Use PDF To Make Sure Any Employer Can Read Your Resume

13 years ago

August 30, 2011 at 11:30 am

Sending a resume isn’t always the best way to score a job, but if one is required you want to make sure it gets read. Reader Owen reminds us of one of the most obvious but often neglected resume strategies: send it as a PDF so you can be sure your recipient can read it.

Owen explains the importance of this in his own words:

When emailing resumes to potential employers, send them in PDF format. Formats used by word processing software such as MS Office or Open Office are not always readable by the people who receive your job applications. PDF is such a common file format that it’s almost guaranteed that the recipient will have some kind of PDF reader on hand, whatever the operating system.

To make sure your PDF resume gets noticed, check out our top 10 ways to rock your resume. Thanks Owen!

Comments

32 responses to “Use PDF To Make Sure Any Employer Can Read Your Resume”

READ THE COMMENTS

Andrew Palozzo

August 30, 2011

I worked in recruitment for a few years and I still have some friends in that space.. we cringed every time we say a resume come in PDF… Word loaded quicker and we were able to scour through it so much easier.

Just my 2 cents..

Log in to Reply
1. Jess
  
  August 30, 2011
  
  My own anecdotal experience says that half the recruitment agencies don’t even accept PDFs.
  
  Using SEEK, etc, if they have specified that you must send in a DOC format resume, the forms wont let you upload a .pdf (or .docx for that matter).
  
  Log in to Reply
Chris Deke

August 30, 2011

If PDF isn’t loading quicker than word then you’re doing something wrong.

PDF is an OPEN document STANDARD. Word is a proprietary format which isn’t even standard between versions of itself. This should be a no-brainer.

Log in to Reply
1. significance
  
  August 30, 2011
  
  What am I doing wrong, then? Using Adobe Acrobat and MS Word on a Dell/Windows machine, PDFs are always slower to open. The files are larger, too.
  
  Log in to Reply
  1. Danielle
    
    August 31, 2011
    
    You answered your own question. Adobe products are horrendous.
    
    Log in to Reply
2. Jason
  
  August 30, 2011
  
  +1
  
  Log in to Reply
3. Dave Lord
  
  August 30, 2011
  
  PDF is most definitely not an “OPEN document STANDARD”. It is proprietry, owned by Adobe.
  The open document standard is ODF, as defined by ISO/IEC 26300:2006
  http://www.iso.org/iso/iso_catalogue/catalogue_tc/catalogue_detail.htm?csnumber=43485
  
  Log in to Reply
  1. Chris Deke
    
    August 31, 2011
    
    Adobe opened the PDF standard years ago, hence the fact anyone can make an open-source PDF viewer. This wouldn’t be possible were it not an open-standard, non?
    
    Log in to Reply
smz

August 30, 2011

I understand sending a PDF if applying directly to a company, however when applying to a recruitment company it is much better to use Word. Agents need to format your CV to fit into a template before sending to a client, and it is much easier and less time consuming if it is in Word format.

Personally I also find Acrobat Reader to be a little clunky and slow.

Yes I am a recruiter 🙂

Log in to Reply
1. Matt
  
  August 30, 2011
  
  So use a PDF viewer other than Acrobat.
  
  Log in to Reply
  1. Ferret
    
    August 30, 2011
    
    Don’t be silly. You’re asking a recruiter to do something other than the blindingly obvious bare minimum.
    
    Log in to Reply
    1. Matt
      
      August 30, 2011
      
      Whoops, my bad.
      
      Log in to Reply
      1. smz
        
        August 30, 2011
        
        no need to be smartasses
        
        company IT policy won’t allow it
      2. Andrew Palozzo
        
        August 30, 2011
        
        That’s insane.. it’s his job to format the resume to comply with their standard which is what their client is probably use to..
        
        I’m sure his more than capable of using a different program to open up PDF’s but you obviously think everyone has admin access to their machine and can install software in their enterprise network willy nilly?
        
        Plus Acrobat is the standard PDF reader? I’m sure he has to use acrobat to read other documents? Imagine some of them have compatibility issues with selected documents and don’t display properly?
        
        So much work to get around what a user could easily fix and that is to send the CV in the format it was originally written in. WORD!!
      3. Jess
        
        August 30, 2011
        
        Not necessarily in MS Word. For example; I’m applying for a Unix Sys Admin job – It’s not unreasonable to assume I live in a *nix world, devoid of MS products.
        
        My best alternative is Open/Libre Office. Sure, I can save out to MS .doc format from these suites, but given the propriety nature of the format, there is bound to be at least one formatting / display error when opened by the recruiter.
        
        Then what? The recruiter doesn’t know / care that I’m actually using the software that qualifies me for the job. No, instead I’m passed over for the position in favour of someone who lives in an MS world…
        
        That sounds like a crappy situation to be in, just because the recruiter follows the cookie-cutter rules and has no idea what an alternative PDF reader is.
        
        Btw; ever heard of portable apps? Plug a USB drive in with a portable version of a PDF reader on it – no need to install any apps. If you can’t run executables from a portable drive – upload it to Google Docs and let it do the formatting work for you (but this may suffer from the same issues as an OO.org .doc file does).
        
        In summary; stop being lazy and using “It’s company policy” as an excuse at the expense of talented people potentially missing out on a job.
Shane

August 30, 2011

Yup, pdf is the optimal format. It conforms to web accessibility guidelines, and can be read on a wider variety of machines than office docs.

You shouldn’t be using wacky fonts in your resume, but if for some reason you do, your Word doc (unless saved as RTF) won’t port them across.

And with sites like http://www.pdfonline.com (and those handy print-to plugins, anyone can create a pdf with little or no effort.

