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Ask HN: Modern Resume Style/Formatting

23 points by FPSDavid ↗ HN
What do modern resumes look like? Everything I've seen or been shown lately by "regular people" (older people mostly) seems so 90s to me. I've heard of using GitHub, but I'm not really a programmer or looking for a programming job. Any examples of your guy's resume's (that hopefully got you jobs?) would be helpful! Thanks.

17 comments

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zkoch
I usually try to make mine look a little more "modern." I usually follow a few simple rules:

1.) Two or three colors color scheme 2.) Simple vertical alignment 3.) 2 fonts: 1 for headings and one for body text 4.) One or two simple graphics 5.) Don't let it resemble a MS Office template

Here's a slightly dated resume of mine: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/58767/zkoch-resume.pdf

FPSDavid
What kinda program do you create something like this in, maybe Illustrator?
Ronkdar
Word is fine. If you want to get fancy, LaTeX. Just don't distribute a .docx file. Save it as .pdf.
zkoch
This was done in InDesign. You could do it in Word, but it's going to be more difficult. If you're on a Mac I would recommend Pages. I'm not as familiar with Windows, so couldn't really suggest any software there.
Ronkdar
Calibri font (or some other simple, standard sans-serif). Black text with a single dark color for headings that will look OK when printed in grey scale.

I opt for a simple outline format. I've seen a lot of fancy designs, but I think if someone is looking for specifics, an outline is easiest. As an engineering student, I have the headings of Education, Employment, Projects, and Skills.

Keep it at one page.

mwhite
I actually like Github's markdown style so much that I put my resume on github: http://bit.ly/mwhiteresume. And because it's written in markdown, I have a plaintext version I can use if I need to, and a PDF (http://bit.ly/mwhiteresumepdf) created with pandoc.

I've taken the approach of doing away with a discrete "Skills" section and just bolding relevant keywords in my work and education entries.

dfc
If you like markdown check out pandoc. Pandoc can turn your markdown into txt, pdf, html, rtf, s5, etc. You can spice up the pdf version with a little latex magic as well as export.

I always like kjhealy's resume on github.

FPSDavid
Any more examples/ideas/etc?
latch
I recently used a new format and form and have had some success: http://openmymind.net/karlseguin.pdf

My main goal was: 1 - Make it a single page 2 - Focus more on bio/profile/goal/whatever 3 - Focus on projects and passion more than work experience

I've heard that "bios are the new resume" and I tend to agree. I also think that actual code is more important than experience (hence the focus on projects and github).

djb_hackernews
You are definitely hitting your goals, however it reads too much like a diary and will never make it past anyone who isn't technical. (Which may or may not be a good thing)
eugenijusr
Here's mine: http://eugene.lt/resume.pdf

The goal was to fit everything onto a single page. Laid out in HTML and simply saved to PDF with Safari.

djb_hackernews
when viewed using acrobat reader on win7, it is all jacked up. Just a bunch of jumbled characters.
divtxt
+1 for single HTML file (embedded CSS) and Safari print to PDF.
FPSDavid
I know this is YC, but anyone have stuff more focused on IT rather than programming? I'm having a hard time with my skills section, seeing as I can't really list programming languages/frameworks/etc and stuff.
amorphid
I'm a recruiter and I'm happy to talk to you if interested. My contact info is in my profile.
jkjeldgaard
I have tried to keep my resume a simple and plain as possible. I'm still at uni, but will be applying for a job soon so any comments and/or suggestions are much appreciated.

http://crocodoc.com/N28pQof