Photos on resumes are never a good idea. They introduce so much possibly for bias, both intentional and unintentional, while adding very little benefit. They also don't print well and don't look good unless you've got a pro shot.
Resumes aren't memorable when there's a picture but rather when they are well written.
Except when they are the standard in a culture other than yours. A CV without a picture in France is a bit suspect and it will leave the feeling of something incomplete.
When you search for "photo cv" in French, you will see a lot of sites that start with claiming that the photo is not compulsory, cannot be required and that the lack of a photo cannot be a reason not to assess your CV. Just this shows that the reality is that it is expected.
A lot of discussions is around discrimination. If your name sounds [put your most feared origin here], you can hide the picture as much as possible but this will not make a 12th generation Brittany-ion (no idea how someone from the Brittany region is called).
Then there is the address which also reveals a lot and at the end of the day the fact that you did not put a picture is likely to be against you.
Depends very much on the country. With a photo, in some, your resume will immediately thrown out to avoid any repercussions for a possible bias that did not lead to hiring. In others, without a photo, your resume will not be read.
To play Devil's advocate, are they really never a good idea? I agree with your logic about bias but bias can cut both ways. If someone's look tends to help them get hired why wouldn't they play that card?
I don't have a photo on my resume and have never seen one used in the US, but my LinkedIn photo (which I assume everyone involved in hiring sees) is carefully chosen to represent the mix of attributes (friendlynes, confidence, curiosity, and many others) that I think are relevant for roles I go after. Surely my photo also 'reveals' my enthinicy and gender - but my name does too.
On LinkedIn photos really should be removed as well, you're correct about bias. I don't put a photo on LinkedIn, and I don't think anyone should. You do not need to know anything about my physical appearance when I'm applying for jobs. This is in sharp contrast to certain countries where you're supposed to take the most attractive photo you can to send it with your resume. I swear to God some of these resumes look more like personal ads.
LinkedIn is still my go-to resource for job hunting, but I want to vomit a bit when I see people trying to turn it into Facebook. Get your validation somewhere else, and let me have a website where I can look for a job.
This is childish. You could say the same thing about putting your name or even the company names you worked for on your resume. People hiring want to get to know you, they have to work with you, if you want some pretend construct that focuses in the appearance of some being "unbiased" you can probably look for a government job. Otherwise, people will see you, interact with you, and learn about you eventually.
That said, I have rarely seen a photo on a resume. Most people have LinkedIn now so hiring folks have a photo that way regardless. The only place I consistently see photos is on professional services (consulting etc.) "resumes" which are usually more a blurb about you and the kind of projects you've worked on. In that case they are standard, and they would be on a lawyer or accountants website.
They are an advantage if you think your physical appearance will be an advantage.
If you are the same 'colour' as the place your applying to (i.e. if that's relevant) it might help.
If you are physically attractive (but not too attractive) - it can help.
Basically - it allows a kind of discrimination which usually we don't want ... unless you think you're going to be on the positive end of that!
And I beg to disagree with 'memorable' - we are designed to remember faces - not resumes.
While maybe not so 'impressionable' - a nice photo definitely helps the memory.
It also adds a human connection.
For technical roles, it might not make much of a difference but for almost all non-technical roles, it will probably help if you have a 'charismatic face'.
I remember one time some person included a photo on their resume and it was passed around the office with everyone laughing. The photo wasn't even bad. It was just funny to have a photo on the resume.
Author here. I made this using Haskell for the web server, and Preact for the JavaScript. The resume is converted to PDF by translating HTML into canvas and using JSPDF to turn the canvas into a PDF. Hosted on Linode. Cached with CloudFlare.
Nice tool. If possible add a collection of random data to generate a random resume so that people can see a real resume before filling out their actual personal data.
Do you have any plans to open source this? I love the function and have always wished something like this exists. I have my own dumb opinions on resumes like format and multiple pages, so I'd like to be able to tweak the design a bit.
