Dario Taraborelli's 'Typesetting your academic CV in LaTeX' is also a good resource (works just fine for a normal CV as well): http://nitens.org/taraborelli/cvtex
While I appreciate the work you've done, it looks to me like you could have saved quite a bit of time and if you had created your resume in HTML+CSS. In fact, it looks quite a bit like HTML5 already with proper sections and such.
My understanding of LaTeX (which is surely lacking) is that one creates the content and the engine turns that into a document. However, it looks as though you not only created the content but also extensive rules on how to display it. This feels much more like HTML+CSS-like than a LaTeX script.
Can someone help me understand why this particular example of LaTeX is a good thing? Am I wrong in my analysis?
HTML+CSS would provide a fantastic way to view a resume on a web page. However, a resume is more usually forwarded around multiple times via email and then finally printed for a review.
HTML+CSS offers little to no control of how a page would look like once its printed. LaTeX on the other hand, can be optimized with printable fonts, appropriate margins and such like. A PDF with embedded fonts would guarantee that the page would look the same, printed with any computer/OS/printer combination.
A few years ago I rewrote my résumé in reStructuredText where you can use rst2html.py, rst2latex.py, etc. to generate various formats from one text source. And the source file is so free of obvious markup that it serves as a "plain text" version.
Never looked at it.. Do you have a link to your resume so I can see the end result?
For me all that matters was to make it look 'damn' good on paper, as resumes are usually consumed from paper. I knowingly compromised on a more web-integrated version.
(Or in other words: I think a PDF with clickable links is web-integrated enough)
It is worth going to the author's page about CurVe rather than relying on the ctan package. He has some nice customisations such as the thick horizontal rule that I borrowed, and gives his own CV as an example:
http://www.lrde.epita.fr/~didier/software/latex.php#curve
A while back I had set out to solve the "multiple resume problem" where you generate resumes in different format(html,pdf,plain text etc.) from a single source. This way all your resumes are consistent. I haven't solved it completely yet but you can find the github repository of "modern resume" over at https://github.com/dhawalhshah/modern-resume. I am using it at http://www.dhawal.me/
I keep all versions of my CV side by side in directories checked in to subversion and copy the closest existing one to make a new version rather than trying to maintain multiple different flavours of CV at the same time.
I also did this a while back (maybe 10 years ago). I started with an XML document and transformed to HTML and TeX via XSLT. I generated PDF using TeX and a plain text version from the HTML using "links -dump".
If I were to wrote it again today, I'd probably be more likely to start with something like yaml and write a quick python script to generate the TeX and HTML. (My TeX is rusty, but it does a good job setting type. A non-TeX alternative would be XSL-FO + FOP.)
Some self promoting here, but this is my html resume project based on Jason Blevins' CV Latex template. I am using Prince, but printing from the browser gives a nice result too.
https://github.com/chucklarge/html-resume-template
I was at an interview recently and was disgusted to see my CV in the hands of the interviewers with the formatting totally messed up and the logo of the recruiters all over it. They had obviously cut and pasted into a word document even though I wouldn't give them this originally.
It looks very nice, but I'm genuinely curious as to why someone would go to the trouble of TeXing up a document and choose to use anything other than the standard Computer Modern font. Is it purely a matter of taste?
I would say you need a somewhat cleaner approach to placing things on the page. For instance, two paragraph breaks in a row are very non-idiomatic: try \vspace{2\baselineskip} instead. Instead of manually putting a hard space after punctuation, you probably want \frenchspacing. Also, using \sloppy as the default option is terrible. The purpose of \sloppy is to save a really bad paragraph that cannot be rewritten.
Visually, I agree that it is way too compressed, especially for a CV where the highlights should jump out at the reader. I understand you're trying to cram it into as few pages as possible, but you end up with horribly long lines. It could also use some vertical whitespace. If you must decrease the number of pages, think about trimming the content.
I think that you'd get optically cleaner margins (on the right) by using the microtype package. \usepackage{microtype} just works, though you could feed it \usepackage[expansion,protrusion]{microtype}. Since you have the \ifxetex switch and since XeTeX doesn't support expansion yet, you'd have to throw a \usepackage[protrusion]{microtype} in there, given that you have the XeTeX-microtype-package installed.
Why do you put a summary on your résumé as opposed to having it in a separate cover letter?
Have you gotten better responses after putting that summary there?
I ask because I've never seen it done and my first impression was to not want to read the résumé because of the wall of text. (I wasn't trying to hire you so my first reaction is probably biased, though)
[+] [-] njs12345|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cies|14 years ago|reply
http://nitens.org/cv/cv.pdf
https://github.com/cies/resume/blob/master/cies-breijs-resum...
I think CVtex uses far too much whitespace, in his case yielding a whopping 7-page resume.
But luckily tastes differ :)
[+] [-] ajray|14 years ago|reply
It's a good format, and I like having a bit of color in mine (and the QR code is just a bit of nerd-edgy).
