Re: Recruiters: Is It Just Me?

[John Posada <john -at- TDANDW -dot- COM>]

<disclaimer---I usualy spell check my messages. Right now, time doesn't
allow me that luxury, so please bear with me on any errors>


Maurice King wrote:
>
> I've found recruiters to be just like any other group of people trying to earn a living: some are reliable, some are not, some are intelligent, some are jerks, etc.
>
> What I find much more difficult to comprehend, however, are the recruiters and/or HR staff who clearly do not read a candidate's résumé or do not know how to read at all. Not long ago, I applied for a position, only to get back a reply stating that the company in question was only considering candidates with strong background in online Help and HTML design -- both of which are my specialty! This person couldn't have read my résumé beyond my name and address or the information would have jumped off the page.


As you said...some are jerks. Jerks come in all different flavors

>
> Lately I received a rejection via e-mail stating that I lacked a particular required skill that was not obvious on my résumé. It seems to me that if a recruiter has taken the time to write a personal reply, that recruiter could also ask about the skill in question, because sometimes things do not appear within the scope of a résumé. A good example is one job for which I was a candidate that required project management experience. The client in question informed me that because I had never worked with Microsoft Project, I would not be a viable candidate. I was quick to inform that I had worked with Microsoft Project; however, for me, it was just a tool that I used for internal reporting, not for getting the work done. To mention MS Project on my résumé would have been like mentioning a mouse pad on my  résumé; sure, I used it, but it wasn't a critical part of my work.


Remember, as a technical writer, you write for the reader, not the
writer. You cannot expect them to assume anything. What they see is in
black and white. If that particular skill was on the resume, they you
can expect you to have the skill. Not on the resume, then maybe you
don't. MS Project isn't a skill that EVERYONE has, and true skill at
creating a project plan really is a skill.



>
> On the subject of what sort of résumé to present I have heard many conflicting concepts, and on this I'd like to hear some comments from others. I've been told that a functional résumé almost always rubber-stamps a candidate as a contract employee and that chronological résumés are necessary for staff positions. I have both on hand and have taken to submitting both to recruiters, because no matter how much I revise my
Not really...mine is chrono and definately not staff.
>
>résumé, there's always something that isn't obvious that should be. Because much of my experience was outside the U.S., I have been told by many that I have to give complete details of everything I did, including tools I used, because U.S. companies are not likely to know what I did based upon the company names; however, others have told me that the resultant résumé is unacceptably long. It leaves me wondering if I shouldn't just create a video file to send instead; maybe that way I'd manage to give over everything that was expected of me.


Mine is four pages and I've never heard even a hint about the length.
Make it interesting...make reading it an adventure...make the reader
want to know what happens on the next page. Sprinkle little surprises
throughout, interesting slants to mundane data.

Besides...maybe what you did overseas uses different terms than we'd
use, business is business and the function has got to be similar. If you
are writing for a US audience, write for the reader, use terms that
would be translatable to an American reader even if a native reader
might not know what you are refering to


>
> It is always important to make a good first impression, but when a résumé generates a long procedure of revisions and changes, it is much harder to leave such an impression. How is it possible to resolve this problem?

What revision and change? I refuse to custom taylor a resume for a
situation. The resume is what it is and if they don't like my style of
resume, they wouldn't like my style of writing.


--
John Posada, Technical Writer
Bellcore, where Customer Satisfaction is our number one priority
mailto:john -at- tdandw -dot- com   mailto:jposada -at- notes -dot- cc -dot- bellcore -dot- com
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My opinions are mine, and neither you nor my company can take credit for
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and he will sit in a boat and smoke cigars all day."
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