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Could you elaborate on why you suggest an MS Word document? Every suggestion I've seen from recruiters and job placement officers (my experience is limited to applying to entry level and junior positions) is that it should always, absolutely be a PDF.

Is this because MS Word documents are easier to parse (by SnapHop, not humans)?

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Actually we don't have issues parsing PDF but rather downstream some old ATS are not very good at parsing PDF (particularly MS technology based ones that we push to).

The other issue with PDF is that some cheap PDF conversion tools will just turn into an image and thus characters are lost.

Most apply processes allow you do paste your resume as text and attach. I recommend doing both.

Pretty much. Most applicant tracking systems will do a better job with processing an msword document.

Honestly it'll depend on the size of the company you're applying to. I manage the ats for a large NGO. We process 27k applicants a year. We live and breath by the fact the system can process those resumes. A boutique software shop probably doesn't care as much.

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