Resume templates for whatever it is I do

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I am opening my search for new clients to companies that are seeking employees. The process for approaching those kinds of jobs is very different than what I am used to, specifically they often require a resume.

This may sound mundane to you, but for me I haven’t created a resume in about 10 years, so I am way out of sorts. Hence, crowd-sourcing this process!

What I need help with:

  • Resume templates - general “tech” or specific to what I do
  • Advice on better than average resume production
  • Modern workflow for applying to jobs - has applying changed? Or is it still “who you know” and “filter craigslist”?

If you were looking for a job right now, what would you do? Give me the non-juicy details like I have no idea what I am doing, because I have no idea what I am doing. :slight_smile:

You can also send me stuff at maiki@interi.org.

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Oh yeah, more details:

I am trying to get this done, because I find it difficult to refresh my site to show my work and make it more attractive to potential clients, as well as make it easy for friends to recommend me (“Yeah, check out my friend maiki, over at interi.org.”).

I’ve kinda automated my potential job feeds, and in my attempt to be ready for what the universe has to offer, I am considering taking a job with a company, for the related benefits of such an arrangement. But resumes are hard! I think the last time I wrote one it was an OpenOffice template, and I don’t even know if OpenOffice is still a thing.

As for what I do, when I tell my inner impostor to shut up and get in the back seat, I realize I have a broad field of experience, with a few deep competencies. I also like technical/customer support, and am glad that in the last few years it has carved out a niche industry with its own conferences!

So the kind of work I am looking are are:

  • WordPress-related, any non-engineering: I don’t want to work with creating new PHP, but nearly every other aspect of WordPress is up my alley.
  • IT support, leadership: I would be happy supporting a smaller org, or leading a team for a larger one.
  • Customer support: I would be happy writing docs and helping customers, especially if I could do it remotely, and also especially if I could support non-standard US hours (meaning late/night shifts).
  • Good non-profit work: If they can afford a technical team member, I would love to work with any “good” NPO, meaning helping people and not hurting people (no defense think-tanks or PACs).
  • Gigs are okay, too: contract work is my bread and butter, so I should point out that I am also taking on more client work, in any of the above categories. Email introductions are welcome!
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I may be wrong.

Don’t put any effort into making look nice. Words are all that matter. Write markdown (or whatever preferred), if application requires pdf pandoc (via latex) will make it look classy:

pandoc --latex-engine=xelatex --smart -f commonmark resume.md -o resume.pdf

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Other items:

  • Make words on resume specific to you. Include relevant keywords but highlight what sets you apart. There are a zillion people who apply to every semi-relevant tech position.
  • It is still who you know, or numbers. Former strongly preferred.
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Create a linked in account. Add stuff to it that you think is relevant to what you’re looking for. Put keywords in the summary. Export your linkedin profile as a resume.

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Me too, and I’m terrified. My last resume was definitely also in OpenOffice. I made a section with columns somehow. My memory of it is that it is very ugly (but at the time I thought it was awesome). I haven’t dug it up because I’m … I’m … afraid?

How is it going?

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It is going. I am slowly making progress, and gonna tweak out on this over the weekend. Just finishing up a large project, and have some potential projects ready. So now is the time to step up my efforts for new work. :slight_smile:

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Apparently that wasn’t enough for me, so I very tweaked out on this! But thanks for the inspiration. I didn’t know that pandoc could use YAML front matter, but once I discovered that I realized I could do a lot more with the default LaTeX template.

Currently, here is my header:

---
geometry: margin=1in
mainfont: 'FreeSans'
header-includes:
    - \usepackage{fancyhdr}
    - \pagestyle{fancy}
    - \fancyhead[C]{510-593-8799}
    - \fancyhead[L]{maiki interi}
    - \fancyhead[R]{maiki@interi.org}
    - \pagenumbering{gobble}
title: 'maiki interi   |   510-593-8799   |   maiki@interi.org'
urlcolor: 'cyan'
---

I will probably post these files somewhere one day, so I’ll link to them then.

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Gah, I had to change a resume and forget the parameters I was using. Posting here for reference:

pandoc --latex-engine=xelatex --smart -f markdown+yaml_metadata_block example.md -o example.pdf
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I just tried my line from above and got this output:

--latex-engine has been removed.  Use --pdf-engine instead.
--smart/-S has been removed.  Use +smart or -smart extension instead.
For example: pandoc -f markdown+smart -t markdown-smart.
Try pandoc --help for more information.

Okay… let’s see how this changes! :slight_smile: