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I currently use a word processor to store my resume in a specific format and I can produce a PDF when necessary. Lately, I've been wondering if storing my resume this way is a good idea.

I was thinking of storing it in a plain text file, if I were to send it in plain text (.txt), can it be unprofessional and take me out of consideration for a job? Is it expected I use Word or PDF files?

Resumes are sales tools. Look at other sales tools you're familiar with. Imagine you're at a conference, and a salesperson at a booth hands you a business card. You'd expect some level of formatting, in order to help convey a level of professionalism at least, if not some overall brand message for their company.

What would you think of the salesperson if they gave you a business card that just had plain unformatted text plopped on it?

Now, unless you're applying for jobs doing page layout, no one is going to be highly critical of your resume's formatting and layout. But, there is a level of expectation among recruiters and hiring managers, that you've put thought and effort into how you present yourself during the hiring process. This is important because it's taken as a sign of the thought and effort you'll put into doing your job, should they hire you. Hence, it's worth presenting at least a minimally-formatted resume.

If you're worried about continuity, it's easy to choose a word processor with a history of stability and backwards compatibility (ie MS Word). Worst case, you end up having to re-build your resume from a pdf or - gasp - a printed copy.

All that said, there may be some merit in keeping a plain text version of your resume, as well. Many job applications require you to enter details of past jobs into an online web job application, and cutting/pasting from a word processor sometimes results in relics that are painful to edit back out (ie a bullet list may collapse and look messy). Having a plain text version can make that easier.

Which brings up a good point - it's best to not think of your resume as a single (static) document, but rather as a collection of information that you need to present with slight tweaks for different audiences. For instance, I have a "baseline" resume with all of my employers/positions/projects with detailed notes on each. It's probably about 5 or 6 pages long. When applying for a job, I run through it and remove content that's not relevant (a process that might take 10 minutes), allowing me to create a document that's focused on the specific opportunity I'm going after.

I love when people say it's "unprofessional" and suggest using things like markup. I would assume the person making these suggestions has never been a hiring manager.

I will assume you aren't a designer, but for most other my answer will apply.

When you apply to a role, the following tends to happen

You will spend a good bit of time customizing the resume to the role.

1. You upload your resume into an ATS (Application Tracking System)


2. This scans the resume for keywords, details etc and populates the application form


3. If this isn't parsed correctly, you will be rejected


4. The details go (likely initially in an email) to the HR rep, who is prompted to look at it in the ATS (but will often not, which is why the status will zombie to you in the ATS). This will usually be stripped of fancy formatting by the ATS.


5. If you pass the ATS and the look by HR, the details will be passed to the hiring manager, often by cutting and pasting into an email with a bunch of other applicants.

Alternately the resume is first passed to a recruiter who reformats the resume into a standard format they use.

Now you see the issue, your info gets parsed and munged and copied and pasted. Lots of fancy nice formatting will look great, but will often be impossible to parse, and be lost by the time the person who will hire you will look at it.

So what to do? A text version is perfectly acceptable, as it will be parsed correctly, is easily copy-able into the communique to the hiring manager.

What I do - I use Word rather than straight text, but I analyse the formatting and always export the file to txt to ensure it still looks right.

So use text, keep it clean, don't use = or _ to try an recreate lines etc, just make it simple and clear, and watch as the Tex formatting junkies can't understand why their resume sits in an ATS portal until they get a rejection when the job is filled and closed out.

Having a text version of the CV/resume is a good idea. I don't use it to send to somebody but I do use it as part of the application process.

I have on some sites run into the situation where I have to copy the parts of the resume into their interface. Having a text version ready to go can help make that process quicker, and makes sure that the information still is readable when it has been cut and pasted into the text box.

I have found that doing this conversion on the whole resume makes it easier to make sure that I don't forget to account for some formatting that I might overlook if I am doing the conversion one paragraph at a time.

One option you might consider is using Markdown-formatted text files as your base. Markdown offers enough formatting tools for the job, and you can use convertors such as Pandoc at any moment to convert the file into PDF, MS Word, ODS, or another of many supported formats when necessary.

No, in many places its the preferred form. I provide my resume in Word upon request, but my default is .txt, as its universal. Unless you're a graphics designer I don't want a colored, flashy, highly visualized resume- I'm just going to be scanning it anyway. In general if you feel you need to impress me with anything other than your skills/experience, it means those are lacking.

Not only is plaintext a wonderful idea, you might even consider structured data. My resume ended up very sharp looking formatted as valid yaml. Imports very nicely into job application forms as well.

That said, I specifically created my resume to visually offend those I would not want to work with and attract those that I would. If you want to be a more attractive candidate, giving them what is commonly expected (docx and pdf) will cause less friction in recruiting pipelines and gain you a wider audience.