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Resume Republic – Awesome Online Resume Templates

43 points by swGooF 13y ago

b2themax 13y ago
It seems the best way to go get a clean a resume is to subscribe to adobe CC and us inDesign. Although it costs money, it really is the best solution, and I think it is well worth the marginal cost. I was very excited to click on your link showing free resume templates, but the templates are way too over the top and there are too many design elements which get in the way of the crucial information. I would argue the templates make it harder to understand the applicants experience, and that is the antithesis of what you want in a resume. I would have to believe those templates would cause eye-rolling in potential HR departments.
- hamiltonkibbe 13y ago
  I've used inDesign for my resume with --in my opinion-- great results.
- gomox 13y ago
  I think you can use mostly anything that will do proper text kerning and spacing. The rest is up to the person doing the design. InDesign is "the right tool for the job" (TM) but there is a learning curve. This said, resumes are typically short enough that they really benefit from some hand-massaging of type and layout. LaTeX or other markup-based formats are good if your design skills are "can properly indent code" because they limit how much you can screw it up, but I don't see how you can produce a short, sweet and nice looking document with LaTeX without spending a week on it.
  - b2themax 13y ago
    Yes, I've used LaTex as well. It gets the job done. But the resumes look too academic. I wouldn't use it for a technology job, unless there is an emphasis on research. However, I do think it is appropriate for more traditional workplaces as well. LaTex is good for a very professional yet formal resume. I got a job using LaTex before.
cliveowen 13y ago
Anyone can replicate with ease the designs being sold and launch a free competing service with the same (or better) offering. I don't see a viable business enterprise here.
- svmegatron 13y ago
  I disagree - it's hard to stay in business if you don't make money. The fact that someone else might offer a similar product for free has stopped, e.g. the makers of premium website themes from making huge piles of money. There's definitely a hurdle to be overcome in marketing products to those people least likely to have money lying around, but I think that's mostly a question of demonstrating value. People will buy it if they think it's worth it.
  - hatu 13y ago
    I could see this kind of a business working. I don't like the yearly subscription since I would only want one that I really like, not 50 meh styles. All the examples on the front page scream "21 year old hipster designer" and those actually seem to be all the templates right now.
orofino 13y ago
More than anything, what this makes me want to do is lay out some cash to have an actual designer work on a resume for me. I like nice looking resumes, I kind of want a nicer looking resume, I wouldn't mind paying for a nicer looking resume, I don't really want one that looks like those that hundreds of other people are using. Perhaps a nice direction for a project such as this is to become more of a marketplace, similar to what you have with WordPress templates. This would mean more template diversity with the ease of use that you probably already provide with your CMS.
- uptown 13y ago
  This guy runs/ran a business that did just that - personalized infographic resumes: http://haganblount.com/infographic-resume/ http://haganblount.com/infographic-resume/ I'm not sure if he's still creating them or not.
jxf 13y ago
LaTeX has a lot of excellent resume templates that don't look cluttered or messy and feel pretty clean, IMO. In that vein, WriteLaTeX is a great and free/cheap online tool that I think does a fantastic job of getting you up and running with editing: https://www.writelatex.com/ https://www.writelatex.com/ Here's a resume I made with WriteLaTeX, for example: http://goo.gl/30bBSM http://goo.gl/30bBSM
- fnordfnordfnord 13y ago
  see also: https://www.sharelatex.com/templates/ https://www.sharelatex.com/templates/
- martiuk 13y ago
  I've used a LaTeX CV before and usually (probably 100% of the time) the recruiter wants a .doc to edit in lies rather than the pdf. Probably why you can get called into an interview for a job you don't have the experience for sometimes.
  - gutnor 13y ago
    Even if it is not lies. I have seen several legitimate cases: 1. The agent reformat you resume in a common standard. 2. The agent add a custom section with the result of their "screening" and other client specific requests. 3. The HR of the client needs .doc 4. Client want to receive a single file with everything for a single candidate. Agent is a shitty job. Sure when you place a candidate, there is a huge payday, but you still need to get through a lot of boasting candidates and clueless customers for which you will make no money at all. Also most companies would not be able to recognize that a candidate that is like Linus for a linux kernel job. edit: not defending them. But I have some sympathy - they hear me whining about a company giving me an extra 5K a year when I make 4 times more than them.
- munrocape 13y ago
  I found shareLaTeX's collection to be great.[1] The sources of them are available with some Googling and slight modifications should give anyone the difference to stand out provided someone else used the same template. [1] https://www.sharelatex.com/templates/cv-or-resume https://www.sharelatex.com/templates/cv-or-resume
uladzislau 13y ago
If you don't mind using Microsoft Word, these are great looking well designed resume templates http://almagreta.com/resume-templates/ http://almagreta.com/resume-templates/
- R_Edward 13y ago
  Those are fine looking templates, and I like the idea of using a bit of splashiness to stand out from the crowd. I just worry that the end result might be that I'm taken less seriously as a candidate than the one who used the old, traditional format. For what it's worth, I almost wish I was applying for a job at a commercial art house, just so I could use that black resume. Print that bad boy on some heavy, glossy stock, and there's no way they can turn you down!