It is optional, if you start filling out the form it will go away until you add a photo. That’s not very clear though, so I’ll make it more obvious. Thanks for the feedback.
As a technical person who hires people occasionally, the one guaranteed thing that will make me read a resume is LaTeX. I dislike profile pictures because it causes me to have unavoidable bias.
One thing that annoys me is when I click "Job #5" it expands a new form and jumps to it immediately. It is very confusing. For me it would be better if the whole form was expanded at all times. Then I can just scroll up and down and know what I am editing. Same thing when I click "+ Education", it takes me out of the flow.
Not sure what is going on in the hiring world, since I have been in the same job for a long time, but there seems to be a misalignment about the proper length of a resume.
This app suggests to keep it to one page. When I've been involved in hiring new people, the resumes that get attention are the ones with detailed descriptions of project experience. They are 3 or 4 pages long. The managers want something to read because the candidates without adequate education and/or experience for the posted position will not make it into their hands.
In my field (computer engineer), the "short" description that matters is 1 line: masters degree, 15 years experience, security clearance, not a diversity hire.
I religiously keep mine to 1 page, and even shorter if possible. Imagine your potential interviewer. He or she is booked in back-to-back meetings all day. Has not a lot of time to prepare. In the 2 minutes between his last meeting and your interview, he scrambles to print off a copy of your resume and give it a quick review. His eyeballs scan the top of the page for interesting "headline" material, and then maybe look at the first two or three bullet points from your most recent employer. That might be it! All that labor you put into that detailed technical info on page 4 might not even make it out of the printer, let alone get into your interviewer's head. The only person who is likely to read all four pages is your hiring manager, and if by page 3 it's just a bunch of technologies you used in a now-defunct company back in 1996, it's not going to impress anyone.
Additionally, the ability to summarize a highly technical and detailed topic down to a very short "executive review" is an important and sought-after job skill. Keep it short and include only the best results of your work.
Your post got a variety of responses. My take as someone who did hiring (as a manager) for a high profile tech company for 10+ years (not a FAANG but we competed with FAANGs for talent.) I've probably seen close to ten thousand programmer resumes over that time.
My big advice is not to take resume length guidelines literally. Crafting a resume requires balancing terseness and completeness. Terseness out respect for the reader, completeness to ensure your candidacy is well represented.
It is an art to capture your essence concisely. Someone in the thread said they only list the company and the tools they use, which to me is a huge mistake. If you just say something like "Developed in Node, React, CSS" you give the reader no idea of your actual contribution. It could mean "made tweaks to existing system based on explicit direction from a product person" or it could mean "Drove re-design of the system in these technologies, achieving X improvement in performance, Y improvement in maintenance cost. Partnered with business SMEs to develop requirements, and ensured high technical standards on the team." The second is a much more senior/desirable candidate and if you are that but don't capture these ideas in your resume, you won't stand out.
On the other hand I have seen resumes where each job has a half-a-page narrative description. Almost universally, these descriptions are actually filled with job/company specific terms that are totally meaningless to anyone outside of that company. I am strongly biased to not hire anyone with such a resume because it's a sign that the person's communication ability/relevance filter is low.
Anyway, as a practical guide, I do advise people to shoot for a terse 1 or max 2 page resume, BUT if you find yourself cutting out really important points to fit the space, then don't do that.
I may not be representative, but I tend to keep it to a page or maybe two. You can fit a lot of info into a page and the 3+ page resumes I've seen have been way too dense. For me it's not an exhaustive list of work history and tasks, but things applicable to the new role. Ideally, I'd restate the job requirements (which is, what, usually a paragraph or 4-5 bullet points?) using my work history.
I often find the just degree too vague and job titles aren't representative. So if you filled the page with that info I find that isn't helpful, either.
I’ve always kept it short. I try to summarize things I’ve done to a high level (the impact and what tools I used). If a bullet point stands out to an interviewer they can ask more during.
