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I've been using LaTeX for a couple of years as an engineering student, and I figure it's a worthwhile skill for my resume. Since I'm writing my resume in LaTeX, I'm tempted to use the LaTeX symbol (\LaTeX), which formats it like the logo, in place of normal text when I add it as a skill.

Will this look forced, or could it be a nice touch?

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  • Really a resume in LaTeX. Are you going to have an integral of math skills. A summation of electives. Knowing LaTeX is nice but not a big deal.
    – paparazzo
    Commented Jul 12, 2016 at 5:38
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    The way you describe your use is in context and probably the neutral use of the symbol. "Attention grabbing" would be if you write something like "This document proudly prepared with LaTeX" on the bottom of each page. Don't do that.
    – Brandin
    Commented Jul 12, 2016 at 7:12
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    Remember that in many offices your resume will be OCRed, or they will ask you for plaintext in the first place. Unless rendering skills are part of what you"re selling, you really might as well not bother getting fancy.
    – keshlam
    Commented Jul 12, 2016 at 13:10

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I do not think it will matter. Probably gets lost in the photocopier etc.

The content is more important with a reasonable format. Word is the defacto standard these days along with PDF.

Just focus on the content. Make sure you have the following sections

  • Personal objectives - and relate this to the role
  • Key skills and evidence for them
  • Chronological list of work/education in your life.

I guess you are a student so I would imagine that this should be a page to a page and a half. include hobbies etc if they are relevant as you are young.

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    Personally as soon as a recruiter tells me my CV must be submitted in Word format (not even PDF'd!) I close the door. I realise this is self-defeating but you have to stand for something ;) If they want to attach a cover page to my CV that's up to them but they aren't editing my words tyvm. Besides, SO Careers etc is making annoying recruitment agencies redundant in my line of work.
    – Lightness Races in Orbit
    Commented Jul 12, 2016 at 12:18
  • @LightnessRacesinOrbit What does that have to do with this answer? You can generally submit a formatted CV in Word or PDF. They are both 100% fine. I've only ever used Word on an office machine anyway. It's not even installed on my home computer.
    – Brandin
    Commented Jul 12, 2016 at 13:23
  • @Brandin: "What does that have to do with this answer?" Next to nothing!
    – Lightness Races in Orbit
    Commented Jul 12, 2016 at 14:28
  • @Brandin: "You can generally submit a formatted CV in Word or PDF. They are both 100% fine." That is not my experience.
    – Lightness Races in Orbit
    Commented Jul 12, 2016 at 14:28
  • @LightnessRacesinOrbit How does a PDF prevent them from changing your words? Are you worried about nontechnical recruiters who are having a bad day?
    – called2voyage
    Commented Jul 12, 2016 at 18:10
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Will this look forced, or could it be a nice touch?

It will look completely out of place and that's even assuming that formatting survives in whatever format your resume is in when it reaches HR or a hiring manager. Since no one will accept a Latex format, you're not really asking "Should I use \LaTeX in my resume?", you're asking "Should I insert a logo for a minor technology in my resume?". That question was previously raised and (in my opinion incorrectly) closed: Should I include images / icons in my resume?

As an industry standard you need to submit resumes in PDF format and be prepared to send an editable Microsoft Word or RTF file. To accommodate resume submission forms you should also have a plaintext resume or be able to easily convert sections to plaintext. For more on this see: What digital format to send resume/cover letter in?. Because of that, anything with fancy formatting or logos is non-standard and will often be invisible once it gets to the hiring manager. Worst case scenario it will make your resume unreadable so it ends up directly in the circular file.

Focus on the content of your resume and use that along with a well-written cover letter to stand out. Don't rely on fancy formatting or gimmicks to do so. There's a statistical correlation with trying to stand out for the wrong reasons and being a poor candidate.

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    "As an industry standard you need to submit resumes in PDF format..." - I think OP is asking about using Latex to prepare the document. 99% of the time, the final output is PDF. I don't think anyone is suggesting to submit Latex source code, which is what your answer seems to assume.
    – Brandin
    Commented Jul 12, 2016 at 8:09
  • @Brandin I'm saying that because of that the Latex code is a red herring. It effectively inserts a logo. The source behind that logo is irrelevant. I answered because this question was covered by a few different questions so I couldn't find a perfect match for a duplicate vote.
    – Lilienthal ♦
    Commented Jul 12, 2016 at 8:11
  • The symbol produced by inserting the \LaTeX marker is not really a logo. The question actually being asked is "How to render the word "LaTeX" when referring to the typesetting system?" To a reader who knows about it, both 'LaTeX' (plain text) and '\LaTeX' (the output from the command) would be totally fine. To a reader who doesn't know about it, they both would look arguably "out of place", so you can't win here.
    – Brandin
    Commented Jul 12, 2016 at 13:10
  • @Brandin That sounds like a Latex question. For the novice user (i.e. a hiring manager) there is no functional difference between a typeset or bitmapped logo. The only additional complication is that the former are unlikely to work in the tools the manager uses to view a document.
    – Lilienthal ♦
    Commented Jul 12, 2016 at 14:14
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It's a geeky thing. On most places, it will be as others say : useless, or even plain negative, for your image.

Of course, if you are sure the target of the resume is geeky itself, then it can be a good thing. But keep it for specific targets.

Said another way, know your target, and adapt in consequence. But most targets will prefer more standard resumes.

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