PDF or Word?

Nurses Job Hunt

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Just curious as to what you all do. When attaching your resume to your application, do you upload as a word doc or as a pdf? (there is no specification in the description or application)

I prefer to submit as PDF just because it saves my format nicely lol and even though it looks fine on my word doc, if it were copy and pasted or opened differently, I'm afraid the spaces and such that I used would come out differently and ruin the overall look of it.

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I would suggest Word because it is still the preferred format for the Applicant Tracking System (ATS) software. Some systems accept PDF, but chunks of your resume could potentially be skipped over. I would stick with a Word document to be safe, no graphics, 11-12 font, chronological order, clear and concise. Good luck!

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Specializes in Pedi.

PDF because it can't be edited.

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If you have an internal contact waiting for your resume then pdf should be fine. If you need to get to the hands of a hiring manager because you have no internal contacts, then optimize your chance of passing the ATS with a Word format.

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Thanks for the tips. Does it make a difference on certain applications where they ask you to upload your documents, but also copy and paste your resume and cover letter? Do they end up running the copy and pasted part into ATS, or still the attached document?

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