Applying for jobs online with Apple/Pages, plain text resume, etc.

[CathMac]

I'm not quite sure where to put this but I'm putting it here since it's work related.

I'm hoping a tech savvy Apple/Pages user with mad job hunt skills can help me.

Since PC/Word is more common than Apple/Pages I was aware that compatibility might be an issue when job hunting so I created PDF version(s) of my resume(s). However, I just tried applying for a position directly with an employer using their "Taleo" based program. I clicked "browse" then "choose" and it looked like the PDF attached but when I opened it to make sure it looked ok all I saw was cyber text gibberish.

Is that what I should expect to see or should I assume that it isn't "translating" properly and that the prospective employer won't be able to read it?

I am in the process of creating a plain text version and it looks like the default font is Helvetica. All "bolding", italics, etc. are gone. The only emphasis is created with all caps or hyphens instead of bullets.

FWIW, I have googled this to the best of my ability and there is a fair amount of information on plain text resumes but nothing regarding Apple / Pages specifically. If anyone is aware of any good resources for creating and posting resumes with Apple/Pages I would appreciate links or the information necessary to google them.

Thanks,
~Cath

[russsk]

Not an expert, but I use Pages (home) and Word (work) and have had some issues with PDFs created on my Mac. Have you tried changing the font, to something like Times New Roman? How did you create the PDF? I would redo it a couple different ways and see if anything works for you.

What browser are you using? If you're using Firefox try using Safari, which has a plugin for PDFs.

[CathMac]

The regular version of my resume is Times New Roman. When I used Apple's "Pages" word processing program to "export" it into plain text it seemed to convert to Helvetica, which is a little less ornate but I wouldn't have guessed it was plain text.

I use Safari so if you are correct the browser shouldn't be the problem.

But thanks for the feedback. If you think of anything else please let me know.

~Cath

[meandmine]

I would invest in Microsoft Office for Macs. That's what I have. I love my MAC, but too much of the world is a MS world -- just makes it easier to use their software. You definitely do not want to make it difficult for employers to access your application -- they won't take the time to sort out technical difficulties; they will just move on to the next person.

M

[Alisse]

Remember, "plain text" means that there are NO fonts; it's just pure letters.

Well it sounds like their taleo-based program does not support PDFs which is why you saw the gibberish. But you made a good attempt at trying to preserve formatting by saving in PDF initially.

Since most programs support Word why don't you save your pages document in word format rather than plain text? Instead, you can just go easy on the fancy-shmancy stuff and send a simpler word document instead of actually having to buy word (yet) or having to resort to plain text (yuck).

[CathMac]

UPDATE and clarification

Alisse,
Thanks for the input.

With the benefit of hindsight I now realize that the initial resume upload was was to pre-fill or populate a questionnaire. It wasn't until I took a leap of faith and proceeded to the next step, not knowing if I was locking in a gibberish version of my resume or not, that I figured this out.

So it did accept the PDF, although I couldn't tell that from what I was seeing on their website.

For the benefit of anyone else reading this that may be job hunting soon I'll add some more info.

After I finished straightening out the questionnaire (which, needless to say, had some errors). I was given the opportunity to upload an attachment.

I had trouble uploading an Apple plain text version of my cover letter until I converted it to a PDF document (I guess they aren't mutually exclusive).

However, it wasn't until I tried applying for another position that I realized that I'd lost an opportunity to attach a copy of the resume. I guess I thought that it would save the resume I'd already uploaded.

So I'm hoping that if I survive the initial scanning / filtering phase long enough to reach the eyes of a human being that they will check my account and access the copy of my resume, if they can. It won't be pretty but at least it will be readable.

kel