which may help you! Thank you HN.
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16146660](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16146660)

------
seer
I used to work for a resume building startup and I still think their product
is one of the best in the market :) But what I liked about it was the focus on
real world successful examples and inline tips that were actually useful -
[https://enhancv.com](https://enhancv.com)

I’m a dev myself, but I liked to chat with some customers and some had amazing
stories like “landed a job at spotify thanks to your resume” or “wanted to
drop several k dollars on a consultant, but liked this tool so much I just
used it instead”. Great stuff :) And as a testiment to them I used the resume
I built with the tool to find my next job :-D

------
pankajdoharey
I designed a resume many moons ago in ruby and it was super unconventional
[https://github.com/metacritical/mycv/blob/master/Myresume.pd...](https://github.com/metacritical/mycv/blob/master/Myresume.pdf)

It got me interview at hacker friendly unconventional companies while most
Enterprisy or non hacker friendly companies rejected it , some complained they
dont want to compile the ruby code to get the resume. Two companies where i
applied one was C42.in and other ThoughtWorks were among the only two
companies which actually compiled the code. and then gave a call back.

------
J_cst
I'm not a developer, but I tried to assemble a personal webpage on
[http://costantini.pw](http://costantini.pw) .

The CV is linked there too.

I believe white spaces play an important role

That's my take:
[http://costantini.pw/images/0_Giovanni%20Costantini%20_%20we...](http://costantini.pw/images/0_Giovanni%20Costantini%20_%20web_resume.pdf)

------
Volrath89
Serious question: what do you think about including magic the gathering PTs
and Worlds participations as a teenager in the CV? Given that it is for a
programming role maybe people in the US would see that as a sort of
acomplishment? I come from a non english speaking country so my university and
companies where I've worked are largely unknown (and I'd like to apply for
remote jobs in the US or EU)

~~~
The_Hoff
You could include it in a hobbies section or something at the bottom. Most
hiring managers would not view it as a relevant accomplishment.

------
acconrad
My resume[1] was designed on ShareLatex[2], though I am biased because I did
the re-design for ShareLatex, so I think it's a good product for building a
resume.

[1]
[https://conradadam.com/img/resume.pdf](https://conradadam.com/img/resume.pdf)

[2] [https://www.sharelatex.com](https://www.sharelatex.com)

------
v33ra
Mine made with HTML + CSS. I made it sure that the whole page fits in a A4
Size so that I can easily export it as a PDF to be shared with recruiters. I
also make sure to send the URL of my resume
([https://veerasundar.com/resume/](https://veerasundar.com/resume/)) along
with the PDF. (bit outdated, though! :)

------
khaledtaha
[https://www.dropbox.com/s/rp7pwyprtf6a0gu/Khaled%20Taha%20-%...](https://www.dropbox.com/s/rp7pwyprtf6a0gu/Khaled%20Taha%20-%20Product%20Manager%20-%20Resume%20%28Illustrative%29.pdf?dl=0)

My resume is, admittedly, overboard. I created it back when I needed to stand
out. I used InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop.

------
antonio-ramadas
I just used this template:
[https://www.careercup.com/resume](https://www.careercup.com/resume)

It is not very creative, but I believe it shows a great space management and
certainly looks professional. It is very similar to some other CVs already
mentioned. I've used only the Microsoft Word template, but there is in LaTeX.

------
lee101
I made mine with plain HTML JS and CSS it's available on GitHub and here
[http://leepenkman.appspot.com](http://leepenkman.appspot.com) it hasn't
costed me anything to host and is running inside a Google app engine free
teir, I made it print friendly so you can control p print it if someone wants
a PDF

------
sweetdreamerit
I'm using awesome-CV: [https://github.com/posquit0/Awesome-
CV](https://github.com/posquit0/Awesome-CV) This is my cv:
[http://www.bussolon.it/curriculum_Stefano_Bussolon.pdf](http://www.bussolon.it/curriculum_Stefano_Bussolon.pdf)

------
exolymph
The simpler the better. Prioritize readability over visual coolness. (Unless
you're in a design field.)

