[HN Gopher] Show HN: Resume maker with no sign-up or subscription
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Show HN: Resume maker with no sign-up or subscription
        
       Author : tofukid
       Score  : 102 points
       Date   : 2021-09-23 10:28 UTC (12 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (luckyresumemaker.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (luckyresumemaker.com)
        
       | kleiba wrote:
       | Great work. Are you planning to offer more than one design to
       | choose from?
        
         | tofukid wrote:
         | In the future I might add multiple designs/templates.
        
       | 0xfaded wrote:
       | 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.
       | 
       | Just a data point
        
         | hpfr wrote:
         | This validates my LaTeX usage, but honestly, can't you only
         | detect it if I'm using Computer Modern? I am, precisely because
         | of people like you, but I don't think you could tell a XeTeX-
         | built resume with a Unicode font from one done in Word. And
         | conversely a Word user could simply download CM Unicode and
         | reap the LaTeX bonus points, no? :)
        
           | 0xfaded wrote:
           | I include \latex in my resume under "skills" for this reason.
           | But I agree, it's hard to tell.
        
         | creshal wrote:
         | Isn't it even illegal to have pictures in some countries,
         | precisely to avoid such biases?
        
         | rajin444 wrote:
         | > it causes me to have unavoidable bias.
         | 
         | Admitting you're susceptible to bias is one thing (we all are,
         | I think). Calling it unavoidable makes it seem like something
         | innate and implies you lack free will. I'm curious why you see
         | it as unavoidable.
        
           | throwawayboise wrote:
           | Our biases are inherent from millions of years of evolution
           | that gave us the ability to look at another person and
           | instantly form a perception "this person is of my tribe" or
           | "this person is an outsider."
           | 
           | It must have had a valuable survival benefit when we were
           | hunter-gatherers but probably not so much today.
        
           | SamBam wrote:
           | It's honestly very self-aware to accept that there are some
           | biases that are very hard to control, or even realize you're
           | being influenced by, and so try to avoid being influenced at
           | all be putting barriers between you and them, like preferring
           | no photos.
           | 
           | I think it's fairly self-deluding to simply think you can
           | choose not to let an unconscious bias influence you.
        
             | z3ncyberpunk wrote:
             | Its more sad to watch your display of learned helplessness.
        
             | lostcolony wrote:
             | Extremely self-deluding.
             | 
             | Because once you accept you are susceptible to a bias, and
             | you know that a person fits that bias, -what do you do-?
             | You can ask "if this person was (not this bias) what would
             | I do", but -can you be sure-? Do you have an exactly
             | equivalent data point to compare against? Of course not;
             | everyone is a bit unique. Can you be certain, if you pass
             | on the person, it was due solely to the heuristics you've
             | built up around resume and etc, and not you reinterpreting
             | them through your bias? Can you be certain, if you hire a
             | person, it was solely due to the heuristics you've built up
             | around resume and etc, and not you overcompensating to try
             | and account for your bias?
             | 
             | It's going to influence you. It -may- not change the
             | outcome, but if you aren't concerned about that, no matter
             | what steps you take, then you're deluding yourself.
        
         | nickysielicki wrote:
         | As someone who has applied for a lot of jobs in the past year
         | and loves TeX, it's a bad idea for applicants. Greenhouse
         | consistently pulls data incorrectly from resumes made in TeX
         | and this puts you at a huge disadvantage within a pool of
         | applicants. My response rate went up massively as soon as I
         | abandoned my well-crafted TeX resume and went to a bare-bones
         | resume made in Apple Pages.
        
         | trutannus wrote:
         | Sometimes not even an commonly talked about bias like race or
         | gender. It can be as simple as "this person looks annoying".
        
         | notsureaboutpg wrote:
         | Seems like LaTeX also gives you unavoidable bias.
         | 
         | Also, you can avoid racial bias, it's not something impossible
         | to remove. Your workplace should have standards which eliminate
         | racial bias and not rely on people to not have implicit bias.
        
