Re: Employment history low points

Subject: Re: Employment history low points
From: "Diane Evans" <diane_evans -at- hotmail -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Fri, 03 Jan 2003 12:43:22 -0800


I thought I would add my 2 cents worth...

No, I think recruiters are gasping for life and will do just about anything to close a deal. So, avoid recruiters. Work your own contacts.


Recruiters have a place in the greater scheme of things. I don't avoid recruiters, but I do choose carefully.


It never ceases to amaze me how bent out of shape people get when they feel a company isn't doing things according to some universal rule book.

There is a rule book out there, but I haven't found it yet. Life in general is a game -- figure out the rules, play the game, and you win. Buck the system (at least in public), and you lose.

The reason most people don't get interviewed for jobs is not because of some global conspiracy to oppress the little guy but because those people are TOTALLY UNQUALIFIED for the job.

I've collected resumes for several positions in the last couple of years. I agree that many totally unqualified people apply for jobs. Often, though, the very qualified ones don't know how to write an effective resume and/or cover letter. Why should I spend time reformatting a resume that has been "dumped" off of monster.com when another tech writer who cared enough to format a resume is available?

> In reality though, the odds of getting a job through a national
> database are probably lower than getting hit by lightning.

I strongly disagree with this statement. Every job I ever obtained in the high tech industry was found through a national database. I've said it before, and will say it many more times: the secret to getting a job is having a top-notch resume, a T-letter-based cover letter, and putting up with a lot of rejection.

(Mathematical factoid: If 100 people apply for a job, only 1 can be chosen. So, if you apply for 100 jobs, the chances are you will be chosen for one of them).


Diane Evans
Technical Writer

Washington State Coordinator, Tombstone Project
http://www.rootsweb.com/~cemetery/washing.html




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