Resume tips
Resume tips
(OP)
I liked this list of cliches to leave out of your resume:
http: //hotjobs. yahoo.com/ jobseeker/ tools/ept/ contribEdi torPost.ht ml?post=97
However, I thought their example of a really good piece of resume writing sounded rather unprofessional.
Hg
http:
However, I thought their example of a really good piece of resume writing sounded rather unprofessional.
Hg
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RE: Resume tips
I agree with you, HgTX. That example they gave sounded dumbed-down.
Liz
RE: Resume tips
Hg
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RE: Resume tips
But, this is the typical pablum that tech writers insist is what we're supposed to be writing.
TTFN
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RE: Resume tips
RE: Resume tips
Tobalcane
"If you avoid failure, you also avoid success."
RE: Resume tips
I went to 3 places in person last week wanting to drop off a resume at the local office. Each one said we don't take resume's it's all done centrally through our website. The websites sometimes don't even let you upload your entire resume, you have to 'build it' on their site, so applying for a job takes several hours.
Sorry, pent up frustration.
KENAT,
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RE: Resume tips
I don't mind the humanizing paragraph, but the example seems a bit too chatty and wordy. I'd put that stuff in a Profile paragraph and do a bulleted or list version, not a conversational paragraph. I recently added a Profile section to my own resume and thankfully avoided all of the corporatespeak examples.
On the resume topic, I was also told to remove the date from my graduation and any work experience more than 10 to 15 years old. The excuse was, "we don't want the person doing the hiring to think you are too old."
"If you are going to walk on thin ice, you might as well dance!"
RE: Resume tips
Leave in the dates.
Find a new source for resume advice.
Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA
RE: Resume tips
Yes, my resumes do get return calls and interview appointments.
RE: Resume tips
A few months back my sister in law, who supposedly has written resumes for a proffession, reworked mine. I swear she replaced my 'human language' with about half the boiler plate phrases listed as "worst possible".
I give up. Everyone who has an opinion has different advice. Compounded by the fact you may have 2 or 3 distinct audiences. HR, manager & technical 'peer'. In some cases the manager may be the technical peer but not always.
Most people on this site probably fall into the technical group, with a fair spattering of dual role managers. So that's the advice/viewpoint you'll probably get here.
You probably wont get HR type advice, which is what the author is. So no wonder general opinion of the article is low.
KENAT,
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What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?
RE: Resume tips
I know I keep talking about my mother, but I've had a front-seat view of her job searches for the last 15 years (and she's visiting this week). She had her first involuntary job loss when she was around 50 (company folded). Took off the dates, removed the first several jobs (she'd changed fields anyway, so they were no longer very relevant), touched up the hair dye, no one knew she wasn't 40ish. (Women have a wee advantage here, because so many dye their hair just because they feel like it and not just because they're grey, so even if it's an obvious dye job, no one has to know why. On the other hand, women get considered "old" at an earlier age, so it's not much of an advantage.)
When she lost another job at 60, though, passing for 10 years younger didn't help much because that just put her back at 50, which had been too old ten years earlier. But at your age, Cass, it's worth doing what you can to avoid being on the losing end of age-related prejudice.
Hg
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RE: Resume tips
Thanks, Hg.
Now where did I put my coupon for $500 off for my first Titan skin treatment with the Juvederm bonus package. It's around here somewhere..........
"If you are going to walk on thin ice, you might as well dance!"
RE: Resume tips
RE: Resume tips
TTFN
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RE: Resume tips
Hg
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RE: Resume tips
"I'm a Marketing Researcher with a driven curiousity about people's buying choices. My use of consumer surveys and online-forum analysis uncovered areas for product improvement that directly led to a 20 percent sales growth in the ensuing six months..."
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RE: Resume tips
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If we learn from our mistakes I'm getting a great education!
RE: Resume tips
Also, what about the non-technical HR people who are looking for specific buzz words? No buzz words = trash?
-Dustin
Professional Engineer
Certified SolidWorks Professional
Certified COSMOSWorks Designer Specialist
Certified SolidWorks Advanced Sheet Metal Specialist
RE: Resume tips
RE: Resume tips
RE: Resume tips
Personally I think measureable achievements, like the length of a beard, are much more meaningful. Pictures of happy customers looking like members of ZZ Top are optional.
corus
RE: Resume tips
Sorry, I have to give you my conflicting opinion on the issue of age.
When I review a resume I like to know the person's age. I use it to correlate with experience, rate of advancement / promotion, and how to establish fair compensation and benefits - notably vacation entitlement - that are in line with industry norms should things proceed to an offer. (I believe it would be nothing more than a slap in the face to offer a 40+ year old person 2 weeks vacation, for example.)
You are as old as you are, and you have the experience that you have. Match it with someone that wants exactly that. There is nothing to hide.