       | tofukid wrote:
       | 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.
        
         | core-utility wrote:
         | 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.
        
         | vishnuharidas wrote:
         | 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.
        
         | pininja wrote:
         | This is neat! What was your experience like using this stack?
         | Were any of these first-time or learning-oriented (rather than
         | comfort) choices?
        
         | nickjj wrote:
         | If you ever wanted to chat more about how you built and deploy
         | your app I'd love to have you on my podcast at
         | https://runninginproduction.com/.
         | 
         | There's 0 Haskell episodes so far, you'd be the first one!
        
           | bredren wrote:
           | I enjoy your podcast.
        
       | metalliqaz wrote:
       | 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.
       | 
       | After that, they want deep detail about skills.
        
         | Noumenon72 wrote:
         | Are you from Europe perhaps? Or do the skillsets in your field
         | stay relevant longer?
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | rozularen wrote:
         | this makes contrast with every other opinion I've ever heard
         | about keeping the CV short and clean
        
           | blowski wrote:
           | There is a certain niche that's impressed by a long CV, but
           | it's not he kind of niche I'd want to impress. They're people
           | who say things like "look how many versions of PHP he can
           | use. And he knows how to use The Linux!".
        
           | metalliqaz wrote:
           | That's why I bring it up.
           | 
           | I'm sure it's important for the first page to be concise and
           | eye-catching. But why would more info be bad?
        
             | yamazakiwi wrote:
             | Many hiring managers don't look at resumes longer than 6
             | seconds. More information is not necessarily better and
             | arguably worse for competitive job openings.
        
         | ryandrake wrote:
         | 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.
        
         | metalliqaz wrote:
         | To be clear, "not a diversity hire" above is not intended to be
         | a positive attribute.
        
         | always_left wrote:
         | 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.
        
         | xyzelement wrote:
         | 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.
        
         | pfranz wrote:
         | 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.
        
       | shoto_io wrote:
       | Great tool! What's your business model though?
       | 
       | Collecting data comes to mind first. If it's not the case, I
       | would recommend to say this explicitly on the page somewhere.
        
         | tofukid wrote:
         | There's a paid download option which has no watermark at the
         | bottom of the resume.
        
         | metalliqaz wrote:
         | I had the exact same thought. Decided not to fill in with any
         | PII for that reason.
        
           | quaintdev wrote:
           | I disconnected Internet to see if it would still generate the
           | resume. It renders on client side so preview is fine but I
           | can't download the resume.
           | 
           | I really loved the design but I don't want to keep resume on
           | the site forever so I am afraid I will not be using this even
           | though I really want to.
        
       | catchmeifyoucan wrote:
       | 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.
        
       | jibbers wrote:
       | This looks like a solid tool. Love that there is no mandatory
       | account creation. A couple tiny constructive criticisms:
       | 
       | + All instances of "resume" should be "resume" or at least
       | "resume".
       | 
       | + 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
        
       | lost-found wrote:
       | Two column resumes are not ideal since a lot of (shitty) resume
       | scanners can't figure them out.
        
       | esseeayen wrote:
       | Can you link it to LinkedIn?
        
         | tofukid wrote:
         | Do you mean generate it based on a LinkedIn profile? That's
         | something I may add in the future. I don't use LinkedIn, I
         | thought they already have a resume generator, is that true?
        
           | mikepurvis wrote:
           | Yes, LinkedIn has a resume builder: https://www.linkedin.com/
           | help/linkedin/answer/94034/linkedin...
           | 
           | I may just lack imagination, but I am struggling a bit to see
           | the niche for the linked tool vs using LinkedIn (lower
           | effort, consumes existing data) or a downloadable template
           | (high/same effort, but more customizable and no leaked PII).
        
             | pfranz wrote:
             | I use LinkedIn as a memory dump for job history and to keep
             | tabs on old co-workers, but I actively try to avoid it
             | otherwise. I didn't know they had a resume builder and
             | wouldn't have looked, but it makes sense to have one. Even
             | knowing they have one I'd be very interested to actually
             | build my resume outside of it, but I don't know how
             | representative I am.
        