Be nice if a service like this allowed us to keep all the responses as meta data so that we can auto-fill every recruiters and job application site's fields automatically with our pre-existing answers.
I'm sure there is a browser extension somewhere that does this.
"Thanks for uploading your resume! Now forget we ever asked and fill all the same details out for us again!"
This looks absolutely solid, nice work. Super easy to build. Only reason I use latex is for formatting and crappy word indents, this solves that problem.
Would be great with a few more templates, and some way to "pazzazify" each one. Maybe a little streak of color.
I did not realize you were hosting the resume as well.
[+] [-] notjustanymike|4 years ago|reply
Resumes aren't memorable when there's a picture but rather when they are well written.
[+] [-] BrandoElFollito|4 years ago|reply
Except when they are the standard in a culture other than yours. A CV without a picture in France is a bit suspect and it will leave the feeling of something incomplete.
When you search for "photo cv" in French, you will see a lot of sites that start with claiming that the photo is not compulsory, cannot be required and that the lack of a photo cannot be a reason not to assess your CV. Just this shows that the reality is that it is expected.
A lot of discussions is around discrimination. If your name sounds [put your most feared origin here], you can hide the picture as much as possible but this will not make a 12th generation Brittany-ion (no idea how someone from the Brittany region is called).
Then there is the address which also reveals a lot and at the end of the day the fact that you did not put a picture is likely to be against you.
[+] [-] kleiba|4 years ago|reply
In Germany, for example, a resume without a photo will most likely not even get considered.
[+] [-] nautilius|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] xyzelement|4 years ago|reply
I don't have a photo on my resume and have never seen one used in the US, but my LinkedIn photo (which I assume everyone involved in hiring sees) is carefully chosen to represent the mix of attributes (friendlynes, confidence, curiosity, and many others) that I think are relevant for roles I go after. Surely my photo also 'reveals' my enthinicy and gender - but my name does too.
[+] [-] 41209|4 years ago|reply
LinkedIn is still my go-to resource for job hunting, but I want to vomit a bit when I see people trying to turn it into Facebook. Get your validation somewhere else, and let me have a website where I can look for a job.
[+] [-] version_five|4 years ago|reply
That said, I have rarely seen a photo on a resume. Most people have LinkedIn now so hiring folks have a photo that way regardless. The only place I consistently see photos is on professional services (consulting etc.) "resumes" which are usually more a blurb about you and the kind of projects you've worked on. In that case they are standard, and they would be on a lawyer or accountants website.
[+] [-] jldl805|4 years ago|reply
This is because they'd like to avoid any liability for any kind of bias, so they make it an across-the-board policy.
Source: I'm a recruiter and have worked with over 400 companies, of which about 20 have this policy.
[+] [-] jollybean|4 years ago|reply
If you are the same 'colour' as the place your applying to (i.e. if that's relevant) it might help.
If you are physically attractive (but not too attractive) - it can help.
Basically - it allows a kind of discrimination which usually we don't want ... unless you think you're going to be on the positive end of that!
And I beg to disagree with 'memorable' - we are designed to remember faces - not resumes.
While maybe not so 'impressionable' - a nice photo definitely helps the memory.
It also adds a human connection.
For technical roles, it might not make much of a difference but for almost all non-technical roles, it will probably help if you have a 'charismatic face'.
[+] [-] the-dude|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] xeromal|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Traubenfuchs|4 years ago|reply
If you old and look younger than you are, they are an even better idea since they distract from your age.
[+] [-] tofukid|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nickjj|4 years ago|reply
There's 0 Haskell episodes so far, you'd be the first one!
[+] [-] vishnuharidas|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] core-utility|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pininja|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sparsely|4 years ago|reply
My main feedback would be to make the photo optional - it's quite culture and job dependent whether a photo is included on a CV.
