Off to the side of Re: Interesting use of infographics for a resume

[Peter Neilson <neilson -at- windstream -dot- net>]

Fred Ridder wrote:
> In most companies that aren't directly involved in creative fields (e.g. 
ad agencies, design firms, maybe video game developers), resumes have to 
make it past recruiters, hiring managers, and HR types before they ever 
reach someone who really understands what the job is about. ...

As far as I can tell, tech writing has been compartmentalized and 
commodified, so that a company (at least a larger or stodgier one) that 
is looking for a creative tech writer, or for someone who can rescue 
them from a mess, is stuck looking for a writer with five years of 
Framemaker, ten years of programming RPG, and deep experience with 
Enterprise Marketing, because that's what the writer who left (and who 
maybe screwed it all up) claimed he had, according to how HR puts things 
in boxes, anyway.

So if they are /very/ lucky some creative Role-Playing-Games fan 
mentions "RPG" in his resume and HR's resume-grinding software catches 
it, and they get what they need.

As everyone has probably guessed, I'm about ready to put pictures of my 
horses on my resume. Nothing else seems to work. Of course, because my 
resume mentions that I wrote about a project that used SQL I get queries 
from headhunters crowing about how they have *read my resume* and are 
looking for someone with ten years' SQL programming experience. (I try 
to be civil and ignore them, but it's a chore.)

I swear, NO ONE READS RESUMES!

Will we ever return to the day when tech writers were hired on the basis 
of their ability to understand and make sense out of something in which 
they are not already experts?

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