On Monday, February 18, 2013 21:24:19, James E. LaBarre wrote: > On 02/18/2013 07:38 PM, Chris Knadle wrote: > > What's nice about the OpenDocument formats is that they are a fully > > documented format_and_ implemented how they're documented. If you do > > just a bit of research into the OpenDocument format vs Microsoft's > > "Office Open XML" formats, you'll see why this is an important > > distinction. > > That's the point I'm usually making to various job databases; I see an > AWFUL lot of sites that will take .DOCX files, yet don't take .ODT. I > point out to them that ODT is an openly defined format, rather than > proprietary like .DOCX, is supported by significantly more applications > than .DOCX, and since .ODT was defined first, it should have been > *implemented* first.
Yep. Job databases often accept .pdf or a text version of a resume, and that I find acceptable. Recruiters almost invariably ask me for "Word format", without specifying specifically _which_ "Word format" they want. :-/ This is very frustrating because conversion from-or-to Word from [Libre|Open]Office is error-prone by design, because (last I checked) Microsoft has documented and standardized a format they're not actually using, and using a format that they haven't documented, so the open source Office programs always have to "chase the tail of the dragon". Using the same name of "Office Open XML" for both the standardized version they're not using and for the version that they are which has undocumented proprietary extensions, is yet another part of the bitter irony. 90% of the time I can apply to jobs or give recruiters a .pdf, and that's something that LibreOffice exports well. The other 10% of the time are dissappointing conversations whereby a recruiter tells me that they use Word format so that they can make notes within the document as well as customize what they send to companies. That means I can't tell what they're changing in my resume before sending it to a 3rd party. On the occasions I export my resume to "Word format" I save it as "Microsoft Word 97/2000/XP/2003(.doc)" because the export (and import) for that format usually works well -- at least between those versions of MS Office and LibreOffice. Occasionally this gets humorous when the recruiter is using a newer Microsoft Office that can't correctly interpret that older .doc file type, yet MS Office 97 and 2000 read it just fine. Because yes, that's right, MS Office isn't compatible with different versions of itself. Yay standards. -- Chris -- Chris Knadle [email protected] _______________________________________________ Mid-Hudson Valley Linux Users Group http://mhvlug.org http://mhvlug.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mhvlug Upcoming Meetings (6pm - 8pm) Vassar College Feb 6 - Raspberry Pi Mar 6 - 10th Anniversary Meeting - Linux where you least expect it Apr 3 - Typography: Physical Art to Digital Art