alex_anglin 13y ago
While I think that the overall idea isn't necessarily a bad one, two things jump out at me with the templates that are provided: -Do people really put their photos on their resumes?? -Given that resumes are often printed and reviewed in black and white, I think that would undo a lot of the effort that went in to the designs of the templates. In spite of that I think the spirit of having a resume that doesn't come from a Word-provided template is worthwhile for job seekers.
- yeukhon 13y ago
  People actually print resumes on paper these days in the tech sector? Can recruiter confirm this? I think most tech companies probably just email resumes around.
  - alex_anglin 13y ago
    Maybe not, but as a job seeker would you want to take that risk? Not everyone involved in the hiring process is guaranteed to be paper-adverse.
  - bastih 13y ago
    I can confirm this. On several occasions during interviews, interviewers had a printed copy of my resume at hand, as a basis for discussions of what you have already done.
  - ResRep 13y ago
    All these resumes can be printed like a normal resumes on the paper with the same data. There is online version for online presence and print version for personal presence on the meeting with the employer.
  - gomox 13y ago
    I guess it really depends on the companies, but from my experience with an HR system targeting larger hiring organizations (think several hundreds to thousands of hires per year), "better batch printout" functionality is a common feature request. When I am doing interviews I like having a paper copy of the resume to that I can get inspiration for the "discussion" part of the meeting.
hadem 13y ago
Quickly looking at the templates on the site, it seems that all of them include a picture. This seems like a bad idea and generally discouraged.
- ResRep 13y ago
  Why? Those are online resumes. Why they cannot be with pictures. These online resumes are for online presence. There is also print version of each resume.
- jiggy2011 13y ago
  That depends how attractive you are I suppose.
  - gomox 13y ago
    Even for average guys, the picture is a welcome visual element in resumes. US-centric resumes tend to be very wall-of-texty because of the "ALL RESUMES SHOULD BE X PAGES LONG" (X in {1,2}) policy forbidding the use of "wasteful" whitespace.
- gomox 13y ago
  This is really a cultural issue. In the US, pictures are a big no-no but in my experience with LATAM and European companies, pictures are common if not expected. Design wise, the picture is a good opportunity for visual appeal.
  - yelnatz 13y ago
    Yep, if you Google "Philippine Resume", you can really tell that pictures in a resume is the norm there.
    - ma2rten 13y ago
      Actually if you Google Image "Resume" most do have an image.
  - 13y ago
pierlux 13y ago
Photos on resume? Ain't your look not necessary to get a job in tech?
- gomox 13y ago
  See my comment above: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7532126 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7532126
pkallberg 13y ago
Looks really nice! Would be great to be able to connect with LinkedIn for example, to save time filling in job details/dates etc.
kyleknighted 13y ago
Beyond the concept of the app which has been touched upon, the thing that jumped out at me as I was flipping through the app site (not the resumes) is that the content is not written all that great. I'm not claiming to be a grammar nazi, but "publiched" isn't a word and I think you're missing at least one letter in "whether your resume look good". My main assumption is that your first language isn't English, and that's fine, but maybe hire a English speaking copy-editor to help out with such issues?
- ResRep 13y ago
  Yes, english is not our main language. We hire some english experts to fix all grammar issuess. It will be fixed very soon :)
alistairjcbrown 13y ago
I write my resume / CV in HTML & CSS and have PhantomJS convert it to PDF. I found this gives great control and lets you style to your hearts content with whatever you can get off the web. Shameless plug - I build a basic setup with Grunt to do live conversion so I can edit the HTML/CSS and see the result instantly on save. It's also set up to run simple scripts on rasterising, like creating a citations list or adding a "generated on" date https://github.com/alistairjcbrown/html-pdf-live-conversion https://github.com/alistairjcbrown/html-pdf-live-conversion
zavi 13y ago
Dashboard looks broken on mobile: http://i.imgur.com/1oiSjYB.jpg http://i.imgur.com/1oiSjYB.jpg
ksk 13y ago
From the FAQ: How do I delete my account or cancel my membership? {...... .. } Standard and Premium users You need to send us a request with the reason why do you want to cancel your membership. ^ WTF? Why do I have to give a reason to stop paying for a service? Why not just have an optional feedback form next to a "Delete Account" button.
- Jakehp 13y ago
  "Why do I have to give a reason to stop paying for a service?" You don't have to ask to stop paying for their service. Taken from FAQ: "Can I cancel membership anytime I want? Yes. Absolutely. All users may cancel their membership on the site at any time. Simply go to Account settings and under Membership status you’ll see your club subscription with an option to cancel." However, I still find it odd that you have to contact them in order to delete your account.
  - deedubaya 13y ago
    As someone who has built a couple service type products, I'll gain more by building out usable features in a product than building out account deletion. I'm not say that it isn't important, or that it shouldn't be done, but when launching, there is lower hanging fruit that I want to get done first.
tbrownaw 13y ago
Does this actually help? When I'm asked to help screen resumes for potential new coworkers, I mostly care what skills they think they have and what they've been doing the last few years, or if their grammar is particularly bad I worry about possible communication barriers. Pretty formatting or graphics only matter so far as they make it harder to find those things.