[+] [-] dlsym|14 years ago|reply
LaTeX: The typesetting / document preparation system and markup language. Pronounced: /ˈlɑːtɛk/
Just to throw in some facts :-)
[+] [-] sad_panda|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cies|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Corrado|14 years ago|reply
My understanding of LaTeX (which is surely lacking) is that one creates the content and the engine turns that into a document. However, it looks as though you not only created the content but also extensive rules on how to display it. This feels much more like HTML+CSS-like than a LaTeX script.
Can someone help me understand why this particular example of LaTeX is a good thing? Am I wrong in my analysis?
[+] [-] gnok|14 years ago|reply
HTML+CSS offers little to no control of how a page would look like once its printed. LaTeX on the other hand, can be optimized with printable fonts, appropriate margins and such like. A PDF with embedded fonts would guarantee that the page would look the same, printed with any computer/OS/printer combination.
[+] [-] gnaritas|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dfc|14 years ago|reply
On another not maybe you are assuming the resume is for screen display only?
[+] [-] laxatives|14 years ago|reply
https://docs.google.com/open?id=1zoOILbnhyZ0YnnI8Ur9ufEZbEin...
[+] [-] cies|14 years ago|reply
2 things:
* the bullets, are they necessary? * same for the grey backgrounds * it seems not to be lining up on the right.. intentional?
[+] [-] makecheck|14 years ago|reply
A few years ago I rewrote my résumé in reStructuredText where you can use rst2html.py, rst2latex.py, etc. to generate various formats from one text source. And the source file is so free of obvious markup that it serves as a "plain text" version.
[+] [-] cies|14 years ago|reply
For me all that matters was to make it look 'damn' good on paper, as resumes are usually consumed from paper. I knowingly compromised on a more web-integrated version.
(Or in other words: I think a PDF with clickable links is web-integrated enough)
[+] [-] dan2k3k4|14 years ago|reply
https://github.com/dan2k3k4/CV-Resume-in-LaTeX
Though looking through yours, I'll need to take some time and clean up my code :)
[+] [-] ahcox|14 years ago|reply
It is worth going to the author's page about CurVe rather than relying on the ctan package. He has some nice customisations such as the thick horizontal rule that I borrowed, and gives his own CV as an example: http://www.lrde.epita.fr/~didier/software/latex.php#curve
Here is the archive: http://ctan.org/tex-archive/macros/latex/contrib/curve
[+] [-] cies|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dhawalhs|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ahcox|14 years ago|reply
I keep all versions of my CV side by side in directories checked in to subversion and copy the closest existing one to make a new version rather than trying to maintain multiple different flavours of CV at the same time.
[+] [-] dunham|14 years ago|reply
If I were to wrote it again today, I'd probably be more likely to start with something like yaml and write a quick python script to generate the TeX and HTML. (My TeX is rusty, but it does a good job setting type. A non-TeX alternative would be XSL-FO + FOP.)
[+] [-] sandipagr|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] beck5|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cies|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bleusink|14 years ago|reply
It uses lots of whitespace, which I believe adds to the readability.
Some examples can be found here: http://archive.cs.uu.nl/mirror/CTAN/macros/latex/contrib/mod...
[+] [-] chucklarge|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jiggy2011|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ahcox|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cies|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] delinka|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cies|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] davidmr|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cies|14 years ago|reply
> Is it purely a matter of taste?
I'd like to believe otherwise, but you are probably right. :)
It's pretty easy to change fonts, I include one example for Linux Libertine in the code.
[+] [-] dfc|14 years ago|reply
"The value of latex can only be realized when using computer modern."
Or
"Computer modern is the best font for every type of text in every document."
[+] [-] cies|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] anghyflawn|14 years ago|reply
Visually, I agree that it is way too compressed, especially for a CV where the highlights should jump out at the reader. I understand you're trying to cram it into as few pages as possible, but you end up with horribly long lines. It could also use some vertical whitespace. If you must decrease the number of pages, think about trimming the content.
Just my 2 cents, of course.
[+] [-] rmk2|14 years ago|reply
I think that you'd get optically cleaner margins (on the right) by using the microtype package. \usepackage{microtype} just works, though you could feed it \usepackage[expansion,protrusion]{microtype}. Since you have the \ifxetex switch and since XeTeX doesn't support expansion yet, you'd have to throw a \usepackage[protrusion]{microtype} in there, given that you have the XeTeX-microtype-package installed.
[+] [-] pilgrim689|14 years ago|reply
Have you gotten better responses after putting that summary there?
I ask because I've never seen it done and my first impression was to not want to read the résumé because of the wall of text. (I wasn't trying to hire you so my first reaction is probably biased, though)
[+] [-] unknown|14 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] p_sherman|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] home010|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cies|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] honkey5|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cies|14 years ago|reply
https://github.com/cies/resume