Custom .bib file (fields, data types) with different styling (bibliography style)

Question

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:

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! :)

Answer 1

I wrote biblatex-cv to automate sorting (and to an extent formatting) of academic CVs. I find adding new items to my CV relatively painless, but I find re-sorting my CV by hand to be tedious and prone to duplication and omission errors. For example, when applying for new jobs, I often wanted to divide classes I taught into sections based on if they were graduate or undergraduate level and the same with students I have supervised. For departmental reviews, they often want a list of departmental/non-departmental activities while for university reviews, the division is based on location.

The package has a custom entry type for education (called degrees) but does not have one for work experience/employment. This is mostly because I have never needed to sort my work experience so it gets copied as a single block from CV to CV, but also because there really is not a standard format for presenting the information. That said, adding a new work experience/employment entry type should be relatively easy.