43 points by swGooF 13y ago

It seems the best way to go get a clean a resume is to subscribe to adobe CC and us inDesign. Although it costs money, it really is the best solution, and I think it is well worth the marginal cost. I was very excited to click on your link showing free resume templates, but the templates are way too over the top and there are too many design elements which get in the way of the crucial information. I would argue the templates make it harder to understand the applicants experience, and that is the antithesis of what you want in a resume. I would have to believe those templates would cause eye-rolling in potential HR departments.

hamiltonkibbe 13y ago
I've used inDesign for my resume with --in my opinion-- great results.
gomox 13y ago
I think you can use mostly anything that will do proper text kerning and spacing. The rest is up to the person doing the design. InDesign is "the right tool for the job" (TM) but there is a learning curve. This said, resumes are typically short enough that they really benefit from some hand-massaging of type and layout. LaTeX or other markup-based formats are good if your design skills are "can properly indent code" because they limit how much you can screw it up, but I don't see how you can produce a short, sweet and nice looking document with LaTeX without spending a week on it.
- b2themax 13y ago
  Yes, I've used LaTex as well. It gets the job done. But the resumes look too academic. I wouldn't use it for a technology job, unless there is an emphasis on research. However, I do think it is appropriate for more traditional workplaces as well. LaTex is good for a very professional yet formal resume. I got a job using LaTex before.

cliveowen 13y ago

Anyone can replicate with ease the designs being sold and launch a free competing service with the same (or better) offering. I don't see a viable business enterprise here.

svmegatron 13y ago
I disagree - it's hard to stay in business if you don't make money. The fact that someone else might offer a similar product for free has stopped, e.g. the makers of premium website themes from making huge piles of money. There's definitely a hurdle to be overcome in marketing products to those people least likely to have money lying around, but I think that's mostly a question of demonstrating value. People will buy it if they think it's worth it.
- hatu 13y ago
  I could see this kind of a business working. I don't like the yearly subscription since I would only want one that I really like, not 50 meh styles. All the examples on the front page scream "21 year old hipster designer" and those actually seem to be all the templates right now.

