> Those of you working in a real company (and those of you who used to)
> -- remember the resumes that sometimes appear where everything is
> misspelled, aligned wrong, *and* badly photocopied? I'm sure you all
> know how everyone judges those resumes.
phoo.. synchronicity city..
i just happened to be taking a break from shifting a stack of resume's
when i read this. looking at the triage piles ('definite',
'possible', and 'no'), i have to admit that the 'definite' pile is
composed of professional looking documents, and that the progeny of
the fax-monster are distributed among the other two.
the 'no' pile is a pretty mixed bag, though. there's one from a guy
i'd love to interview just so i had an excuse to talk to him.. his
doctorate was on stress-modeling for multi-span bridge design (well,
/i/ think it's interesting ;-).. but there's no possible way i could
use what he does. another few are pollen from headhunting agencies
which find jobs for newly-graduated tech school students. that genre
is actually split between the 'no's and the 'possible's based on their
skill sets.
my favorite rejection so far was one that, in deepest humility, i have
to admit i never even read. the first line of the cover letter
stated that the guy's objective was to find a position which would
allow him to:
"... use my extraordinary analytical and problem solving skills ..."
for the purposes of good, not evil, i suppose.. i was laughing so hard
by then that i couldn't read any further.
actually, as i look at the piles, i can see the skeleton of my
selection criteria pretty clearly. there are a few people who've
been bumped up from 'no' to 'possible' because something in their job
history says that they're willing to work.. a woman who's been taking
night classes while she managed a Denny's, and want a shot at a new
career field. she doesn't have any of the skills i'm looking for,
but i'm willing to find out if she'll learn.
OTOH, there are two or three candidates who've been downgraded from
'definite' to 'possible' because there just isn't enough space between
the buzzwords in their cover letters. i know that kind of thing is
listed as a virtue in the _How to Write a Resume'_ manuals, but in
these cases, it's not doing what it should. the applicants aren't
using those words to explain themselves to me, they're using them to
hide from me. that starts the alarm bells a-ringing.
the 'definite's are easy to identify.. they're clean and simple, and
aren't really trying to get their owners a job. they tell me who the
applicant is.. what they can do and what they've done.. and leave me
to decide if that's something i want.
hmm..
thinking back to that bridge designer in the 'no' pile, i think the
defining feature of a successful resume' is that it doesn't try to get
you /any/ job, it tries to get you the /right/ job. Mr. Yan's
resume' did exactly what he wanted it to in this case.. kept me from
wasting his time with an interview for a job he'd most likely turn
down. it's not a piece of bait, it's a filter.
anyway.. FWIW, for those of you thinking about shipping paper to potential
employers.
mike stone <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 'net geek..
been there, done that, have network, will travel.
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