crackerjackjoe (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} crackerjackjoe) wrote,@ 2005-04-06 18:45:00 |
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Critiqued! Wherein our thin skinned hero gets a resume rejected
Wow, some HR gnome saw my current resume and absolutely zapped me. I mean, I think I'd rather have gotten the form letter, "While your qualifications are impressive, we don't think you are a good fit for this position, good luck in your search." Instead I got a 'helpful' zap.
The advice that the resume was too long, was well taken, and I plan to ignore it, although I will ask head hunters in the future if they would get bent out of shape if I gave them a two or three page resume.
What really bites is the advice I get a book and learn to write a resume, presupposes that I haven't read the canned advice, (keep to one page, use action verbs, don't talk about your job waiting tables if it doesn't apply, etc.)
In my defense, my resume does need three pages. When people talk about computer work, if you put skill 1, skill 2, and skill 3 on your resume, people tend to interpret that in the most narrow way possible. How are they to know that Visual Basic for Applications and VB6 are actually virtually identical? To a HR gnome, these are vastly different positions. Or that almost using all ANSI databases for most task require essential the same skill? I'd write six dozen resumes tailored for each imaginable one page combination of skills, but I don't have time. I got a job that pays real money and not hypothetical money, and that job isn't leaving me enough time to knock myself out looking for work. By the way, HR gnome, you called me, all I did was leave my resume on monster.com for six years.
What doubly bites is the advice that I reformat it, but the without exactly saying what my formatting fox paw was, it just reinforces the implication that I haven't a clue on how to write a resume and must be making it up as I go along. Besides, doesn't everyone use rainbow blink for their digital resume? It's cool.
The HR gnome, I'm sure, was just trying to be helpful. I was tempted to critique his rejection letter, but I will hold my tongue and blog instead. I needed a suitable topic to blog about today anyhow.
Wow, some HR gnome saw my current resume and absolutely zapped me. I mean, I think I'd rather have gotten the form letter, "While your qualifications are impressive, we don't think you are a good fit for this position, good luck in your search." Instead I got a 'helpful' zap.
The advice that the resume was too long, was well taken, and I plan to ignore it, although I will ask head hunters in the future if they would get bent out of shape if I gave them a two or three page resume.
What really bites is the advice I get a book and learn to write a resume, presupposes that I haven't read the canned advice, (keep to one page, use action verbs, don't talk about your job waiting tables if it doesn't apply, etc.)
In my defense, my resume does need three pages. When people talk about computer work, if you put skill 1, skill 2, and skill 3 on your resume, people tend to interpret that in the most narrow way possible. How are they to know that Visual Basic for Applications and VB6 are actually virtually identical? To a HR gnome, these are vastly different positions. Or that almost using all ANSI databases for most task require essential the same skill? I'd write six dozen resumes tailored for each imaginable one page combination of skills, but I don't have time. I got a job that pays real money and not hypothetical money, and that job isn't leaving me enough time to knock myself out looking for work. By the way, HR gnome, you called me, all I did was leave my resume on monster.com for six years.
What doubly bites is the advice that I reformat it, but the without exactly saying what my formatting fox paw was, it just reinforces the implication that I haven't a clue on how to write a resume and must be making it up as I go along. Besides, doesn't everyone use rainbow blink for their digital resume? It's cool.
The HR gnome, I'm sure, was just trying to be helpful. I was tempted to critique his rejection letter, but I will hold my tongue and blog instead. I needed a suitable topic to blog about today anyhow.
