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

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

#341

Post by OtomotO »

roydivision wrote: post #335
OtomotO wrote: post #324

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is no "absolutely perfect", especially in such a subjective topic as résumés. Mine certainly isn't, it's like me. Worked out so far. But then again, I wouldn't want to work for most companies. Pecunia olet!

Neither would I want to work for most companies, but I don’t want my options reduced by making stupid mistakes on my CV.

That's fine. I see it like this: If there is a stupid mistake, it shows that I am a fallible human after all. (I tend to think that I don't have stupid mistakes in my CV)

But my CV also shows part of my character, mainly the fun part. If that is deemed unprofessional by a company, I immediately know they are no good fit for me.

The thing is: As with every relationship, they are two way streets. I am not a beggar as a potential employee, neither am I king. We see eye to eye or not at all.

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

#342

Post by simongray »

codingdave wrote: post #34
Waterluvian wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is the “semantic web” used in sensible, productive ways these days or does it remain an academic daydream? I’m highly skeptical of the whole concept and feel like I should have organically come across it by now.

Yeah, it is - not to the level people envisioned years ago where people made up their own tags and found a blend of XML and HTML, but it absolutely is in place for more meaningful HTML. We have tags that tell you the purpose of content - header, nav, section, article, footer, etc. Those tags are read by screen readers and other accessibility tools, and do bring semantic value to those readers.

Those things are semantic HTML elements, not the semantic web. The semantic web does have some HTML integration though, e.g. RDFa.

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

#343

Post by mro_name »

complexworld wrote: post #10

I don't think it's used very much but there is this one http://xml.coverpages.org/HR-XML-ResumeSpecification200205.h... This page mentions a few more formats: http://microformats.org/wiki/resume-formats It seems like the problem isn't a lack of standards, but rather a lack of adoption and/or agreement on which standard to follow

15 standards and counting https://xkcd.com/927/

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

#344

Post by devoutsalsa »

moralestapia wrote: post #91
jeroenhd wrote: post #42

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. 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…

If you put an idiot in charge of your recruiting, that is the real problem. A perfect AI that would tell you meant "node.js" when your iPhone's autocorrect changed it to "nodule jesus" won't protect you from the jackass running your hiring. There's no protection from being a moron.

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

#345

Post by sbuk »

moralestapia wrote: post #91
jeroenhd wrote: post #42

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. 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…

Applicant Tracking systems, like Bullhorn, actually do a pretty decent job of fuzzy matching and normalising CV/resumés. Of course there is room for improvement and you need to ‘SEO’ your particular CV, but you really should do that for each job application anyway.

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

#346

Post by barankilic »

jeroenhd wrote: post #42

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…

Yet, companies use AST tools, which automatically processes the CVs and resumes.

One person that is developing such a tool recommended collage students not to add too much links to their CVs because otherwise, their CV will be flagged as a malicious document.

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

#347

Post by zeepzeep »

jeroenhd wrote: post #42

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 understand that there are real life problems because companies do use automated processing on applications

I'll always remember but never find the post, where someone just hid tons of keywords in a joke resume and got interviews with an alarmingly high success rate.

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

#348

Post by throwaddzuzxd »

zeepzeep wrote: post #347
jeroenhd wrote: post #42

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 understand that there are real life problems because companies do use automated processing on applications I'll always remember but never find the post, where someone just hid tons of keywords in a joke resume and got interviews with an alarmingly high success rate.

https://www.reddit.com/r/recruitinghell/comments/qhg5jo/this...

It might be this one?

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

#349

Post by xarope »

moralestapia wrote: post #91
jeroenhd wrote: post #42

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. 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…

Sadly I think this is a bit idealistic. Even in healthcare, doctors can't agree on abbreviations to put into a patient's records, and sadly the state of EMRs (electronic medical records) is a shambles due to this sort of data impedance mismatch.

Come to think of it, the latter is probably why many of us will always have a job.

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

#350

Post by woolion »

berkes wrote: post #327
jfengel wrote: post #63

I used to work in ontologies, and what I learned is that people would rather get an 80% heuristic solution for dirty data rather than a 100% correct solution for data they have to clean. The big job sites have resume parsers that work well enough from a PDF or Word doc, and then they don't have to worry about you forgetting a close tag or a mandatory field. Sure, stuff gets lost, but they get 80% of a billion resumes…

This hinges on a false dichotomy. You can have the current sloppy parsers AND a jsonresume.org parser besides each other. You can even hide the latter behind a tiny 'other upload formats' link, if you are afraid this option deters uploads of PDFs or docxs.

This is exactly what is done with invoices. You can get them as pdf that embed its content as xml, and the receiving ERP software that will load it will try to find the xml, or default to OCR.
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