Adapt or die

Nothing says "we're a big company" like the sentence "Only resumes in WORD format will be accepted". The use of passive voice is strongly correlated to bureaucracy, as is the imperious capital letters for a (perhaps not-so-humble) product.

Demanding a single format is also arrogant. First, it says that you have a certain way of doing business, and that you are unwilling to change. Second, it says that you expect everyone else to conform to your way, regardless of their procedures or technology.

I suspect that many of these companies are using this approach from inertia. In the past, when Windows and Microsoft Office dominated the market, one could reasonably expect everyone else to use the same tools.

Times have changed. Microsoft Office is still popular, and common in corporations. Especially so for large corporations. But it is not universal. People and companies (especially start-ups) use other software and other formats. Local, desktop software now includes Open Office and Office Libre. Apple iWork is available. Google Docs (now named 'Google Drive') lets you compose and edit documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. Other formats include HTML, XML, and TeX.

Demanding a single format is so 1990.


Interestingly, firms that recruit for tech positions are some of the worst offenders. While I have seen none that ask for a facsimile, most ask for resumes in Microsoft Word format - and only that format. A small percentage deign to accept PDF.

This limitation strikes me as, well, limiting. Why accept only the one format?

I can think of two reasons.

First, a single format simplifies archiving. People can point to older word processor formats (Wordstar, Wordperfect) and claim that documents in these formats are no longer readable. They are right -- those formats are unreadable by modern-day word processors.

But the next version of Microsoft Word will (most likely) drop support for the old ".doc" format. When that happens, all of their old (non .docx) Word files will be unreadable, too.

The second reason for using a single format is for simpler internal procedures. If everyone in an organization uses the same format, then the organization can standardize on a single word processor, which reduces outlays for software and time for training.

But the extension of this internal standard to external communications seems unwise. It makes other jump through your hoops, which is at best discourteous. It may irritate your customers or candidates, or worse, drive them away. Do you want to lose business over a file format?

Tech recruiters look especially bad when they do this. It changes their image from "with it" to "stodgy" and "technically capable" to "technically limited". Demanding an old format (such as the soon-to-be-dropped ".doc" format) makes on look behind the times.

If I were a technical recruiting or staffing company, I would want the best candidates for the jobs available, not just those candidates that can jump through arbitrary hoops. (Although that may be exactly what some client companies desire.) I would want to demonstrate flexibility and adaptability to candidates and clients.

Think about your internal standards and your external interactions. Do you adapt to the world, or do you expect the world to adapt to you?