CMU School of Drama


Wednesday, February 15, 2017

How to Make a Professional Resume in Google Docs

business.tutsplus.com: The internet is full of resume templates, ranging from free to professional templates with both ugly and great ones in each category. While there are also templates for Google Docs available, there is no better feeling than creating something from scratch and on your own.

Regardless of what you may have heard, Google Docs has plenty of features to make beautiful, modern documents with. It's the perfect too to use to build your next resume with.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

This article was mind-blowingly smart and relevant to me.

I have always used Microsoft Word to write my resumes. I have been tempted in the past to switch to LaTeX or official resume-making platforms, but I have always liked my Word formatting freedom via textboxes (I have a two-column structure). The thought of using an invisible table has never occurred to me, but the second I finish writing this post, I will promptly go switch my resume over to table format. My textbox format is hard to use because I am sometimes clicking on boxes that I don’t mean to be typing in. And, I think the text boxes are also causing my document to lag, making editing time-consuming and frustrating. I can’t wait to switch to table formatting in order to retain my structure and editing style but be able to work much more quickly (I have not tried columns because they make shifting information difficult).

A lot of the additional tools mentioned in this article are similarly ingenious. I have never thought of Word (or Google Docs) to be a good resume platform, but if you really utilize the tools Word provides, you can create a ridiculously professional document. I am very excited to edit my resume now.

nick waddington said...

I found this article really interesting, if only i could have seen it last week, i think some of the ideas in this article are pretty ingenious. Google Docs provide such ability to manipulate the entire document that I can understand why it would make the perfect platform for writing your resume. I have always used word, even though i have found it stiff and difficult to work with in the past, but from now on im sure i will be using google docs. I have also never thought of writing my resume using so many tables, but after reading the article it seems like a perfectly logical and really smart choice. i started with the beginning of the article, and began to re-write my resume, however that was taking too long , and i wanted to finish my comments so i put it off to the side, but im eager to go back to it and see how my final product turns out.

Unknown said...

Before I harnessed the power of InDesign, I made many a resume in Microsoft word. I am also a big fan of tutsplus and their easy to follow tutorials. They are the reason I know how to use illustrator. I think a stylish, clean resume is essential when you’re applying for jobs now, or internships in my case. Sometimes new roman single-spaced dry resume doesn’t fly anymore. But neither does an explosion of every piece of clip art on the internet. This resume would shine among a stack of people. I’m going to switch over to google docs eventually for all my writing needs because the cloud backup is essential. I can’t count the number of times I’ve accidentally deleted an entire paper after carelessly clicking “don’t save” when exiting out of Microsoft word. I also plan to switch to sheets as well because it has all the power, all the user experience, and the cloud backup.

Alex Talbot said...

I have feelings about this, not all of them good. While I love google docs and its ease of use anywhere, and especially its lack of cost, at the same time I think doing a resume in it is redundant. The program (or technically website) excels at its collaborative features--that many people can collaborate on them at the same time, and they can be shared and transferred quite easily. But for resumes, it just seems redundant and almost seems like you're screwing yourself. Word far outshines Google Docs in terms of formatting, font choice, and general ease of use for formatting and aligning a resume. I've used docs for resumes, and they've been total disasters in terms of formatting. And since the only collaboration you need to do on a resume is sending it around for employers, which you wouldn't want to do in google docs anyway, and sending it around for edits, making it on docs seems unnecessary and just plain annoying.

Ali Whyte said...

I love most of the Google options like Docs, Slides, and Sheets, so I would not be afraid to try it out for resumes. I think I've mostly stuck to these out of the collaborative aspect; if I want someone to proofread a paper or presentation, I can share ti with them, and edit it as many times as I want before they read it without having to send email after email saying "Oops, I forgot to change one thing." I do think this aspect would be helpful for my resume, as I often send it to to others for approval or commentary. I also love the idea of the cloud backup. In my most recent PTM assignment, I spent about 45 minutes on my resume shortly before it was due, only to have Word crash and all of my work to be lost. I will definitely be switching over, at least for a trial run, soon.

Evan Schild said...

I loved this article. For the past couple weeks in PTM, our assignments have been to apply for an internship and write a cover letter and resume. This article would have been perfect to include in the lectures taught by Molly. I Have not really been a fan of google docs, except for when I am in a group project. I think it’s a cheaper version of Microsoft. I agree with Alex that google docs is meant to share your work, resumes you would only need to print them off and then hand them in to a future boss. But lately they keep improving while Microsoft does not appear to be. My favorite part is that it shows you how to do everything step by step with pictures. For me having a picture defiantly helps me learn so I know how to do it in the future. Hopefully google docs keeps up with the improvements.