             | qsort wrote:
             | Honestly, it fills the niche of not being LinkedIn.
             | 
             | LinkedIn is by far the worst user experience of any website
             | or application I have ever used, one of the few that
             | deserves the distinction of being _both_ morally _and_
             | technically broken. Not everyone is as drastic as I am, but
             | in my circle it 's universally disliked.
        
       | dantodor wrote:
       | Cool idea, I suggest you add some disclaimer about data policy.
       | My first thought on the landing page was "neat way to gather some
       | personal data" :D
        
       | [deleted]
        
       | robbiejs wrote:
       | I like it. Very to-the-point.
       | 
       | 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 wrote:
         | Thanks for the feedback. I think that's a good point. One
         | reason I have collapsible work/education is being able to
         | reorder them.
        
           | robbiejs wrote:
           | Ah I see. You could still offer re-ordering even when sub-
           | forms are expanded. The sub-forms are not that tall if I am
           | correct.
           | 
           | Perhaps add outlines/borders around sub forms, so that users
           | know what they belong to.
           | 
           | I know the page looks fresh & clean now, but it takes away
           | from user friendliness IMHO. Anyway, just my 2c :-)
        
       | mccolin wrote:
       | This is a slick tool. I like how the thumbnail and PDF preview is
       | live updating with changes.
       | 
       | 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 wrote:
       | "Get hired" are you offering something beyond formatting a
       | resume? Is this strictly a paid-for resume formatter?
        
         | tofukid wrote:
         | It's just a resume maker. Good to know that's confusing, I'll
         | think about making the language more clear.
        
       | luke2m wrote:
       | Down?
        
         | tofukid wrote:
         | I don't think so. Do you have trouble accessing it? The whole
         | thing is cached with CloudFlare.
        
       | nicholasjarnold wrote:
       | Looks good! An alternative is https://resumake.io/, which also
       | allows one to export and then later import the JSON which defines
       | the resume.
        
         | busymom0 wrote:
         | Here's another alternative which I built. The exported pdf is
         | text based and thus optimized for resume scanning softwares
         | used by companies.
         | 
         | https://resumetopdf.com/
        
           | quaintdev wrote:
           | Do you guys store information on backend and if you do, how
           | long?
        
             | busymom0 wrote:
             | No I don't.
             | 
             | Privacy policy TL;DR
             | 
             | We DO NOT collect your resume data and it NEVER leaves your
             | device. The service DOES NOT contain ads, trackers and
             | other such garbage.
             | 
             | https://resumetopdf.com/privacypolicy.html
        
       | moneywoes wrote:
       | Is it possible to download it in word doc format?
        
         | tofukid wrote:
         | Just PDF for now. I hope to offer Word format in the future.
        
       | notjustanymike wrote:
       | 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.
        
         | jldl805 wrote:
         | This is true. In fact many larger companies will automatically
         | delete any resume with a photo, regardless of your fit for the
         | role.
         | 
         | 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.
        
         | Traubenfuchs wrote:
         | If you are good looking, they are a very good idea.
         | 
         | If you old and look younger than you are, they are an even
         | better idea since they distract from your age.
        
         | 41209 wrote:
         | 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.
        
           | adoxyz wrote:
           | Aren't resumes technically personal ads?
        
           | spookthesunset wrote:
           | LinkedIn is in a weird place. It's half a networking tool and
           | half a recruiting tool. In my opinion photos are fine for
           | networking but should be verboten for hiring and recruiting.
           | 
           | In truth, I really don't know what to think about photos for
           | LinkedIn. Both sides of the argument are compelling.
        
           | cvhashim wrote:
           | Brag as much as you can in your resume. Never be humble.
        
         | nautilius wrote:
         | 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.
        
         | the-dude wrote:
         | I am very pretty.
        
