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Journal tomhudson's Journal: What do do when someone asks for something in Word format .. 19

Journal by tomhudson

I'm sorry, but I don't use Microsoft products, and I strongly recommend others avoid them as well, especially in a business setting.

Microsoft products in general, and Word in particular, are too buggy, never mind that they are the #1 way for you to catch or pass on a virus.

I could send you one in OpenDocument format (an ISO standard that governments are adopting), but Microsoft Word can't read it, though you can get a copy of OpenOffice here: http://openoffice.org

Thank you for your understanding.

... so much for *that* head-hunter ... and yes, I know OpenOffice can save in .doc format, but really, if you stumble over both ascii and html (and yes, resume archiving programs handle ascii without a problem), you're probably in the wrong field.

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What do do when someone asks for something in Word format .. More

What do do when someone asks for something in Word format ..

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  • When they ask for DOC I advise them that we discontinued using that format due to the potential for computer viruses. We typically use RTF for most of our documents, which Microsoft Word is perfectly capable of reading. It does depend on the demands of the document, though.
  • You could do what I do and just send it as an rtf. If you really want to mess with them send it in powerpoint, or excel. Maybe for fun throw a macro virus in it. :-)

    • Re:maybe rtf? (Score:3, Interesting)

      by tomhudson ( 43916 )

      You know, I'm going to do the virus bit next time someone asks that.

      I haven't done the virus/trojan thing since 1991, when I wrote two (or maybe 3) just for the heck of it. One printed out Brian Mulroney jokes (today's equivalent would be George Bush jokes) every time someone hit a function key - which you did a lot in WordPerfect for DOS. The other one would juggle blocks of text on the the screen, then make it "melt".

      The place I was working at was being audited by the government, and the auditor left

    • You could do what I do and just send it as an rtf. If you really want to mess with them send it in powerpoint, or excel. Maybe for fun throw a macro virus in it. :-)

      I'd suggest .SCR format, since my hat is somewhat grey at the moment; maybe substitute your own CV for everyone else's... (It's normally white, but I spend ten minutes trying to persuade a very large piece of Canon hardware that the paper jam it had reported was now in my hand, so it could stop asking for an operator to open the big hatch on t

  • The most rational answer would be Word, as much as you may dislike it (I personally hate when people attach plain text .doc's instead of COPYING THE TEXT TO THE MESSAGE!)
    Then there's RTF, like they said, and XML without any kind of interpretation aids :P
    <xml>
    <person>
    <name>Tom Hudson</name>
    <skillz>1337</skillz>
    <review movie="hackers">Horrible</review>
    <nationality>C a nadian</nationality>
    <workexperience>
    <previousj ob>Mc Donalds</previou

    • Actually, a Canadian would probably be the ideal candidate for working at the NSA.

      1. No worrying about "breaking the US Constitution" to get the job done, etc.
      2. If they ever become a liability, just deport them. Much easier than "terminating with extreme scantions".
      3. Perfect cover, as well as the totally excellent ability to "go native" when required.
      4. Outsiders understanding of the weaker points of the American system.
      5. Pay in Canadian dollars - save 10% right there!
      6. Canadian law takes a dim view of revealing
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • My take is that if I want a job, then I'm prepared to jump through a few hoops to get it. However, the number of hoops is finite, and generally doesn't extend as far as creating a Word document. I send my CV is two formats: PDF and plain text. Yes, I think it's extremely unlikely that any recruiter in 2006 won't be able to read PDF. But I supply plain text as well, just in case. Apart from the hassle of converting my CV to Word format (it's currently written using -ms macros), there's the question of *why*.

    • Now you've pointed out the major flaw - that they mangle it so as to maximixe their chances of earning money, a opposed to fulfilling a clients' needs.

      Better off sending linkies directly to potential customers/employers, I would think.

  • I have my resume available in several formats (.pdf, .doc, .txt, .html).

    When I am job-hunting, I am a lot less likely to be militant about what format someone is interested in. If it makes the difference between food and the table and starving, I can bend on the format my resume is stored in.

    If I really wanted to press the issue, I would enlighten the head hunter that the sorts of positions I am interested in (and qualified for) are with companies that have a severe disdain for head hunters in general.

    Funn

    • The real issue is behind the scenes. Its not REALLY about the format, but about who you would work well with, and who you wouldn't. This applies to headhunters as well. A headhunter who is stupid enough to make this a "make-or-break" issue, rather than take 10 secs to do a cut-n-paste, is not someone I would be comfortable working with, nor would I trust them to actually do a good job.

      Qualifying works both ways ... and its always better to separate the wheat from the chaff immediately. That way you can a

      • A headhunter who is stupid enough to make this a "make-or-break" issue, rather than take 10 secs to do a cut-n-paste, is not someone I would be comfortable working with, nor would I trust them to actually do a good job.

        A friend of mine (a unix fanatic) is always amused and/or annoyed when they ask for a Microsoft Word format of his resume for a unix SysAdmin position. The head hunter (or the HR person) seems incapable of wrapping their brains around the fact that someone might actually not have Microsoft O

        • OO works pretty nicely for opening up wincrap. I used it this afternoon to mod a powerpoint presentation that's been making the rounds (you know the kind - a friend sends it to you and a bunch of other people, and it promises you luck if you forward it within 96 hours). Now it says something quite different ... much more amusing.

          I should have put a blurb at the end "modded with openoffice - get your free copy today". Darn. Next time.

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