orofino 13y ago

More than anything, what this makes me want to do is lay out some cash to have an actual designer work on a resume for me. I like nice looking resumes, I kind of want a nicer looking resume, I wouldn't mind paying for a nicer looking resume, I don't really want one that looks like those that hundreds of other people are using. Perhaps a nice direction for a project such as this is to become more of a marketplace, similar to what you have with WordPress templates. This would mean more template diversity with the ease of use that you probably already provide with your CMS.

uptown 13y ago
This guy runs/ran a business that did just that - personalized infographic resumes: http://haganblount.com/infographic-resume/ http://haganblount.com/infographic-resume/ I'm not sure if he's still creating them or not.

jxf 13y ago

LaTeX has a lot of excellent resume templates that don't look cluttered or messy and feel pretty clean, IMO. In that vein, WriteLaTeX is a great and free/cheap online tool that I think does a fantastic job of getting you up and running with editing: https://www.writelatex.com/ https://www.writelatex.com/ Here's a resume I made with WriteLaTeX, for example: http://goo.gl/30bBSM http://goo.gl/30bBSM

fnordfnordfnord 13y ago
see also: https://www.sharelatex.com/templates/ https://www.sharelatex.com/templates/
martiuk 13y ago
I've used a LaTeX CV before and usually (probably 100% of the time) the recruiter wants a .doc to edit in lies rather than the pdf. Probably why you can get called into an interview for a job you don't have the experience for sometimes.
- gutnor 13y ago
  Even if it is not lies. I have seen several legitimate cases: 1. The agent reformat you resume in a common standard. 2. The agent add a custom section with the result of their "screening" and other client specific requests. 3. The HR of the client needs .doc 4. Client want to receive a single file with everything for a single candidate. Agent is a shitty job. Sure when you place a candidate, there is a huge payday, but you still need to get through a lot of boasting candidates and clueless customers for which you will make no money at all. Also most companies would not be able to recognize that a candidate that is like Linus for a linux kernel job. edit: not defending them. But I have some sympathy - they hear me whining about a company giving me an extra 5K a year when I make 4 times more than them.
munrocape 13y ago
I found shareLaTeX's collection to be great.[1] The sources of them are available with some Googling and slight modifications should give anyone the difference to stand out provided someone else used the same template. [1] https://www.sharelatex.com/templates/cv-or-resume https://www.sharelatex.com/templates/cv-or-resume

uladzislau 13y ago

If you don't mind using Microsoft Word, these are great looking well designed resume templates http://almagreta.com/resume-templates/ http://almagreta.com/resume-templates/

R_Edward 13y ago
Those are fine looking templates, and I like the idea of using a bit of splashiness to stand out from the crowd. I just worry that the end result might be that I'm taken less seriously as a candidate than the one who used the old, traditional format. For what it's worth, I almost wish I was applying for a job at a commercial art house, just so I could use that black resume. Print that bad boy on some heavy, glossy stock, and there's no way they can turn you down!

alex_anglin 13y ago

While I think that the overall idea isn't necessarily a bad one, two things jump out at me with the templates that are provided: -Do people really put their photos on their resumes?? -Given that resumes are often printed and reviewed in black and white, I think that would undo a lot of the effort that went in to the designs of the templates. In spite of that I think the spirit of having a resume that doesn't come from a Word-provided template is worthwhile for job seekers.

yeukhon 13y ago
People actually print resumes on paper these days in the tech sector? Can recruiter confirm this? I think most tech companies probably just email resumes around.
- alex_anglin 13y ago
  Maybe not, but as a job seeker would you want to take that risk? Not everyone involved in the hiring process is guaranteed to be paper-adverse.
- bastih 13y ago
  I can confirm this. On several occasions during interviews, interviewers had a printed copy of my resume at hand, as a basis for discussions of what you have already done.
- ResRep 13y ago
  All these resumes can be printed like a normal resumes on the paper with the same data. There is online version for online presence and print version for personal presence on the meeting with the employer.
- gomox 13y ago
  I guess it really depends on the companies, but from my experience with an HR system targeting larger hiring organizations (think several hundreds to thousands of hires per year), "better batch printout" functionality is a common feature request. When I am doing interviews I like having a paper copy of the resume to that I can get inspiration for the "discussion" part of the meeting.

hadem 13y ago

Quickly looking at the templates on the site, it seems that all of them include a picture. This seems like a bad idea and generally discouraged.

