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Why isn't there a universal data format for résumés?

toot.cat

311–320 of 472 posts

Re: Why isn't there a universal data format for résumés?

#311

There is! https://jsonresume.org/ But nobody really uses it for data interchange. I use it to render my resume in new layouts now and then. Although, it does let style dictate content sometimes (some templates force you to have dates down to the day for job start and end dates, etc.)

Json Resume is still going strong. I am one of the founders, I try to do a couple major maintenance periods per year. Currently I am working on updating all the community projects built, still got quite a few to add but currently there is -> https://jsonresume.org/projects/ I think over 3k+ people use the new Gist hosting. (In our old hosting we had around 10k resumes. Not including those who by pass the free communi…

Why JSON? Why not YAML or something more easily editable by a human?

Re: Why isn't there a universal data format for résumés?

#312
because it's too easy to make a competing data format of your own because resumes are relatively easy to model. So if you don't like something in the universal data format just spin up your own, with the features or the serialization you want, put it up as a Show HN and get some initial momentum.

It's not like making a data format for invoicing which even so has quite a large number of competing formats.

Relevant XKCD https://xkcd.com/927/

Re: Why isn't there a universal data format for résumés?

#313
post #311

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Json Resume is still going strong. I am one of the founders, I try to do a couple major maintenance periods per year. Currently I am working on updating all the community projects built, still got quite a few to add but currently there is -> https://jsonresume.org/projects/ I think over 3k+ people use the new Gist hosting. (In our old hosting we had around 10k resumes. Not including those who by pass the free communi…

Why JSON? Why not YAML or something more easily editable by a human?

Could of went either way really, YAML is a superset of JSON, so in theory, you can switch between them at any time.

I think we wanted JSON at the time because it just relied on less extra packages when working inside of the JS ecosystem.

So yeah, if anyone wants to make a resume.yaml, we only need to add an extra step to convert it to json for them to use any of the tooling.

Re: Why isn't there a universal data format for résumés?

#314
post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Documents like these shouldn't be automatically processed, they should be reviewed by humans. That's very nice to think about but in the real world if people don't match some exact keywords they get thrown away. HR is looking for "node.js" but you wrote it like "nodejs"? Though luck pal, bye. HR wants a "computer scientist" but you have a degree in "computer science"? Same, automatically discarded. If anything, a st…

That's very nice to think about but in the real world if people don't match some exact keywords they get thrown away. This isn't the "real world" you're referring to here -- it's the fin-de-big-tech bubble world where everyone and their dog is not only sold, smack-down drunk on the idea that Algorithms and Data are the Solution to Your Problems. They aren't of course -- it's just a giant hornswoggle. This "world" nee…

So, when I see the ads with XML misspelled XLM like XLM and XSLT experience wanted - or similar stuff that happens every now and then - I should spin up a new CV and replace instances of XML with XLM?

on edit: before people come in with not wanting to work for a company that would make such a stupid mistake, first off I believe mistakes sometimes happen, and second Henry Thompson leader of the XML Schema working group, had the subtitle of his LinkedIn page saying something like he was an expert in XLM for at least a year (I should really have taken a screen shot) so I mean I think it would just as silly to not work someplace because they made a mistake as it would for them to screen you out for making a mistake.

Re: Why isn't there a universal data format for résumés?

#316
post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Documents like these shouldn't be automatically processed, they should be reviewed by humans. That's very nice to think about but in the real world if people don't match some exact keywords they get thrown away. HR is looking for "node.js" but you wrote it like "nodejs"? Though luck pal, bye. HR wants a "computer scientist" but you have a degree in "computer science"? Same, automatically discarded. If anything, a st…

That's very nice to think about but in the real world if people don't match some exact keywords they get thrown away. This isn't the "real world" you're referring to here -- it's the fin-de-big-tech bubble world where everyone and their dog is not only sold, smack-down drunk on the idea that Algorithms and Data are the Solution to Your Problems. They aren't of course -- it's just a giant hornswoggle. This "world" nee…

Well said. It'll get to a human eventually, but the first step is pretty robotic anyway human or not. Let's dig up the legendary Facebook recruiter specifically looking for Unix experience.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15187874

Re: Why isn't there a universal data format for résumés?

#317
post #188

In my opinion, there shouldn't be. Documents like these shouldn't be automatically processed, they should be reviewed by humans. Reducing someone's life history to a list of educational institutions and employers feels robotic even for a software developer's mindset. I understand that there are real life problems because companies do use automated processing on applications, but that kind of behaviour shouldn't be en…

> Documents like these shouldn't be automatically processed, they should be reviewed by humans. Human review is fraught with bias. A lot of attention and column inches are devoted to algorithmic bias these days, but let's not confuse that for evidence that human review is perfect or even better. It's just harder to audit.

I think resistance to algorithms is about failure modes. If an algorithm becomes standard and you are an edge case then you are in trouble, much the same way you are in trouble today with companies that have automated customer support and make it hard to contact a human being. Losing your email account is annoying but not being able to have a job is worse. Automated systems are designed to avoid mistakes but are bad at correcting mistakes. I would argue that even with humans involved the hiring process is harder to some people, even discounting bias, just because it is more or less standard but at least they have hope in the variance that remains.

Re: Why isn't there a universal data format for résumés?

#318

In my opinion, there shouldn't be. Documents like these shouldn't be automatically processed, they should be reviewed by humans. Reducing someone's life history to a list of educational institutions and employers feels robotic even for a software developer's mindset. I understand that there are real life problems because companies do use automated processing on applications, but that kind of behaviour shouldn't be en…

I agree they should be read by humans, but (and I feel most comments are missing that point) a standard format would help with that.

Having been reading resumes a lot lately, I always breathe a sigh of relief when people hand in the standard latex template, with maybe only the colors changed. The structure is immediately familiar and easy to navigate. I could use a client app that presents a hypothetical standard data format in such a way. My colleagues in sales or customer success on the other hand seem to prefer other formatting styles; they could look at their candidates in that way.

Re: Why isn't there a universal data format for résumés?

#319

In my opinion, there shouldn't be. Documents like these shouldn't be automatically processed, they should be reviewed by humans. Reducing someone's life history to a list of educational institutions and employers feels robotic even for a software developer's mindset. I understand that there are real life problems because companies do use automated processing on applications, but that kind of behaviour shouldn't be en…

What about recipes though

Re: Why isn't there a universal data format for résumés?

#320

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some people aren't native speakers. Do they really need to know how to spell perfectly to work for you?

Knowing what the red wriggly lines mean is a start. From my experience, however, it's the native English speakers who spel the worse.

Speaking of red squiggly lines in Word/MS products. Is it just me or has the grammar check gotten incredibly worse the past 2 years? It keeps complaining about odd grammar forms and suggesting I replace perfectly valid word-structures with shorter ones? The one I encounter most frequently is the suggestion to replace "in order to" with just "to", which is incredibly frustrating as they mean two different things entirely.
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