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Comment by supervillain | Hacker News Reader

Number 1 rule for hiring geeks.

- Do not ask for a .doc Microsoft Word document resume

Because we might be scrambling and downloading LibreOffice and converting our .latex resume to .doc, if you want to get our attention, ask for TXT, PDF or LaTeX format.

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To be fair, a lot of recruiting companies or hiring companies only do that because their HR system will only import a .DOC file.

The absolute worst place I ever applied to required to you upload a version of your resume in Word format. After you hit submit, the next page wanted a plain text copy. Then, I bullshit you not, the next page was a web form in which they requested you fill out educational background, work history, references. Something you just uploaded twice!

Unless you're trying to hire geeks who can fit in to a standard office environment without weird platform demands. In which case, insist on .docx.

Well, yes and no. I write everything either in LaTeX or markdown these days, but its ridiculously simple to output either of these formats to docx, so normally that's what I do. I'll always send them the PDF version of my resume first though, as good typography can make you look better.

If a job requires me to write in Word throughout the day, that's a job I don't want (in fact, writing grant proposals in Word was one of the most frustrating things about working in adeademia).

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