Log in to Reply
Ferret

August 30, 2011

PDF is designed around giving the content creater having control over the document’s content and presentation. DOC/DOCX gives the content consumer (in this instance – the recruiter) control. It doesn’t take a genius to work out why most people with half a clue are more than happy to send PDFs but hate receiving them.

Log in to Reply
Stove

August 30, 2011

It’s obviously a bad idea, But I had my resume in plain text for a while to make sure it was universally readable. I somehow managed to get a job with it at the time.

I work at a recruitment agency of sorts, and all resumes are changed to the default (word) template. Other filetypes are generally fine, but there are always some people who just scan in their old resume and say ‘its a pdf, you can use it’.

Log in to Reply
Trjn

August 30, 2011

My resume had a few simple formatting tricks employed. Mainly because it looked nice but also because it is for low-level admin roles so it showed that wasn’t just mashing the keys with my fist and hoping to get something.

Whenever a recruiter touched it, they’d reformat it into some mangled mess.

Sending it in PDF format might have solved that little dilemma. If any recruiter would actually accept it in PDF instead of DOC.

Log in to Reply
Jonathan

August 30, 2011

I used to have my resume in LaTeX and it made beautifully processed pdfs. However as everyone has mentioned… recruiters don’t accept pdf!

Log in to Reply
1. lokiparan
  
  August 30, 2011
  
  Thumbs up for LaTeX – whenever I have to do to a presentation I use Beamer.
  
  Log in to Reply
Chris

August 30, 2011

I’m not sure what Alternate Universe Owen is living in…

But as an IT Contractor, I have worked with recruitment agents for 10+ years and I can tell you that virtually none of them like to receive a resume in pdf format. They will almost always reply asking for it in DOC format.

After years of trying, I have now given up on sending my resume to them in pdf and send it to them as a Word doc.

Log in to Reply
1. Andrew Palozzo
  
  August 30, 2011
  
  Furthermore I think it also shows the recruiter you know how to use word… I’ve seen way too many CV’s that looked nice in PDF but were written horribly in word.. ie.. using spacebar to align things and not using the correct tabs to move tables etc.
  
  Log in to Reply
  1. wangxy
    
    August 30, 2011
    
    Using tabs to align things is no better than using space. Tab width is an option that can differ from one software to another. If you send a doc to a machine with different tab width configuration, you text will probably get messed up. That’s why pdf is far better to maintain a universal readability across different machines. Personally I use real borderless table, instead of tabs, to align items in the resume and provide both source file(LibreOffice) and pdf. I’m can put my money into better use than getting hold of a copy of MS Office.
    
    Log in to Reply
Tjs

August 30, 2011

Well this is an eye opener and complete shock to me. I have been sending my resume as PDF’s for ages now simply because it is so much easier to read than word documents.

I’ve never had a recruiter email back for a doc file.
The only time that I have uploaded a doc file was when the application website specifically asked for .doc but most allow for .doc or .pdf

Log in to Reply
Luke

August 30, 2011

Oh… Owen you crafty bastard, i see whats going on, you tell everyone to send their resumes as a PDF file knowing that most will get rejected and you might have a better chance of the employer reading your resume and you getting the job.

Log in to Reply
johnw

August 30, 2011

SEEK and most recruitment agencies want you to use word so that they may delete your contact information from yuor resume before they foward it on to employers.
They get cheated out of finders fees frequently if they don’t.

Log in to Reply
Stephen

August 30, 2011

Just use Word or a Word-compatible format, or the reader will get confused.

Although as an Office 2010 user I ensure I save in 2003 format.

Log in to Reply
Tom

August 31, 2011

Having been on Windows computers for years, PDF’s were the bane of my existence and I’d always try to get something in Word format.

Now on mac, the OSX Preview application opens incredibly fast and handles everything far smoother than starting up MS Word. I find PDF’s easier to handle as well. Much easier to navigate, can make table of contents built into it and I can easily merge PDF’s by pages and save them as one big file which is great for compiling lecture notes.

Log in to Reply
Oblique

August 31, 2011

I’m in the market for a job and I gotta say, nobody wants my PDF. I just gave up and made a .doc version.

Log in to Reply
ploo

August 31, 2011

I don’t get this. Numerous companies I have applied to only want a Word file, not PDF. Are you saying we should defy them?

Log in to Reply
KP

September 2, 2011

Stupid article that does not know the industry at all. Recruiters want DOC not PDF, that is well know.

My personal opinion PDF are much better. If I have a say in this, I prefer PDF as I don’t use word to write my documents.

Now, I cannot change the fact that recruiters have only basic computer (and word) and because of that they can only accept DOC files.

Log in to Reply

The Best Gadgets to Turn Your Regular Kitchen Into a Smart One

11 Games (That Aren’t Fallout) To Play After Watching Fallout

The Unbreakable Rules of Sharing a Fence With Your Neighbour

This Mini PC Is a Cute, Surprisingly Powerful Love Letter to Retro Computing

My Favorite Productivity Advice From Books (so You Don’t Have to Read Them All)

The Best Mobile Plans to Keep Your Phone Bill Under $30

Here Are Amazon Australia’s Best Deals of the Week

Here Are the Fastest Internet Providers and NBN Plans in Australia

19 Sustainable Mother’s Day Gifts That’ll Show Some Love to Your Mum and the Planet

Save up to $300 on Optus’ Biggest SIM-Only Plan Bundle

Use PDF To Make Sure Any Employer Can Read Your Resume

Comments

32 responses to “Use PDF To Make Sure Any Employer Can Read Your Resume”

Leave a Reply Cancel reply