4 ms·

Show HN: INeedAResume – Modern free resume generator

23 points by mitchas 12y ago

mitchas 12y ago
Hey guys! So I made this webapp in a few hours over the weekend and wanted to share! I would love to hear your feedback. I know it's not perfect, but there are some limitations due to how I'm generating the file. I'm trying to figure out some solutions! I'm also looking for some feedback on the UX/UI. If you have any suggestions on improving anything, please let me know!
- personalcompute 12y ago
  Hi Mitchas. I've not used the service yet - I'll be using it tomorrow - but as a prospective user the big thing that is missing is the example! I know you have one, but it is hidden away in a block of text. Show that visually with a thumbnail and a heading so I can spot it immediately. I don't know about other people, and it's not exactly rational, but I generally don't take the time to read even the tiniest bit of marketing copy (if it isn't a single sentence-fragment in very large letters) if I don't first see something graphical demonstrating the product (such as a thumbnail of an example generated resume). Thanks for putting this out there, I otherwise like the presentation of the form.
- posnet 12y ago
  Pretty neat, big fan of the clean UI, and I am always impressed by people why have the patience to hand make things in JQuery. I am curious how you are doing the PDF generation, I have small POS app that does report generation and I ended up using wkhtmltopdf.
nodata 12y ago
Needs a preview with dummy text.
- posnet 12y ago
  There is. http://ineedaresu.me/src/example.pdf http://ineedaresu.me/src/example.pdf
Peroni 12y ago
Fantastic work. Two suggestions: 1. I found having the navigation mapped to my arrow keys super frustrating. 2. Embedding your URL into the finished product is unnecessary and as an employer, I would find it off-putting. Address both of those points and I will happily plug the crap out of this.
- personalcompute 12y ago
  It looks to me like it was a mistake to have the url embedded into the finished product. I don't know if it possible to exploit browser page printing as a means to convert the result without this happening. Having that plus the page count/date on every page does ruin the entire utility of the product, unfortunately. I would suggest that considering that he already has an html based generator, he could use that and then pandoc [0] on the backend to convert to pdf and (optionally) print. [0]http://johnmacfarlane.net/pandoc/ http://johnmacfarlane.net/pandoc/ PS - To the author - the standard keyboard shortcut for moving to the next form field is tab, why not use that?
- mitchas 12y ago
  Thanks for the Feedback! I'm working on finding something better than the arrow navigation. I thought it was a good idea at first, but then realized it's annoying when using the textarea boxes to type paragraphs because you're unable to switch between letters. I'll definitely be disabling it now until I find something better! As for the URL in the finished product, that's there by default since I'm relying on Chrome's "Print Page" function, and I have no control over those settings. I need to find a way to tell the user that they can click "More Settings" then uncheck "Show Headers & footers" to remove that. It's just hard to display since I can't show anything over that dialog. Again, Thanks for the feedback though!
serf 12y ago
There is no visual element to go back, only to loop through the category again. I can go back using arrow keys after making an error, but I didn't even know that was an option until reading the comments in this thread since I so rapidly skimmed through the introductory headlines. One doesn't expect to learn about a new/foreign navigation method under a headline titled 'SUPER DUPER SIMPLE', and so I missed it entirely. The geo-locate area code, while maybe convenient for some, is creepy. I'd prefer another set of '555' 's or (xxx), but that's probably just me. I don't need help remembering what area code my primary phone number is within, and in my case the suggestion was incorrect anyway. I very much like the styling and the liveliness of the UI otherwise. It feels very polished.
Numberwang 12y ago
As I keep saying on all these sites, looks good but without a .doc export it is worthless in Europe. Pro-tip if you are unemployed, send in a Word document and not a PDF and you are substantially more likely to get a reply. I know it is idiotic, but would you not rather have a job?
- Peroni 12y ago
  >without a .doc export it is worthless in Europe Not sure what part of Europe you are referring to but that certainly doesn't apply to the UK & Ireland.
  - nicolasehrhardt 12y ago
    Yeah... Nobody asked for a .doc version of my resume in France either.
- iqonik 12y ago
  .doc is a must but only because of the technology being used. CV Parsing / Previewing is a lot more mature of .doc format.
nmj 12y ago
Hijacking the left and right arrow keys turns filling out forms into a frustrating experience.
- mitchas 12y ago
  You're right, I switched it to using the tab key, thanks for the feedback!
rahij 12y ago
If I add 3 employers, I am not able to go back and edit the first two after reaching the preview stage.
- mitchas 12y ago
  That's a bug I'm trying to work out right now. Sorry about that!

