On 07/27/2011 10:23 AM, Sal Sunshine wrote: > On Jul 27, 2011, at 11:28 AM, Bhairitu wrote: > >> Well as someone who had to pour through resumes to hire people I have my >> two bits too. Too me a flashy looking resume didn't mean anything more >> than the applicant had "a flashy looking resume." It really tell me >> anything as to whether they could do the job or not. One of my best >> hires was an engineer whose resume was about 5 unformatted pages long >> and mainly just a dump of everything he had done. If HR had done >> filtering for me it his would have gone into the trash can. But he came >> in and had a program that showed his skills which was what we were >> looking for. >> >> A couple thoughts on Mark's, contrary to what's been said due to Mark's >> age NO PICTURE. In fact hide age as much as possible. This is >> especially true if the hiring manager is half Mark's age. Put the >> degrees earned in but no dates. Also limit the employment trail to a >> decade or so. Fool 'em into thinking you're a youngster so you get an >> interview. > Great idea, Bhair. And as long as we're trying to > fool 'em, why not go all the way and fool 'em into > thinking you're someone else entirely? Using a > different name would do the trick nicely. > So I would advise Mark to ditch his common name > for something really attention-getting~~how about > Orion Landau, say, or Ludacris Landau? Jasper > Landau might work, or even Abdul-Jabaar Landau. > I mean, it beats actually *doing* something other > than whining on an internet forum about how > desperate your situation is and then doing absolutely > nothing when good suggestions are offered. > > Sal
Of course I wouldn't advise using a different name. Most all of my recommendations you'll find at current websites about writing resumes. Mark's layout wasn't bad but as someone suggested it should be shorter and these days unless you're under 40 tipping anyone to your age is not considered a good idea. Let them find that out when you're face to face. And a cover letter selling yourself is also a good idea which someone also suggested. You may tailor those to the busieness you're applying for. One such site: http://www.bestsampleresume.com/ Of course sending your resume out is just fine as businesses don't like to pay recruiter fees. BUT in cases of executive searches some companies only will use a recruiter. And Mark hasn't been out of work long enough to worry. And Mark also might consider taking his skills and marketing them as a consultant. Also in his area the spiritual background may not be a negative at all. It may be a plus for some employers. Same can be true in the Bay Area. In fact the founder of the company I worked for interested in such things. And same with the HR VP. One funny thing was interviewing after I left my in house gig. Questions were: "why are you giving up on the fun". Well that person never contracted and apparently thought that beating the bushes for contracts and working at home would be fun. Working at home is great. Beating the bushes: not! Working at home takes self discipline and some people don't have it. I know, I had to bring in some folks that were falling behind working at home. One even thanked me for doing so. One recruiter had a habit of sending me out for mismatched positions. They would send me for a project lead and the manager would read of my mid level management and start sweating probably thinking I might take his job.
