further random questions from the newly-unemployed

[wizard at neonedge.com (Wizard)]

> > This makes another assumption that I find extremely irritating...
> > What if I don't have access to Microsoft Word?
>
> Agreed.  If someone sends me a word doc, I don't read it.

That's one way of dramatically reducing the number of resumes that you have
to read ;-). Probably by about 85%. Nearly anyone can read the average Word
document with OpenOffice, ABIWord, or StarOffice, so "Microsoft Word" is
really a misnomer. A Word document no longer requires Microsoft Word in
order to be read. And by using one of the alternatives, you may indirectly
be supporting one of Microsoft's competitors.

> My personal preferred format for formatted text is postscript.  Anyone
> with a postscript printer driver can make a postscript file; and
> ghostview runs on pretty much anything.  Sad thing is, simple as this is
> to do, many will claim it's over their head.  Which makes me
> sardonically wonder if I care about their compositions in any format.

Whatever your preferred format, text and Word format are substantially more
prevalent. If however, you are looking for a Web Developer, Software
Developer, or IT or other technical person, perhaps you should ask for
interactive resumes written in a particular language pertinent to the job
(Perl, Win32, ASP, JavaScript, C/C++, etc.). It seems to me, that would be
much more appropriate than postscript.