0

I have wanted to start quite an ambitious project, namely a custom resume template that can easily be adapted. I want to automate the following:

example_resume

As such, I thought it would be nice to have a custom .bib file e.g. activities.bib:

@work{bakery_zeist,
    title = {Baker},
    startdate = {06/2022},
    enddate = {08/2024},
    place = {Zeist, Utrecht},
    language = {Dutch}
}

@work{distribution_aalsmeer,
    title = {Distribution Manager},
    company = {Bloemenveiling},
    startdate = {08/2022},
    place = {Aalsmeer},
    language = {Dutch},
    country = {The Netherlands},
    description = {Riding around trucks}
}


@work{coathanger_berlin,
    title = {Cloakroam Employee},
    startdate = {05/2015},
    enddate = {07/2015},
    place = {Berlin},
    language = {English},
    country = {Germany},
    description = {Riding around trucks}
}


@education{
    degree = {M.Sc.},
    school = {Delft University of Technology},
    grade = {7.0},
    place = {Delft, Zuid-Holland},
    startdate = {04/2020},
}

where I can add all the activities that might need to go into a resume, inspired by this post on Stack Exchange. I was thinking that to make this work I would define a custom bibliography style inspired by this post on Stack Exchange. Finally, I want to create my custom document type resume.cls (which correctly handles the activities.bib file as well as all other commands I want to define), as well as several <resume-style-name>.sty files (e.g. one colorful with icons, one plain with two columns, one with sans-serif fonts, etc.). A bare-bones implementation would hopefully look something like this:

\documentclass{resume}  % Custom resume class I want to make
\usepackage{plain_twocolumn}  % (One of the) custom resume style classes I want to make

\begin{document}


% Here set the name of the section title
\section{Experience}


% Here include the relevant experiences
\includehere{bakery_zeist, distribution_aalsmeer}


\end{document}

The problem is that I am not really well-versed in LaTex, so that brings me to my question:

  • Is this approach smart, i.e. using a .bib file and defining a custom bibliography style, or does this have major limitations/is there an easier way to accomplish this?
  • Are there any tutorials/tips/tricks templates I could follow to make this work?

Any tips, MWEs, or advice on how to approach the project would be appreciated. Thanks! :)

Bart Wolleswinkel
  • 129
  • 3
    You need to learn LaTeX first. You then need to learn Biber and Biblatex well enough to not only define a bibliography style, but to define custom fields and a custom source mapping. That's a major undertaking and would be even for somebody experienced. I'd look at the L3 programming layer first. Perhaps something like property lists would be more straightforward to implement. – cfr Mar 24 '24 at 21:25
  • 1
    Maybe you want to look into datatool and, if you insist on abusing BibTeX, section 10 of the ConTeXt publications manual – this is for ConTeXt, not LaTeX, but might give some hints. biblatex-cv might be of interest as well – DG' Mar 24 '24 at 22:52
  • 1
    The disadvantage of .bib files is that you always have to involve a second program like Biber or BibTeX and that you usually have a separate .bib file (which may or may not be a disadvantage for your specific use case). The main use of BibTeX and Biber in LaTeX is their sorting capability. In a CV though the sorting should generally be very easy or may even be done by hand so that you can probably get away with using just LaTeX-side solutions. – moewe Mar 25 '24 at 07:19
  • Thanks guys, these are all great suggestions! I'll definitely check out biblatex-cv, it seems like they indeed have some of the capabilities I'm after. Finally, I would like to add that I in no way insist on using BibTeX, I just thought that would be the easiest way to accomplish what I'm after, namely creating a separate file with all my experiences/education, and then selectively loading each entry (with a custom formatting). But it seems like that's a too daunting task at the moment and not something that will outcompete manual labor in the short term. But thanks again! – Bart Wolleswinkel Mar 25 '24 at 08:27
  • I've just written a couple of CVs for job applications and I found that for each of the applications I would highlight a different thing in the job description, so I'm wondering how useful this approach with the external .bib file is anyway if significant portions of the text are tweaked. Sure the hard data (start end date) stays the same, but that you can probably just copy-paste from another CV. – moewe Mar 26 '24 at 07:08

0 Answers0