Creating a CV in excel

ireland.man

I know there's the old debate between sending pdfs or Word docs but anyone here see any problems with doing up a CV in Excel? Apparently it's common in some parts of the world since it's easier to format and for employers to extract data from but I was wondering would Irish or British companies see a problem with it?

Cheers

Busyness1

Excel? Haven't heard of that one before! Makes sense though for online submissions alright but not sure how HR would like it in terms of the aesthetics. Plus whilst it may work in an email application I don't think the majority of portals will accept excel uploads.

Creamy Goodness

No. CVs should be PDF and at the very least a word document. If a CV for a job landed in my inbox with a cv attached as an excel doc I'd bin it.

tenifan

Unless you're asked to, I wouldn't.
You could use tables in Word to similar effect.
Now, I'm not recommending you actually use tables in word when writing your cv, but if done correctly it could still be a professional-looking document, and easily transferable to excel.
Still, sounds pretty daft to me. I'd love to know what parts of the world it's done in.. perhaps specific industries/companies? Or perhaps some companies use a template which is in excel format? But I really doubt it's common anywhere.

tenifan

Creamy Goodness wrote: »

No. CVs should be PDF and at the very least a word document.

Wasn't it previous established that CV's should be in Word format?


:pac:

ireland.man

tenifan wrote: »

Wasn't it previous established that CV's should be in Word format?


:pac:

I feel like I've started trouble

I know in Korea Excel based CVs are common. They print off fine and while not all that pretty too look at, they're functional and clear. But… I'll be doing my one up in Word after all the advice here.

Thanks!

Mr. Loverman

Honestly if I received a CV in Excel format I would assume the person is mentally ill.

Glad to hear boards.ie helped you see the light.

tenifan

Urgh, reminds me of work. My co-worker did up procedure notes.. in PowerPoint. It's not like there's flowcharts in them, just plain text. (I hate that place)

Hey, maybe you should do your cv in PowerPoint? Or maybe OneNote.

Chattastrophe!

Nothing wrong with preparing it in Excel if you want to (although personally I find Word much easier) - however I would always always submit CVs in PDF.

I used to do work for a company who prepared their financial statements in Excel, they looked fine when printed, but it was an absolute pain in the arse working with the soft copies. Word makes so much more sense when you're working mainly with text rather than numbers.

Creamy Goodness

tenifan wrote: »

Wasn't it previous established that CV's should be in Word format?


:pac:

Probably. Not everyone has Microsoft word installed on their computer or even a word doc viewer so don't expect the person reading your CV to have one.

scullersky

Can I suggest a poll here? Which format is better for a CV, PDF or Doc. Would like to know this muself !

tenifan

Tommy-Kerry wrote: »

Can I suggest a poll here? Which format is better for a CV, PDF or Doc. Would like to know this muself !

it's been done to death and there are plenty of threads on it.
I always said word, but pdf seems to be winning the argument (perhaps among IT people anyway). Despite that, I stick with Word.

Tarzana

Creamy Goodness wrote: »

Probably. Not everyone has Microsoft word installed on their computer or even a word doc viewer so don't expect the person reading your CV to have one.

Just download OpenOffice, you don't need Microsoft Office installed.

tenifan

Tarzana wrote: »

Just download OpenOffice, you don't need Microsoft Office installed.

Yep, not computer savvy enough to use Word or Adobe but they're going to install Openoffice just to read your cv.

Mine's a Word doc saved as a .pdf. Have been using LaTeX a bit lately which you can get some nice CV templates for.

A lot of online applications tell you what formats are acceptable when you're uploading your CV.

Beano

Creamy Goodness wrote: »

Probably. Not everyone has Microsoft word installed on their computer or even a word doc viewer so don't expect the person reading your CV to have one.

In fairness the type of people who read CVs generally do.

Kenny Logins

Tommy-Kerry wrote: »

Can I suggest a poll here? Which format is better for a CV, PDF or Doc. Would like to know this muself !

PDF.

Portable Document Format.

/thread.

Creamy Goodness

Beano wrote: »

In fairness the type of people who read CVs generally do.

I read CV's and I don't.

Tarzana

Magdalena Sparse Hailstorm wrote: »

A lot of online applications tell you what formats are acceptable when you're uploading your CV.

Both PDF and .doc are always included on the list. Either is grand.

Tarzana

Creamy Goodness wrote: »

I read CV's and I don't.

Well seeing as having a CV in PDF form is in no way the standard, you should probably remedy that. People being discounted for that reason isn't really good enough. Open Office, seriously.

Creamy Goodness

Tarzana wrote: »

Well seeing as having a CV in PDF form is in no way the standard, you should probably remedy that. People being discounted for that reason isn't really good enough. Open Office, seriously.

Open Office doesn't work with doc files in my experience, it horribly formats them (when you're trying to make a first impression these things count. PDF looks the same everywhere, prints exactly as it should and doesn't have the issue where you might write your CV in word 2014 and the reader has only got 2012 or whatever and you run the risk of layout issues. Again first impressions count!) and it runs Java, the less things that run Java the better IMO.