ResRep 13y ago
Why? Those are online resumes. Why they cannot be with pictures. These online resumes are for online presence. There is also print version of each resume.
jiggy2011 13y ago
That depends how attractive you are I suppose.
- gomox 13y ago
  Even for average guys, the picture is a welcome visual element in resumes. US-centric resumes tend to be very wall-of-texty because of the "ALL RESUMES SHOULD BE X PAGES LONG" (X in {1,2}) policy forbidding the use of "wasteful" whitespace.
gomox 13y ago
This is really a cultural issue. In the US, pictures are a big no-no but in my experience with LATAM and European companies, pictures are common if not expected. Design wise, the picture is a good opportunity for visual appeal.
- yelnatz 13y ago
  Yep, if you Google "Philippine Resume", you can really tell that pictures in a resume is the norm there.
  - ma2rten 13y ago
    Actually if you Google Image "Resume" most do have an image.
- 13y ago

pierlux 13y ago

Photos on resume? Ain't your look not necessary to get a job in tech?

gomox 13y ago
See my comment above: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7532126 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7532126

pkallberg 13y ago

Looks really nice! Would be great to be able to connect with LinkedIn for example, to save time filling in job details/dates etc.

kyleknighted 13y ago

Beyond the concept of the app which has been touched upon, the thing that jumped out at me as I was flipping through the app site (not the resumes) is that the content is not written all that great. I'm not claiming to be a grammar nazi, but "publiched" isn't a word and I think you're missing at least one letter in "whether your resume look good". My main assumption is that your first language isn't English, and that's fine, but maybe hire a English speaking copy-editor to help out with such issues?

ResRep 13y ago
Yes, english is not our main language. We hire some english experts to fix all grammar issuess. It will be fixed very soon :)

alistairjcbrown 13y ago

I write my resume / CV in HTML & CSS and have PhantomJS convert it to PDF. I found this gives great control and lets you style to your hearts content with whatever you can get off the web. Shameless plug - I build a basic setup with Grunt to do live conversion so I can edit the HTML/CSS and see the result instantly on save. It's also set up to run simple scripts on rasterising, like creating a citations list or adding a "generated on" date https://github.com/alistairjcbrown/html-pdf-live-conversion https://github.com/alistairjcbrown/html-pdf-live-conversion

zavi 13y ago

Dashboard looks broken on mobile: http://i.imgur.com/1oiSjYB.jpg http://i.imgur.com/1oiSjYB.jpg

ksk 13y ago

From the FAQ: How do I delete my account or cancel my membership? {...... .. } Standard and Premium users You need to send us a request with the reason why do you want to cancel your membership. ^ WTF? Why do I have to give a reason to stop paying for a service? Why not just have an optional feedback form next to a "Delete Account" button.

Jakehp 13y ago
"Why do I have to give a reason to stop paying for a service?" You don't have to ask to stop paying for their service. Taken from FAQ: "Can I cancel membership anytime I want? Yes. Absolutely. All users may cancel their membership on the site at any time. Simply go to Account settings and under Membership status you’ll see your club subscription with an option to cancel." However, I still find it odd that you have to contact them in order to delete your account.
- deedubaya 13y ago
  As someone who has built a couple service type products, I'll gain more by building out usable features in a product than building out account deletion. I'm not say that it isn't important, or that it shouldn't be done, but when launching, there is lower hanging fruit that I want to get done first.

tbrownaw 13y ago

Does this actually help? When I'm asked to help screen resumes for potential new coworkers, I mostly care what skills they think they have and what they've been doing the last few years, or if their grammar is particularly bad I worry about possible communication barriers. Pretty formatting or graphics only matter so far as they make it harder to find those things.