HTML Resume

April 29, 2004 3:27 PM

When submitting a resume in html format, how much formatting is appropriate? Would a bit of embedded CSS be overkill? [Slightly more inside]

The position I'm interested in is in no way web design-related, but it's with a fairly web-hip company, so I'm thinking that a valid XHTML document that looks halfway decent wouldn't hurt my chances. I'd appreciate any thoughts the community could offer.

posted by Zonker to Computers & Internet (9 answers total)

Why not get it just right then convert it to .pdf? Then you don't have to worry about which browsers are fully CSS-compliant.
posted by trondant at 3:38 PM on April 29, 2004

Response by poster: Sadly, they don't accept .pdf format -- I wish they did, since I have one of those set up already.
posted by Zonker at 3:41 PM on April 29, 2004

A better bet would be just a plain-jane resume with links to examples of your work. The HR drone that first looks at your resume will not appreciate any cute tricks or anything other than certain specific key words. If the specified (not to you probably) key words do not show up prominently on the resume, it will be thrown away.

Sucks.
posted by Fantt at 3:50 PM on April 29, 2004

As long as it looks good printed out. For me the key is that they can clearly see what I've done professionally, rather than being impressed by my web skillz (which are non-existent anyway). I think it actually helps to make your resume look like all those other resumes, just so they know where to look for the info they want. I just use boring ol' tables, a nice clear font, and do any site navigation stuff in white font on a coloured background so they can't see that when they print. Regarding web work you could however have a prominently headlined section in there that describes what you*have* done with (X)HTML; you could headline it Portfolio, Clients, Projects, or similar, to draw their attention to it.
posted by carter at 3:50 PM on April 29, 2004

Or talk up your web work in your cover letter.
posted by carter at 3:52 PM on April 29, 2004

A "fairly web-hip company" that doesn't accept PDF? Hm... Did they _ask_ for HTML–formatted resumes? If not, don't be clever.

(On preview... ditto on the cover letter comment.)
posted by silusGROK at 3:58 PM on April 29, 2004

Response by poster: Yes, they asked for html, and I'm sure it's because they'll run submissions through a keyword search before a human even considers reading them. I'm happy with the content of the resume and cover letter -- I know how to play that part of the game pretty well -- it's just the first time I've been asked for an html resume.
posted by Zonker at 4:15 PM on April 29, 2004

Actually, one thing that just occurred to me is, perhaps they want an html resume just because it's less hassle, it's an alternative to weirdly formatted attachments/viruses (unless you're sending them the html file as an attachment?), and also to make sure that they *can* read it no matter what.
posted by carter at 7:16 PM on April 29, 2004

Response by poster: That's also quite possible, carter, although I always thought that pdf did a perfectly good job along those lines.

After reading through the thread and thinking things over, I eventually sent it in with some CSS embedded. It shouldn't pose any problems (it's fairly trivial stuff to begin with, and degrades gracefully enough), and even if they're stuck in the 20th Century (which seems unlikely based on what I know) I can do without them. Many thanks for all the thoughts and comments.
posted by Zonker at 7:29 PM on April 29, 2004