           | gozzoo wrote:
           | This can be advantage or disadvantage depending on who is
           | looking. Either way you add more uncertanty by having photo
           | on your CV.
        
         | xeromal wrote:
         | 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.
        
         | deelowe wrote:
         | It really depends. If you're attractive and certain beneficial
         | information can be gleaned from your resume (e.g. things that
         | recruiters are measured on come performance review time), I can
         | certainly see it helping.
        
         | BrandoElFollito wrote:
         | > Photos on resumes are never a good idea
         | 
         | 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.
        
           | nicoburns wrote:
           | Someone from Brittany is a Breton
        
           | peakaboo wrote:
           | That's life my friend. Anything you do that sticks out from
           | the other sheeps will make some people wonder about you.
           | 
           | Personally I'm fine with that since my end goal in life is
           | not about bending over for others to gain advantages or avoid
           | disadvantages.
           | 
           | I never use Web cam at work for example. I'm usually the only
           | person not on camera in phone conferences. I'm sure it's a
           | disadvantage but I'm somehow still doing fine. :)
        
           | sofixa wrote:
           | Address isn't mandatory either.
           | 
           | As a matter of fact, photos are getting less and less common
           | on CV's in France.
        
         | xyzelement wrote:
         | 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.
        
           | ngngngng wrote:
           | It's pretty tough to predict which way that's going to go.
           | I'm positive I've been immediately rejected from jobs because
           | I'm a white guy that went to BYU and that's pretty clear on
           | my resume, but there are probably other jobs where that would
           | help me out.
        
           | prionassembly wrote:
           | I know forum comments are throwaways and mean nothing mean
           | here -- but if you're job hunting with a resume you might be
           | judged by spelling and you have a mangling pattern to your
           | spelling of "friendliness" that, if replicated elsewhere,
           | could be making you look bad.
        
           | brownguy2 wrote:
           | If I was white, I would definitely put my photo on my resume.
           | But I'm not.
           | 
           | I'm a senior executive with impeccable credentials: top 1
           | bank, top 3 engineering school, ivy league undergrad,
           | executive at Series A firm. top notch names on my resume.
           | 
           | Except on LinkedIn, the majority of inbounds i get are
           | recruiters trying to get me to join in as entry level. I'm
           | not speaking about mass-mailings, i'm speaking about entire
           | screening conversations where they are telling me about this
           | "promising" entry level role. Occasionally, i'll get a good
           | recruiter pitching me a VP or CTO role (as I would expect)
           | but these are rare.
           | 
           | My white friends say they are constantly pitched with VP and
           | Director roles.
        
             | zdragnar wrote:
             | As a counter-anecdote, I haven't held a job with a title
             | including anything less than "senior" in 10 years, have
             | worked for both startups and companies with very
             | recognizable names, and at least half of the recruiter
             | requests are for entry level positions.
             | 
             | I have only once been pitched a position that was
             | equivalent or higher than my highest sounding job title,
             | and the recruiter responded with "Sorry, we reached out to
             | you by mistake."
        
           | KennyBlanken wrote:
           | There are also countries and industries where a photo is
           | anywhere from expected to required.
           | 
           | I had a lawyer friend who said that photos were expected on
           | resumes and websites, something she hated despite the fact
           | that she felt she benefited from it. Part of it is that firms
           | and clients want to see a professional image, but yeah, it
           | also brings in all the usual gender/age/ethnic biases.
           | 
           | To answer "why wouldn't they play that card" - plenty of
           | women know their looks/gender might get them in the door when
           | it wouldn't otherwise, and feel like imposters _even if they
           | are highly qualified and a great match for the position_.
           | 
           | They may want to work at the kind of company that hires them
           | because of their accomplishments, not one that says "oh, we
           | need more women." One reason: a company that hired them
           | because they were a woman may have done so just to fill a
           | quota and there's no genuine interest in them succeeding and
           | advancing...whereas another employer might see their talent
           | and work to help them succeed. Or a company that hires just
           | to fill quotas might put women in positions they aren't
           | actually qualified for. Etc.
        
