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The EU has a standard format (although not really machine readable) that is called EuroPass [0]. I personally hate that template as it gives zero clues on the

The EU has a standard format (although not really machine readable) that is called EuroPass [0]. I personally hate that template as it gives zero clues on the creativity of the candidate. On top of that, it's already kind of boring to screen 50+ CVs, let alone if they are all the same. I personally think creativity plays a role on the candidate evaluation, because creating a document is a skill that is a must have in our field. If the CV isn't structured, contains spelling mistakes (yes, really) or shows you have no clue on how to use a text-processing software, then it's already a negative point for said candidate (IMHO). Having a machine readable CV would be interesting, but IMHO it should be somehow embedded in the CV itself, so that you can have both creativity and machine readability. Also worth noting that companies like LinkedIn are already pretty good at parsing the data on your CV (or provide already a "machine readable CV", although not open). [0]: https://europa.eu/europass/en/create-europass-cv https://europa.eu/europass/en/create-europass-cv

krageon 4y ago
You say it is not machine-readable, but it comes with an XML representation of the PDF embedded in the PDF (so that you can re-upload it later to edit it). I'd say that is plenty readable. > [...] it gives zero clues on the creativity of the candidate. I wasn't going to tailor my CV to your company anyway (and I haven't met a single human being in my field that does). At least this way you can be sure it is readable and contains relevant information. > [...] creating a document is a skill that is a must have in our field. Which should be done with latex, or at the very least another standardised markup language. Not anything which might remotely approach "creative" (i.e. indesign or photoshop). > If the CV isn't structured, contains spelling mistakes (yes, really) or shows you have no clue on how to use a text-processing software, then it's already a negative point for said candidate (IMHO). You are essentially pre-selecting for people that share your cultural background. That makes this (IMHO) a racist hiring policy. You should always look at why you feel certain indicators are good indicators. And what you might be missing out on by weighing them as you do.
- Tabular-Iceberg 4y ago
  What kind of culture has poor spelling as some kind of central tenet?
  - MrJohz 4y ago
    Americans, if you're from a British background, and Brits, if you're from an American background.
    - BjoernKW 4y ago
      Other than in a tongue-in-cheek manner or by the occasional inveterate prescriptivist, neither variation is considered poor spelling.
      - ElevenLathe 4y ago
        Indubitably
      - rprospero 4y ago
        I was once angrily told off by a professor from the other side of the ocean for referring to “less data” instead of “fewer data”. He absolutely would have marked off an applicant for making that comment on their resume. I still defend that a single datapoint whose uncertainty is a real number is an inherently uncountable value and that “less data” was the appropriate phrasing.
        denysvitali 4y ago
        This is just worse than being a grammar nazi IMHO. It's not even about being correct - both representations are OK. If we're really nit-picking, we can say that the language is shaped by the people speaking it, and thus Google Trend could be a good starting point: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?q=Less%20data,Fewer%20data https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?q=Less%20data,Fewer... It seems like "less data" is far more common. But again, we're nit-picking, and this is taking my initial post to the extreme limit. If he would have marked off an applicant for such a thing, he really shouldn't evaluate CVs in the first place, as he would be doing some kind of gatekeeping towards people with the exact same "ideals".
dontbenebby 4y ago
If you want creative but readable, offer to let them do their CV in LaTeX. I started doing it to ease scholarly citations, but my current CV does not use BibTex, it's all manually written out, I just like being able to quickly modify it and recompile rather than wrangle with Libreoffice or some other WYSIWYG editor.
- denysvitali 4y ago
  +1 I too have my CV made with LaTeX and using a modified template I've found. https://github.com/denysvitali/cv/blob/master/main.pdf https://github.com/denysvitali/cv/blob/master/main.pdf The interesting part is that I can version my CV (actually, this one here is already pretty old), and run a CI job to build the document (which in this case I chose to version along with the repository - I know, bad choice). Overall it's as you say, you can just edit a line (even with your phone) and you're good to go.
  - dontbenebby 4y ago
    Thanks for this, I might steal it, but it's a little heavy on the whitespace for my tastes. Also are you European? I'm probably not gonna put my face on my CV :-) But thanks for being willing to share your design, I'd throw mine up but I lost the link to the (now heavily modified) template I used.

krageon 4y ago

You say it is not machine-readable, but it comes with an XML representation of the PDF embedded in the PDF (so that you can re-upload it later to edit it). I'd say that is plenty readable. > [...] it gives zero clues on the creativity of the candidate. I wasn't going to tailor my CV to your company anyway (and I haven't met a single human being in my field that does). At least this way you can be sure it is readable and contains relevant information. > [...] creating a document is a skill that is a must have in our field. Which should be done with latex, or at the very least another standardised markup language. Not anything which might remotely approach "creative" (i.e. indesign or photoshop). > If the CV isn't structured, contains spelling mistakes (yes, really) or shows you have no clue on how to use a text-processing software, then it's already a negative point for said candidate (IMHO). You are essentially pre-selecting for people that share your cultural background. That makes this (IMHO) a racist hiring policy. You should always look at why you feel certain indicators are good indicators. And what you might be missing out on by weighing them as you do.

Tabular-Iceberg 4y ago
What kind of culture has poor spelling as some kind of central tenet?
- MrJohz 4y ago
  Americans, if you're from a British background, and Brits, if you're from an American background.
  - BjoernKW 4y ago
    Other than in a tongue-in-cheek manner or by the occasional inveterate prescriptivist, neither variation is considered poor spelling.
    - ElevenLathe 4y ago
      Indubitably
    - rprospero 4y ago
      I was once angrily told off by a professor from the other side of the ocean for referring to “less data” instead of “fewer data”. He absolutely would have marked off an applicant for making that comment on their resume. I still defend that a single datapoint whose uncertainty is a real number is an inherently uncountable value and that “less data” was the appropriate phrasing.
      - denysvitali 4y ago
        This is just worse than being a grammar nazi IMHO. It's not even about being correct - both representations are OK. If we're really nit-picking, we can say that the language is shaped by the people speaking it, and thus Google Trend could be a good starting point: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?q=Less%20data,Fewer%20data https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?q=Less%20data,Fewer... It seems like "less data" is far more common. But again, we're nit-picking, and this is taking my initial post to the extreme limit. If he would have marked off an applicant for such a thing, he really shouldn't evaluate CVs in the first place, as he would be doing some kind of gatekeeping towards people with the exact same "ideals".

dontbenebby 4y ago

If you want creative but readable, offer to let them do their CV in LaTeX. I started doing it to ease scholarly citations, but my current CV does not use BibTex, it's all manually written out, I just like being able to quickly modify it and recompile rather than wrangle with Libreoffice or some other WYSIWYG editor.

denysvitali 4y ago
+1 I too have my CV made with LaTeX and using a modified template I've found. https://github.com/denysvitali/cv/blob/master/main.pdf https://github.com/denysvitali/cv/blob/master/main.pdf The interesting part is that I can version my CV (actually, this one here is already pretty old), and run a CI job to build the document (which in this case I chose to version along with the repository - I know, bad choice). Overall it's as you say, you can just edit a line (even with your phone) and you're good to go.
- dontbenebby 4y ago
  Thanks for this, I might steal it, but it's a little heavy on the whitespace for my tastes. Also are you European? I'm probably not gonna put my face on my CV :-) But thanks for being willing to share your design, I'd throw mine up but I lost the link to the (now heavily modified) template I used.