I don't know...maybe south of the border the employment market is much more ruthless and cut-throat. That's really sad, but I will admit, that's why I haven't moved there yet.
Regards,
SNORGY.
RE: Resume tips
RE: Resume tips
And for you doing the hiring, someone's age is none of your business, no more than their marital status or hobbies. What you offer them should have to do with their job description and their experience, which they will have on the resume. It shouldn't make any difference to you whether someone is 35 or 55. And if it does, that's exactly why ages should not be reflected on the resume.
For every one of you who might want to offer someone a little extra for being venerable, there are more people who would want to cut them out, not invest in them, etc.
Also, even the notion that someone who is older deserves more can be a handicap in a tight job environment. "I'm going to choose A over B because B is going to want more" is not an uncommon thought in the hiring process.
Hg
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RE: Resume tips
At least, where I am, age is relatively irrelevant, since no one can predict past about 1 day into the future, so what does it really matter whether you're an old geeezer, so long as you can do the job for the foreseeable future? Is training an issue, no, because with someone that experienced, they shouldn't need much training. There used to be a notion that you wanted young engineers to get the payback for all the training you were going to invest into the new employee. But, we know that's mostly hogwash; the typical company invests almost nothing in training, so there is no payback period to look for.
The notion that someone might retire in 20, or 10, or even 5 yrs, and that it's a big impact to the prospective employer is absurd in today's job environment. No one is guaranteeing life-time employment, so anyone who's looking at an applicant's age as a detriment for long-term employment is smoking something unhealthy for their brain.
TTFN
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RE: Resume tips
You can't always get the age from the job experience. You can get the minimum age (so no one has to fear being perceived as a kid if they list considerable experience), but not the maximum age. Earlier jobs can be left off as no longer relevant, especially if one has had a career change.
For now, I still have dates on my resume. If I'm looking for a job after 50 (and I'm sure I will be), you bet I'll be taking the dates off my degrees. My engineering job history starts at age 29, so I shouldn't need to take the dates off the jobs.
Some people may not be worried. That's fine. But it's not right to tell someone else with confidence that there's nothing to be worried about.
Hg
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RE: Resume tips
Back in the UK they'd had a contractor off & on for something like 10-11 years or so but the then director refused to hire him direct when we started to expand a little. He was in his late 50's and his age definitely came into it, it probably wasn't' the only issue but was definitely a factor. Truth be told he probably should have been given my job when I first had it.
Here in the States I've had a colleague in his 50's that was laid off apply to a local defense company. He was rejected. While it wasn't explicitly stated a friend of a friend type deal basically said they had too many staff that would be retiring in the next few years and weren't interested in hiring any new people near retirement age.
So, if you really are up there I'd consider leaving it off. Of course, there may be an argument of do you really want to work for somewhere that would reject you based on those grounds, then again in this economy the answer may still be yes please.
KENAT,
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RE: Resume tips
Your points are well-taken.
However, I was approaching the issue of age from the angle of using it as one of the intangibles to consider in order to be fair to the applicant / candidate, not as a factor to be considered in an age-discriminatory way. Also, if the information isn't offered, I don't ask for it; neither do I "round file" the resume. Still, for example, where I work, the baseline annual salary that sets the industry norms is, by and large, a straight line funcion of the number of years since graduating with an undergraduate degree. On that basis alone, age becomes relevant. It also cascades into ripple effects through the organization after hiring: if the person is paid what is perceived to be too low relative to age, it sends one bad message, whereas if the person is paid too high, it sends another. These kinds of messages can become the hushed topics of coffee-station banter that ultimately spell the demise of morale, etc., much like an untreated malignancy.
My only point is that, at least in engineering, compensation should "respect" (as opposed to "punish") age and its corresponding experience. I think the vast majority of professionals among us have made advancements and reached achievements throughout our careers.
I have no problem with rewarding young "star performers" with "star pay" or with letting the specific requirements of the job set the compensation rate, leaving age irrelevant. But, say if the job involves in-service field inspection of all of the bubble caps at every tray in twelve amine contactors, I might consider it unfair to ask a sixty-year-old to do it if there is a thirty-year-old available applying for the same job. It might be more appropriate to hire them both and have the sixty-year-old tell the thirty-year-old what to look for during his climb.
I do not at all support discrimination on the basis of age, unless age can reasonably be expected to be a factor to consider in relation to the job. However, neither do I support an applicant's hiding it just because it's "nobody's business".
Regards,
SNORGY.
RE: Resume tips
There may be a tradition of putting dates on resumes, but that's all it is. There's also been a tradition of including marital status and non-work activities, but that tradition has pretty much died.
Hg
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RE: Resume tips
I apologize...
I might have taken your comment, "There is PLENTY to hide.", (wrt age) out of context.
I certainly meant no offense nor harm.
Regards,
SNORGY.
RE: Resume tips
Hg
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