[+] [-] tofukid|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dantodor|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] 0xfaded|4 years ago|reply
Just a data point
[+] [-] robbiejs|4 years ago|reply
One thing that annoys me is when I click "Job #5" it expands a new form and jumps to it immediately. It is very confusing. For me it would be better if the whole form was expanded at all times. Then I can just scroll up and down and know what I am editing. Same thing when I click "+ Education", it takes me out of the flow.
Good job.
[+] [-] tofukid|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] shoto_io|4 years ago|reply
Collecting data comes to mind first. If it's not the case, I would recommend to say this explicitly on the page somewhere.
[+] [-] tofukid|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] metalliqaz|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jibbers|4 years ago|reply
+ All instances of "resume" should be "résumé" or at least "resumé".
+ Maybe add some help formatting phone numbers to the one true format of (###) ###-####.
+ Finally maybe consider adding color to the most important buttons, like the Save buttons, so people's eyes are drawn to them
[+] [-] tofukid|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nacraft|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] metalliqaz|4 years ago|reply
This app suggests to keep it to one page. When I've been involved in hiring new people, the resumes that get attention are the ones with detailed descriptions of project experience. They are 3 or 4 pages long. The managers want something to read because the candidates without adequate education and/or experience for the posted position will not make it into their hands.
In my field (computer engineer), the "short" description that matters is 1 line: masters degree, 15 years experience, security clearance, not a diversity hire.
After that, they want deep detail about skills.
[+] [-] ryandrake|4 years ago|reply
Additionally, the ability to summarize a highly technical and detailed topic down to a very short "executive review" is an important and sought-after job skill. Keep it short and include only the best results of your work.
[+] [-] xyzelement|4 years ago|reply
My big advice is not to take resume length guidelines literally. Crafting a resume requires balancing terseness and completeness. Terseness out respect for the reader, completeness to ensure your candidacy is well represented.
It is an art to capture your essence concisely. Someone in the thread said they only list the company and the tools they use, which to me is a huge mistake. If you just say something like "Developed in Node, React, CSS" you give the reader no idea of your actual contribution. It could mean "made tweaks to existing system based on explicit direction from a product person" or it could mean "Drove re-design of the system in these technologies, achieving X improvement in performance, Y improvement in maintenance cost. Partnered with business SMEs to develop requirements, and ensured high technical standards on the team." The second is a much more senior/desirable candidate and if you are that but don't capture these ideas in your resume, you won't stand out.
On the other hand I have seen resumes where each job has a half-a-page narrative description. Almost universally, these descriptions are actually filled with job/company specific terms that are totally meaningless to anyone outside of that company. I am strongly biased to not hire anyone with such a resume because it's a sign that the person's communication ability/relevance filter is low.
Anyway, as a practical guide, I do advise people to shoot for a terse 1 or max 2 page resume, BUT if you find yourself cutting out really important points to fit the space, then don't do that.
[+] [-] pfranz|4 years ago|reply
I often find the just degree too vague and job titles aren't representative. So if you filled the page with that info I find that isn't helpful, either.
[+] [-] unknown|4 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] rozularen|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] always_left|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] metalliqaz|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Noumenon72|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] lost-found|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nicholasjarnold|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] vmception|4 years ago|reply
I'm sure there is a browser extension somewhere that does this.
"Thanks for uploading your resume! Now forget we ever asked and fill all the same details out for us again!"
[+] [-] moneywoes|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tofukid|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] catchmeifyoucan|4 years ago|reply
Would be great with a few more templates, and some way to "pazzazify" each one. Maybe a little streak of color.
I did not realize you were hosting the resume as well.
[+] [-] mccolin|4 years ago|reply
It'd be a really nice addition if the tool could output the resume data in other supporting formats (plain text, Markdown, JSON, etc.)
[+] [-] meigwilym|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tofukid|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|4 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] kleiba|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] esseeayen|4 years ago|reply