Author Topic: Resume Format  (Read 12219 times)

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jessica

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Resume Format
« on: Sep 26, 2012, 10:58 am »
Hello all!

I am trying to revamp my resume but I'm having trouble formatting it in word... what program do you use for your resume? If you use word, how to you create the multiple columns (to list the show, date, director, etc) so that everything lines up nicely?

In my old resume I used tables and made the lines invisible for printing. But I can't send it out electronically since the lines show up on the computer screen (also it's just kind of a pain to do it that way I think).

Thoughts?

Thanks in advance!

missliz

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Re: Resume Format
« Reply #1 on: Sep 26, 2012, 12:09 pm »
I keep track of everything in an Excel spreadsheet (keeps everything nice and lined up), copy and paste the rows/credits I want into a Word doc, and then save as a PDF.
I personally would like to bring a tortoise onto the stage, turn it into a racehorse, then into a hat, a song, a dragon and a fountain of water. One can dare anything in the theatre and it is the place where one dares the least. -Ionesco

MatthewShiner

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Re: Resume Format
« Reply #2 on: Sep 26, 2012, 12:34 pm »
I do it as a Word document with the tables, but print to PDF without the lines.

Seems to work fine.

I would never send out the WORD file directly as different computers will open it up different ways.
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Anything posted here as in my own personal opinion, and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of my employer - whomever they be at a given moment in time.

Maribeth

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Re: Resume Format
« Reply #3 on: Sep 26, 2012, 12:37 pm »
For me, an Excel file saved as a pdf.

LizzG

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Re: Resume Format
« Reply #4 on: Sep 26, 2012, 04:02 pm »
I used to be a word tables person, but have switched over to excel and it is much easier and quicker to get everything properly aligned.

maximillionx

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Re: Resume Format
« Reply #5 on: Sep 26, 2012, 05:06 pm »
I use Pages (iLife equivalent of word) with tables, then make the lines invisible.  Then I convert to a pdf for sending.

PSMKay

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Re: Resume Format
« Reply #6 on: Sep 26, 2012, 05:13 pm »
Tables in Word are silly, and I'm of the opinion that Excel should be used for data that actually needs to be tabular (i.e., displaying gridlines), not for aligning columns.

Tabs are far far easier to work with than tables. I have used tabs in MS Word for ages and they are insanely easy to implement.

So easy, in fact, that I just created a tutorial video for y'all. You'll probably want to go fullscreen with this (by clicking the little square in the bottom right corner of the video) as my monitor is kinda high-test.


Aerial

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Re: Resume Format
« Reply #7 on: Sep 26, 2012, 05:41 pm »
I do it as a Word document with the tables, but print to PDF without the lines.

Seems to work fine.

I would never send out the WORD file directly as different computers will open it up different ways.

Same here.  I'm just not an Excel user, so I do lots of tables in Word...

MatthewShiner

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Re: Resume Format
« Reply #8 on: Sep 26, 2012, 06:06 pm »
I feel good about table use in word

Helps me when a director has a long name, or I want to change font size, etc.  etc.

Not for everyone, but I like it.
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PSMKay

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Re: Resume Format
« Reply #9 on: Sep 26, 2012, 07:13 pm »
Try both! You can easily convert a doc from Tables to Tabs and vice versa.

In pre-Ribbon versions of Word, go to Table->Convert and then choose either Text to Table or Table to Text depending on which way you want to go.

In Ribbon versions (2007, 2010 and beyond) they separated the commands:
To go from Text to Table, select your text, go to the Insert tab, click Table, and then Convert Text to Table.
To go the other way, select the rows of the table you want to convert, go to Table Tools->Layout Tab->Data group->Convert to Text

Historically, using tabs to align columns dates back to typewriter days - it's very old school. The single-stroke tab key replaced the old routine of hitting the spacebar repeatedly to align characters. Word gussied up tabs to include stuff like dot leaders and line leaders, center alignment and decimal-alignment.