~~~
DoreenMichele
Even if you are in a design field. If you can't make it both cool and
readable, you aren't that good.

~~~
exolymph
Agreed, but I'm not sure whether the hiring norms go along with that
principle.

------
egfx
Notepad.exe makes beautiful looking .txt files. That's the format I use when I
can get away with it.

------
chad_strategic
I like a little creativity, it also tells me if a recruiter actually clicked
in the link. People either love it or don’t really care...

[http://www.strategic-options.com/resume/](http://www.strategic-
options.com/resume/)

~~~
blowski
I hate it. When I'm hiring, I have 100s of CVs to look at, and on my first
sweep, every CV gets no more than 30 seconds. Your website takes too long for
me to figure out, so I pass on it. Life's too short. (I'm guessing it's not
the first time someone has said this to you, though, so good on you for
keeping it.)

~~~
chad_strategic
It's just a little slow, the website was probably getting hit quite a bit.

But thank you, based on your comments, I wouldn't want to work for your
organization or ones that you are hiring for. I get job interviews on the
website alone, so thanks I'm doing fine. Basically the website is recruiter
repelant.

------
gcatalfamo
I don't know. What do you think of mine?
[https://www.dropbox.com/s/ymufgb9ma392mhf/EN_201802_Catalfam...](https://www.dropbox.com/s/ymufgb9ma392mhf/EN_201802_Catalfamo.pdf?dl=1)

~~~
ASalazarMX
I have to admit, a resume that lists superpowers is easy to remember.

------
blt
Latex with careful tuning of line spacing, column width, etc.

I don't like resumes that are too slick looking. It makes me feel like the
applicant is trying to hide something.

On other hand, a truly ugly resume hurts the applicant. There's a sweet spot
in the middle.

------
TheArcane
I've gotten some compliments on mine. It's a mod of a popular LaTex template.

[https://jimdsouza.com/cv.pdf](https://jimdsouza.com/cv.pdf)

------
luckystrike
Check out [https://www.resumonk.com](https://www.resumonk.com)

Disclosure: I'm the Co-Founder of Resumonk.

------
__m
I use a pure ASCII txt. You can make dividers by repeating a character like
'#', but i don't really use such eye-candy.

~~~
softawre
Hah, I like you.

------
Scea91
The last time I just exported my linkedin profile to pdf. It worked quite
well, but I wonder how this practice is generally perceived.

------
adamredwoods
[http://creddle.io](http://creddle.io)

------
toomuchtodo
Combination of LinkedIn and MS Word for Mac.

------
jowiar
I know this is possibly going a bit too far, but learning the basics of
typography/design goes a long way.

[https://practicaltypography.com](https://practicaltypography.com) is a pretty
nice introduction on the topic, but overall, if there's any one major thing to
keep in mind,

It's this:

Use white space.

The difference between something that looks thrown together and something that
looks professional often come down to simply giving a shit about where text is
and where text isn't. Does it look good? No? Try again.

Beyond that, don't go crazy with fonts. Two-maybe three weights/variants of
one typeface will probably be sufficient -- I've generally found it's a lot
easier for an amateur to make things that don't suck when they aren't trying
to pair fonts.

~~~
z1mm32m4n
I want to second this. The number one problem with resumes is that they all
focus on the positive space: craming as much text and non-data-ink onto the
page as possible.

Let your main point breathe.

Also: use a professional typeface. Recruiters look at Times New Roman, Arial,
and Computer Modern all day. Try Avenir, Garamond, or San Francisco. Maybe
even pay for a font license.

> _And fi­nally, font choice. The fastest, eas­i­est, and most vis­i­ble
> im­prove­ment you can make to your ty­pog­ra­phy is to ig­nore the fonts
> that came free with your com­puter (known as sys­tem fonts) and buy a
> pro­fes­sional font (like my fonts eq­uity and con­course, or oth­ers found
> in font rec­om­men­da­tions). A pro­fes­sional font gives you the ben­e­fit
> of a pro­fes­sional de­signer’s skills with­out hav­ing to hire one._

— [https://practicaltypography.com/typography-in-ten-
minutes.ht...](https://practicaltypography.com/typography-in-ten-minutes.html)

