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Comment by mixmastamyk | Hacker News Reader

No, you should never send your resume in MS Word format, because it can be readily edited. For example, it could be changed by a recruiter before landing at the hiring manager. Not to mention the proprietary nature of the format and support of "the man".

Pdf is better on several counts, (generally) read-only and an open standard for many years now, therefore having convenient free readers on OSX and Linux, usable without formatting concerns.

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This might be a regional thing, but in 15+ years I've never once worked with a recruiter (3rd-party or in-house) who didn't ask for my resume in Word format.

Yes, the 3rd-party headhunters tend to strip off my contact info and insert their own. I don't really blame them, given the number of companies who try to cut out the middleman and hire the candidate directly (I'd had companies try to do this with me on multiple occasions).

At any rate, it's trivially easy to export a Word file to PDF if you wish. I've seen some other JSON Resume processors that maintain separate templates for multiple file types (e.g. Word, PDF, HMTL). To me it just made more sense to have one version of each template, since you can easily export from that output to all the others. This reduces the burden of authoring new templates.

It's not even that PDFs make it harder for editing, it's that most recruiters will copy-paste from your resume into a standardized template for that company, and the recruiters are oftentimes so bad at technology or so overloaded with hundreds of candidates that they'd rather go with a Word doc to save 2 minutes to open up something else that might get wonky when you copy and paste it again (bullet points are a good example of differences from PDF to Word in how they're copied).

I've not encountered this often, but when I have (rarely), I've just sent it in pdf, with a "Sorry, I don't own MS Word."

Never been a problem, and why should it? There are free readers on every platform, which almost everyone needs to have installed to read documentation, if not by default.

A close friend of mine's been doing some job hunting in a non-technical field. He was just telling me the other day how just about every place where he sent his PDF resume replied by asking him to resend it in Word.

I have not sent a resume out in Word format since perhaps 1995, and it was only once or twice even at that time.

Then you must be from super developed country where every recruiter is techie. I am not, I have seen this many time. They ask MS word format resume. These days I email them both PDF and Ms word.

In what world does it take more technical knowledge to use a pdf instead of a doc? It doesn't--pdf is easier to use for everyone except someone who wants to modify the resume without your knowledge.

If a recruiter asks for word, say simply "I don't own Word, sorry."

Yes, absolutely PDF is better, even without someone's malicious intent. Many corporate HR depts use Microsoft Outlook email. Try attaching the resume as both a Word doc and a PDF doc to an Outlook email. Then open by double-clicking in the email message like a typical user. The Word version goes into a double-paned "reading mode" while the PDF will appear as you intended.

> Pdf is better on several counts, (generally) read-only

I was under the impression that PDF that isn't encrypted is trivially editable, though there is lots of read-only software.

Nowhere near as trivially as a Word document.

> Nowhere near as trivially as a Word document.

IIRC, its exactly as trivial: you use PDF editing software, just as you use Word editing software to edit a word doc. The only difference is that lots of consumers use read-only software for PDFs, but they aren't -- absent use of specific protection measures -- inherently read-only.

Indeed. Anybody in the business of handling large volumes of PDFs is going to shell out for Acrobat, and then editing your PDF is just a matter of starting a different application.

My personal experience is that, after sending out a resume in PDF format, many recruiters (~25%?) will ask me to re-send it in Word format so they can edit it. The barrier of "use a piece of software outside the Microsoft Office Suite" shouldn't be a roadblock to anyone, but it is.

I case anyone wonders, this hasn't caused problems in practice. I push back and explain that I don't have a Word version of my resume (I use LaTeX), and the recruiter will pass long the unmodified PDF after one or two rounds of email.

Yes, and we really shouldn't encourage edits by a third party that we will not see.

I'd be surprised if PDF editing software is even one tenth as common as MS Office + LibreOffice + Mac Office installs.

It's not trivial, unless you mean you are able to find software to edit it. Most people are not capable of doing this. If you run into a recruiter who edits your PDF you should probably bypass them anyway.

> No, you should never send your resume in MS Word format

Unless the ATS the company you are applying to requires it...

That's a great filter for organizations that aren't worth working for.

First, you think Qualcomm is not worth working for?

Second, if I had that attitude I would have to pass up a lot of applications. The embedded world is full of companies that are not as current and flexible on hiring practices as the web/mobile world. Especially embedded companies outside SV and Seattle.

If they wouldn't accept a plain text or PDF resume, then yes I would. Treating applicants like this is a clear reflection of how employees are expected to behave once hired.

You have to understand that not everyone works in tech.

It doesn't really matter if they do or not. There are no technical barriers, everyone has a pdf reader installed. It's not 1998 any more where Windows and Office was the only choice. With the rise of cloud computing and Macs there are a significant number of people who have never used an MS product.

The only reason these Word-only folks survive in pockets is because people comply.

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