23 points by mitchas 12y ago

Hey guys! So I made this webapp in a few hours over the weekend and wanted to share! I would love to hear your feedback. I know it's not perfect, but there are some limitations due to how I'm generating the file. I'm trying to figure out some solutions! I'm also looking for some feedback on the UX/UI. If you have any suggestions on improving anything, please let me know!

personalcompute 12y ago
Hi Mitchas. I've not used the service yet - I'll be using it tomorrow - but as a prospective user the big thing that is missing is the example! I know you have one, but it is hidden away in a block of text. Show that visually with a thumbnail and a heading so I can spot it immediately. I don't know about other people, and it's not exactly rational, but I generally don't take the time to read even the tiniest bit of marketing copy (if it isn't a single sentence-fragment in very large letters) if I don't first see something graphical demonstrating the product (such as a thumbnail of an example generated resume). Thanks for putting this out there, I otherwise like the presentation of the form.
posnet 12y ago
Pretty neat, big fan of the clean UI, and I am always impressed by people why have the patience to hand make things in JQuery. I am curious how you are doing the PDF generation, I have small POS app that does report generation and I ended up using wkhtmltopdf.

nodata 12y ago

Needs a preview with dummy text.

posnet 12y ago
There is. http://ineedaresu.me/src/example.pdf http://ineedaresu.me/src/example.pdf

Peroni 12y ago

Fantastic work. Two suggestions: 1. I found having the navigation mapped to my arrow keys super frustrating. 2. Embedding your URL into the finished product is unnecessary and as an employer, I would find it off-putting. Address both of those points and I will happily plug the crap out of this.

personalcompute 12y ago
It looks to me like it was a mistake to have the url embedded into the finished product. I don't know if it possible to exploit browser page printing as a means to convert the result without this happening. Having that plus the page count/date on every page does ruin the entire utility of the product, unfortunately. I would suggest that considering that he already has an html based generator, he could use that and then pandoc [0] on the backend to convert to pdf and (optionally) print. [0]http://johnmacfarlane.net/pandoc/ http://johnmacfarlane.net/pandoc/ PS - To the author - the standard keyboard shortcut for moving to the next form field is tab, why not use that?
mitchas 12y ago
Thanks for the Feedback! I'm working on finding something better than the arrow navigation. I thought it was a good idea at first, but then realized it's annoying when using the textarea boxes to type paragraphs because you're unable to switch between letters. I'll definitely be disabling it now until I find something better! As for the URL in the finished product, that's there by default since I'm relying on Chrome's "Print Page" function, and I have no control over those settings. I need to find a way to tell the user that they can click "More Settings" then uncheck "Show Headers & footers" to remove that. It's just hard to display since I can't show anything over that dialog. Again, Thanks for the feedback though!

serf 12y ago

There is no visual element to go back, only to loop through the category again. I can go back using arrow keys after making an error, but I didn't even know that was an option until reading the comments in this thread since I so rapidly skimmed through the introductory headlines. One doesn't expect to learn about a new/foreign navigation method under a headline titled 'SUPER DUPER SIMPLE', and so I missed it entirely. The geo-locate area code, while maybe convenient for some, is creepy. I'd prefer another set of '555' 's or (xxx), but that's probably just me. I don't need help remembering what area code my primary phone number is within, and in my case the suggestion was incorrect anyway. I very much like the styling and the liveliness of the UI otherwise. It feels very polished.

Numberwang 12y ago

As I keep saying on all these sites, looks good but without a .doc export it is worthless in Europe. Pro-tip if you are unemployed, send in a Word document and not a PDF and you are substantially more likely to get a reply. I know it is idiotic, but would you not rather have a job?

Peroni 12y ago
>without a .doc export it is worthless in Europe Not sure what part of Europe you are referring to but that certainly doesn't apply to the UK & Ireland.
- nicolasehrhardt 12y ago
  Yeah... Nobody asked for a .doc version of my resume in France either.
iqonik 12y ago
.doc is a must but only because of the technology being used. CV Parsing / Previewing is a lot more mature of .doc format.

nmj 12y ago

Hijacking the left and right arrow keys turns filling out forms into a frustrating experience.

mitchas 12y ago
You're right, I switched it to using the tab key, thanks for the feedback!

rahij 12y ago

If I add 3 employers, I am not able to go back and edit the first two after reaching the preview stage.

mitchas 12y ago
That's a bug I'm trying to work out right now. Sorry about that!