There’s probably no document more notoriously difficult to write than an entry-level resume. Hours of fudging about with the margins, text-seperation variables, let alone getting the wording exactly right for the specific job you’re applying for. If you are unix savvy, or you are slightly suspicious with all the WYSIWYG fanfare, you may have considered LaTeX as your resume typesetter of choice. A noble cause, so allow me to help you out.

This is a LaTeX2e document with special macros to typeset an Entry Level, one-page resume. The content on the page pertains to me; feel free to use this as a template for your resume. This format arose from a Technical Communications class I took as a freshman in college; it has since worked very well for me so I’ve kept it.

Using LaTeX for your resume has several advantages; it gives you complete control over the output, it is very stable, and it produces a PDF with no effort. My resume is a good example of a LaTeX resume.

The added advantage is, if you’re applying for a technical position in computer science, a LaTeX resume, although not often recognised as one, can give you a boost with your interviewers if they also happen to be LaTeX users. Therefore, make sure you add \LaTeX in your list of skills.

Furthermore, you generally should not submit resumes in wordprocessor formats for several reasons:

1. Missing fonts tend to be substituted with other fonts that may or may not fit the original font size, distorting words, lines and paragraphs from computer to computer.
2. Wordprocessor files contain a lot of information that you might want to be careful with - for example, different versions and anything you have copy-pasted in the file.

I can’t stress the importance of that last point. One of the less important duties in a job experience I’ve had involved being a proponent of a certain operating system which shall remain unamed; When the time came to apply to the competitor, I had to remove that particular line. Had I submitted the resume in, say, Microsoft Word format, a savvy recruiter could have easily undeleted the missing line.

If you are completely new to latex, I recommend reading the aptly named Not So Short Introduction to LaTeX2e

Remember to abide by all the good conventions of resume making:

1. Use whitespace to establish sections.
2. Use verbs when describing experiences and nouns in skills. Vary the wording from item to item.
3. Don’t list everything you’re proud of, just the most important and relative stuff.