             | downwithbgp wrote:
             | To add, it's common to see a headshot in an acting resume.
        
             | 908B64B197 wrote:
             | > not one that says "oh, we need more women."
             | 
             | First time I heard about "minority quotas" I just didn't
             | believe it. But then YouTube got sued for doing exactly
             | that [0]
             | 
             | Do quotas actually help minorities? To me it sends the
             | signal that everyone from a top N school who is a white or
             | asian male is here because he's qualified. The others who
             | knows? Maybe the recruiter was so close to hitting his
             | incentive that he lowered the bar.
             | 
             | [0] https://www.wsj.com/articles/youtube-hiring-for-some-
             | positio...
        
         | rismach wrote:
         | I do think that photos on resumes vary in some countries. Some
         | countries prefer photos, but others don't. But I agree with you
         | that they don't print well and don't look good.
        
         | notsureaboutpg wrote:
         | I don't agree. If you are good-looking you should go for it.
         | 
         | It's not the job applicant's job to eliminate bias. Countless
         | studies show that looking sharp matters, in the workplace, over
         | zoom, in interviews, in personal contacts with friends and
         | family, etc. Your photo is going to be on your id badge, your
         | profile at work, your social media profiles, your Github, etc.
         | Why not on your resume?
         | 
         | Racial bias based on photos is something THE EMPLOYER needs to
         | fix with standards, metrics, and quotas, etc. It's not meant to
         | be something to coerce everyone into no longer showing their
         | faces in the workplace.
        
         | kleiba wrote:
         | This is very dependent on the country / culture.
         | 
         | In Germany, for example, a resume without a photo will most
         | likely not even get considered.
        
           | searchableguy wrote:
           | Why do they require a photo in the resume?
           | 
           | I'm curious about the reason.
        
             | kleiba wrote:
             | They just want to know whom they're dealing with. And I
             | don't think it's such a big deal because once they invite
             | you to an interview, they will know what you look like
             | anyway.
        
               | spookthesunset wrote:
               | It is a big deal. How you look has absolutely nothing to
               | do with how you'll perform at a job. Photos only enable
               | discrimination, there really is no other purpose.
        
               | SamBam wrote:
               | It is a big deal, though. Getting to the interview is the
               | first hurdle.
               | 
               | There have been several variations of a famous study
               | where they sent identical resumes to hundreds of
               | companies, with the single change that there was a
               | stereotypical "white" name vs "Black" name at the top.
               | 
               | The studies consistently find that the "white" names get
               | far more call backs.
               | 
               | Granted, those studies were in the US, but I'd be very
               | surprised if a similar effect did not show up in most
               | European countries.
        
               | kleiba wrote:
               | Note that these studies were done with resumes _without_
               | photos. You don 't need a picture to be biased.
        
               | SamBam wrote:
               | Right, exactly. The name alone was enough.
        
               | ktkoffroth wrote:
               | Who says the picture would have the same affect? What if
               | it turns out there's less racial bias when a picture is
               | added?
        
               | SamBam wrote:
               | While it's worth pointing out the limits of our
               | knowledge, I wonder why you appear to think it's just as
               | likely that the photo will eliminate the racial bias? If
               | studies have shown that a black-sounding name means fewer
               | jobs, I would think the default hypothesis, until proven
               | otherwise, would be that a black photo would result in
               | the same ends.
               | 
               | Thinking that it might as well go the other way seems to
               | imply that there's just something weird about names, and
               | that people don't _really_ have racial biases. But this
               | charitable view of the world has been shown false time
               | and again.
               | 
               | In any case, a version of the study with live people,
               | instead of photos, has also been done, and, not
               | surprisingly, shown the same result:
               | 
               | > Other studies have also examined race and employment.
               | In a 2009 study, Devah Pager, Bruce Western and Bart
               | Bonikowski, all now sociologists at Harvard, sent actual
               | people to apply for low-wage jobs. They were given
               | identical resumes and similar interview training. Their
               | sobering finding was that African-American applicants
               | with no criminal record were offered jobs at a rate as
               | low as white applicants who had criminal records.
               | 
               | https://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/04/upshot/the-measuring-
               | stic...
        
