Re: Resumes - writing your own

Subject: Re: Resumes - writing your own
From: John Posada <jposada -at- NOTES -dot- CC -dot- BELLCORE -dot- COM>
Date: Thu, 28 Dec 1995 19:11:51 -0500

>You guessed it. 48 hours later, I'm getting 2-3 callbacks per day, and 3 days
>later, I'm on the short list for a writing job doing EXACTLY what I wanted
>(proposal writing) for a MAJOR player in it's field, at a rate of $36 per hour.
>(BTW...yes, I got the job and I was the most costly person they interviewed.)

>Hell....4 months later, I'm still getting calls.

>To make a long story short...give the steak on the resume and leave the sizzle
>for the interview.

>I was an international technical recruiter and Director of Staffing for a
>number of years, based here in the states and in London, England. After
>viewing thousands of resumes (if not hundreds of thousands), remember the
>following:

>Nobody reads resumes for enjoyment. Recruiters and managers read them for
>specific reasons and the following criteria is important:

> Resumes get interviews, you get the job
> List either chron or functional statistics: job, scope of project,
> your involvement
> Be specific about your involvement (read this again)
> Hobbies are not important unless they have bearing on the specific job
> Education is marginally important: List dates, colleges, and degrees
> only
> Bullet important items
> Be brief and then cut 50%

>The most important advice on preparing your resume: Write with fire, cut
>with ice.
>Use white bond paper (no colors) and make certain your name and telephone
>number is prominent. I can remember candidates I didn't call back because
>they failed to put down contact information or it was out of date.

Something that I think HAS been missed that should be on a
resume...Professional Association involvement. Should you fortunate (or
unfortunate) enough o have held a senior position on an executive Board of an
association THAT IS RELEVANT to your field, I think it looks good on the
resume. I place mine just below my educational listing. I was president or
vice president of three associations for the field that I was in. That may
work in place of hobby listing...which I personally think does NOT belong on a
resume, no matter how interesting that hobby may be to you. Simply because
there has been so much disagreement about this point should be the hint that it
should not be done.

Remember, people...it isn't what you think as the person WRITING the resume may
think...it's about what the person READING the resume thinks...and so far (I
think) all (or most) of them have said thumbs down to putting it on the
document. Therefore, if there is the slightest chance that it will interfere
with your chance, why do it?

John Posada
Technical Writer
Bell Communications Research, Piscataway, NJ
(908) 699-5839 (W)
jposada -at- notes -dot- cc -dot- bellcore -dot- com (W)
jposada -at- bs -dot- camba -dot- com (H)
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