Why should I remedy it? I'm happy in my job, and if I wasn't I wouldn't want to apply to a place that can't open a PDF or complains that I should submit a MS word doc, as another poster said Portable Document Format

Tarzana

Creamy Goodness wrote: »

Open Office doesn't work with doc files in my experience, it horribly formats them

It does but at least you open it.

I'm not saying don't send CVs in PDF form. I've done it myself. I'm saying the vast majority of places you apply to have both PDF and .doc as acceptable formats for CVs if you look at the guidelines, among a good few others, I might add. So if someone sends you a .doc CV, they're just using one of the generally accepted formats. PDF is also a generally accepted format but not the only one. I doubt you'll get many complaints about sending a PDF though, everywhere has a PDF reader.

mozattack

I have mine in excel by using text boxes but I always PDF it before submission

ireland.man

mozattack wrote: »

I have mine in excel by using text boxes but I always PDF it before submission

That's what I've done today. It really does look so much better in pdf than anything else. I'll have to search now and see how many people prefer pdfs over Word docs, or vice versa!

Jikashi

Word doc saved as a PDF. That way it appears to the reader exactly as it appears to you, without the issue of different versions of the software mucking up the formatting


Besides all that though, why would you choose Word over PDF? It's a read-only document. The potential employer can add little notes to a PDF without editing the content ot appearance of the CV.

tenifan

Jikashi wrote: »

Word doc saved as a PDF. That way it appears to the reader exactly as it appears to you, without the issue of different versions of the software mucking up the formatting

I'd argue that if the formatting is kept simple on a word doc, not a lot can go wrong. So what if a word wraps to another line?

Jikashi

tenifan wrote: »

I'd argue that if the formatting is kept simple on a word doc, not a lot can go wrong. So what if a word wraps to another line?

How is that an argument in favour of Word over PDF though, as the latter never does that no matter how simple or complex? If I'm making it neat with proper headings and page breaks and what have you and am happy with its appearance, I want it to look exactly the same for the reader, regardless of them having the same version or not, which can undo aspects such as those.

tenifan

Jikashi wrote: »

How is that an argument in favour of Word over PDF though, as the latter never does that no matter how simple or complex? If I'm making it neat with proper headings and page breaks and what have you and am happy with its appearance, I want it to look exactly the same for the reader, regardless of them having the same version or not, which can undo aspects such as those.

Where did I say it was an argument in favour of Word?

Some people (particularly in accounting jobs) hate pdfs and would take a word document any day. They don't really care if indents appear 1mm when from one version to another.

then there's the disadvantages of pdfs, like it can be a pain copying and pasting from pdfs for example.

I suppose if you have convoluted formatting, or you do tonnes of spaces instead of indents or alignment, pdf is a good way to disguise your lack of word processing skills.

Jikashi

tenifan wrote: »

Where did I say it was an argument in favour of Word?

It was a rebuttal to my argument in favor of PDF over .doc

I still don't see why you wouldn't want your document completely locked as you see it yourself. You say no-one will notice/care if the formatting changes from what you wanted, but that doesn't seem like a reason to not want it looking exactly how you like it with no chance of anything changing that you have no control over.

skimpydoo

I know that some agencies will modify your CV if it's a word file. I prefer PDF format as it looks the same on all computers, plus it can't be easily edited or changed.

SeanJ09

Should CV's be in PDF format, rather than Word?

alias no.9

tenifan wrote: »

I'd argue that if the formatting is kept simple on a word doc, not a lot can go wrong. So what if a word wraps to another line?

The end of a paragraph being pushed to the next page? Two pages becoming three, or even 4 if you've used a page break?

leeroybrown

I've no problem with someone generating their CV using Excel on one condition - it has to come through to me in PDF format in the end. It's actually a relatively good tool for the job and there are plenty of templates out there. At work we prefer to receive a PDF but will accept Word documents as they are quite common.

I submit my CV in PDF format but maintain it in Word format as that's also what's requested by some recruiters. I prefer not to have a third party edit my CV without my direct approval so I try to avoid sending on the Word version.

srsly78

SeanJ09 wrote: »

Should CV's be in PDF format, rather than Word?

Yes but agencies won't accept it. They will want to edit the document removing contact details etc. This is so they actually remain relevant. Somehow in 2014 they are still around, probably because HR people cannot into google.

leeroybrown

srsly78 wrote: »

Yes but agencies won't accept it. They will want to edit the document removing contact details etc. This is so they actually remain relevant. Somehow in 2014 they are still around, probably because HR people cannot into google.

I'm not sure if it's current practice but quite a lot of agents used to modify the content of CVs too to make them more relevant to specific employers. Fitting people to jobs can turn into a big number game when your main earnings are commission. The same recruiter would probably then re-connect with you within 12 months and try to fit you to a new role that could give them more commission. Personally, I've always tried to cut them out of the loop and think companies are far better off to pay recruiters to do staffing for them rather than let recruiters exploit the middle.

In certain sectors recruiters are still very relevant. Go talk to companies in the technology sector who are pushing up towards US$10,000 for referrals of senior employees. There's still real demand for someone who can provide employees that fit specific roles even if the sector has shrunk a lot.