               | xyzelement wrote:
               | This is a really good point, one I hadn't throught about.
               | What if the name creates a bias because it conjures up an
               | image that is nothing like the person - while their
               | picture "undoes" that.
               | 
               | Not saying I necessarily believe that happens, but I
               | really appreciate the logic of your point/question.
        
               | [deleted]
        
               | z3ncyberpunk wrote:
               | Always beware 'studies' and 'experts'...
        
               | Cenk wrote:
               | Yep, they did studies in Germany with German sounding
               | names and Turkish sounding names:
               | https://www.zeit.de/gesellschaft/2010-02/studie-bewerber-
               | aus...
        
               | systemvoltage wrote:
               | It's also not just race but beautiful people, especially
               | with symmetric facial features are subconscious biases
               | that presumably plays a role. I don't know if there are
               | studies around this, I'd bet there would be a huge bias.
               | 
               | Photos are completely unnecessary and mostly nuisance
               | IMO.
        
               | the-dude wrote:
               | And they can skip your resume if they don't like your
               | looks or skintone.
        
               | kleiba wrote:
               | If that were the case, getting to the interview phase
               | wouldn't provide you much benefit anyway.
        
               | 0xdeadb00f wrote:
               | True. But sometimes one person looks over resumes and
               | different people, or a couple people, handle the
               | interview itself.
        
               | petsormeat wrote:
               | Or your age: https://www.psychnewsdaily.com/older-job-
               | seekers-on-linkedin...
        
             | ma2rten wrote:
             | You are asking the wrong question. They expect it because
             | it's the norm in Germany. Human is psychology is such that
             | a resume with a photo is just more memorable, so it became
             | the norm because applicants do it. Bias is less of a
             | concern in a country that is historically more homogeneous.
        
           | lhorie wrote:
           | As someone with experience on the hiring side, I occasionally
           | help newbies by providing reviews of their
           | resumes/portfolios. I typically tell them to drop photos
           | because that's the norm here in North America, but if I had
           | to generalize, my advice would be to follow the norms of the
           | country/city where you are applying.
           | 
           | The rationale is simple and pragmatic: employers want to find
           | the gold nuggets, but snowflake resumes scream lack of
           | experience and can easily be filtered out in early stages of
           | the funnel.
           | 
           | Inexperienced people often make these intricate resumes w/
           | fancy templates, but all that tells me is they're fluffing it
           | up to compensate for lack of content - sometimes in a quest
           | for beauty, they don't even spell out their contact
           | information!
           | 
           | My advice to those people is to go talk to a recruiting
           | agency or a local job board. They can help find and correct
           | all of those faux-pas, catered to the local market
           | expectations.
        
             | kevin_thibedeau wrote:
             | > they don't even spell out their contact information!
             | 
             | I suffered with 10 years of Indian recruiter spam in my
             | voicemail. They're never getting my phone again.
        
           | lmarcos wrote:
           | Not in IT, though.
        
           | dolel22 wrote:
           | I've lived in Germany for 7 years and never once have I added
           | a picture to my resume. It's been no trouble in getting
           | interviews and job offers. I work in tech though. So the
           | experience could vary depending on your industry
        
         | jollybean wrote:
         | 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'.
        
       | nacraft wrote:
       | Nice UI but the generated PDF is an image?! That's not a good
       | idea... the resume parsers won't be able to parse that.
        
       | vmception wrote:
       | 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!"
        
       | sparsely wrote:
       | Very clean, nice work!
       | 
       | 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 wrote:
         | 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.
        
           | sparsely wrote:
           | I noticed this after commenting, but was a bit confused at
           | first!
        
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