Table functions in word processing were created for making spreadsheet data like financial tables look professional in business reports. Their utility was expanded by MS over time based on usage outside of the business sector. People used them for layout but IMHO it's really overkill, and not really the purpose for which they were intended.

Choice of usage of the two in Word is a matter of taste. Usage in web layout, though, is very firmly in favor of the Tab style of layout, which translates more readily to straight CSS. The use of tables for anything other than true tabular data is now frowned-upon in designing websites.

And while I'm on the subject as someone's bound to bring it up eventually, columns were meant for folks who wanted to do columnar printing, newspaper style.

Personally I find tabs to be far faster to set up and get going. I just tested in my version of Word, moving as efficiently as I possibly could. To get the same layout that I use in the video working in Tables it took me about 13 clicks, vs 5 clicks with Tabs. Excel's formatting capabilities do not fill me with joy - Word is just so much more robust when it comes to dealing with prepping for print. If I have to do math, I will use Excel whole heartedly. In fact, the initial algorithm for the Internship Survey was done entirely in Excel, as writing the functions in Excel was great prep work for having to translate them into PHP. However, if I need quick & elegant formatting I will go with Word & tabs any day.

Jessie_K

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Re: Resume Format
« Reply #10 on: Sep 27, 2012, 08:13 am »
Although the tab idea is cool, I use table within Word (lines invisible). 

I like it better than tabs for the following reasons:

-ability to select columns as well as rows
-easily insert another column in an already existing table
-use the tab key to skip between cells in the table

I like it better than Excel for the following reasons (although there are non-resume documents for which I prefer to use excel):
-excel is not as user friendly for being true-type (seeing things as they will appear when printed)
-excel defaults in terms of text wrap and formatting do not jive with my preferences for resume formatting
-i use different column sizes for different sections of my resume and excel requires a bunch more fiddling to make this work well

dallas10086

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Re: Resume Format
« Reply #11 on: Sep 27, 2012, 11:06 am »
Word tables don't play nice with me. I've always used tabs and adjusted everything as I add or shift things around. It's pretty low maintenance. But I always send it out as a PDF.

jessica

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Re: Resume Format
« Reply #12 on: Sep 27, 2012, 03:41 pm »
I tried working with tabs and I love it! Thanks so much all of you, I will also keep a running list of everything I've done in a separate Excel sheet (which I hadn't thought of).

I did have one more question you guys might be able to help with. I have heard some people say to put my references at the bottom but others have told me just to put "References available upon request." Which one do you do and why? If I put my references at the bottom, what is the format? Name, title, email?

Thanks again, this has all been so helpful! My resume looks great now! (as apposed to before, it was atrocious)

PSMKay

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Re: Resume Format
« Reply #13 on: Sep 27, 2012, 04:29 pm »
You may find some of our earlier discussions of references & resumes to be useful:

http://smnetwork.org/forum/employment/two-sided-resume/
http://smnetwork.org/forum/employment/hiring-and-references/
http://smnetwork.org/forum/employment/for-employers-when-do-you-call-references/

The last one is not quite on the same subject matter, but it's one of our most popular threads so I figured I'd toss it out there for visitors who view this thread in later years. :)

Maribeth

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Re: Resume Format
« Reply #14 on: Sep 27, 2012, 04:49 pm »
I did have one more question you guys might be able to help with. I have heard some people say to put my references at the bottom but others have told me just to put "References available upon request." Which one do you do and why? If I put my references at the bottom, what is the format? Name, title, email?

If I am sending my resume to someone, I include references (Name, Title, Company, work phone #, and email). If I was to post my resume on a public forum like a job website, I would remove the references and put "References available upon request" instead. I think we've talked about this in a different thread, but when sending a resume to someone, having the references right there on your resume cuts out one step and makes it that much easier for the person doing the hiring.

 

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