[forrestthewoods]

> A Word document is a much better choice.

It really truly isn't. Anyone on any device can reliably open a PDF. That is not true for Word files.

Funny enough, this thread made me want to look at my old resumes. I have a .doc resume from 2009. You know what happens when I double-click it? Nothing. I don't have anything that can view it! Windows 10 doesn't come with a preview tool for doc files. Chrome/Firefox can't preview it either.

[Adamantcheese]

I feel you're missing my point here. A PDF is bad for the specific case of inputting a resumé into an applicant tracking system, due to the myriad of things that could go wrong without notifying the applicant of any error, discarding their application without a second glance by a human. A Word document makes the likelihood of system discard due to error much smaller. A docx file is just a zipped file, which contains a document.xml that can be easily read by any regular text editor. It's got all the style information in it, but it's at least more easily computer parseable than a PDF. A doc file is also just a zipped file, with a WordDocument file inside. It can also be read by any regular text editor, but it's got some binary garbage around it. Still more easily parseable than a PDF.