Over 30 job applications I sent off. I checked the formatting in both Word 2007 for Windows and Word 2011 for the Mac and it the document formatting seemed fine.

Today I saw the Careers Counsellor at my university and she printed off a copy from my usb stick. The formatting was messed up. I’m assuming she was using Word 2010 for Windows.

It’s a long running joke about Microsoft and their bugs and incompatibilities. You’re never really prepared for it when something like this happens though.

I wish I could just send off my job applications as pdf files. But I can’t because I’ve been told I should save as Word files.

Yeah, you should always re-size your window a few times when finished, to see what happens to your word-wrapping. Sometimes a beautifully-formatted document (especially one with as many custom indents as a resume) will go a bit wonky… Multiple columns tend to be the most affected, I find.

Me, I ask ‘what format would you like my resume in?’ when submitting it. If they don’t have a preference, I toss it to them in Rich Text format. Writing for RTF forces you to have a fairly simple layout, but then a resume need not be complex.

I would’ve thought that PDFs would be more widely accepted because of the variations in platforms and software.

Smerk - 02 February 2012 07:39 AM

I would’ve thought that PDFs would be more widely accepted because of the variations in platforms and software.

A lot of companies prefer Word documents, or so I’ve been instructed. I’ll confirm what with the Careers Counsellor I saw.

Word documents have the advantage over PDFs that they can be modified, to add notes and the like. It’s also easier to dump the data into a keyword-searcher, as PDFs may have some encryption and compression to them.

On the plus side, asking a company ‘what format do you like resumes to be submitted in’ gives you a chance to open a dialog with a real human being, who is responsible for hiring decisions. They’re likely to remember you more as opposed to the folks who sent theirs in whatever format, or typed out on cheap resume paper.

I still use WordPerfect. Never have those nasty Word format problems. I save them to PDF if they are not to be changed, like a copy of my resume.

Ugh.. I hate WordPerfect with an undying passion. It managed to screw up my filename associations, so even though Ive had it uninstalled for five years, it still tries to open as WP. Thankfully, OpenOffice seems to have countered that tendency better than other word processors could manage, and I’m now able to open documents without the rigamarole of ‘open with’ fooling.

Smerk - 02 February 2012 07:39 AM

I would’ve thought that PDFs would be more widely accepted because of the variations in platforms and software.

Exactly. When formatting is an issue, use PDF.

LaMa, except he’s been told to NOT use pdf.

Word is one of the worst editing programs I’ve ever used and I spent my life having to use various ones in my profession as a ‘wordprocessor’.  Now I type my documents inside an e-mail composer and then transfer it by copyNpaste.  Sounds backward but it works a little better.

The best advise is create anything, including a resume, into a extreme simple formula.  Don’t use tabs because that won’t be recognized by other formats.  Instead actually indent by counting spaces.

Make sure you press ENTER two times between paragraphs or separate items. 

You will NOT be able to cause each line to line up in an ‘indented’ formula under a topic so don’t even try, not even with spaces…........keep it simple.

Don’t bold anything or use italics.  If you want a word or a topic to appear as a heading, capitalize it.

It’s information and specific words and phrases an employer is seeking when they scan your resume so for the time being, keep fancy formatting simple, Simple, SIMPLE!

I managed to update my resumé in Word for Mac 2011. I checked it in Word 2007 for Windows. There was one minor problem with a tab setting.

I emailed it to the employment counsellor I saw last week. I sent it as a pdf as well so she could compare it to the Word file.

In my email I did ask if I could just send my resumés as pdf files. This employment counsellor is one I hadn’t seen before last week so she might have some new advice on that.

Tell you what. If she tells me I can send all my resumés as pdf files I’ll go back to using the copy of iWork 09 that I have. I still need MS Office for my university assignments though.

Well it looks like I can use the pdf file format after all. I had a chat to the employment counsellor today on the phone and she said I could use that. I guess things might’ve changed since I studied the subject at university a couple of years ago. I expect some places still require the Word format though so maybe I can’t switch to iWork for my resumé.

My employment counsellor will send me an email on Monday about my updated resumé.

Thank heavens!  Good going Peter!