RE: Having fun with your resume - good idea/bad idea

Subject: RE: Having fun with your resume - good idea/bad idea
From: "Dan Goldstein" <DGoldstein -at- riveraintech -dot- com>
To: <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Wed, 5 Sep 2012 12:48:28 -0400

"We're terse by definition. Get over it."
â Kim Roper, TECHWR-L, June 2003


-----Original Message-----
From: Porrello, Leonard
Sent: Wednesday, September 05, 2012 12:46 PM
To: Lynne Wright; Milan DavidoviÄ; Green,Duane
Cc: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: RE: Having fun with your resume - good idea/bad idea

Instead of, "a senior tech writer should have an understanding of how to communicate effectively in a very concise way", wouldn't you want to say, "a senior tech writer should understand how to communicate effectively and concisely." In any case, I am sure you wouldn't want your sentence (and idea) reduced to, "a writer should understand how to communicate"; which is really no different from, "a writer should write". For the sake of concision, would you mind if I redacted and revised your original sentence to "a writer should write"?

I understand the two page expectation, and while I respect it for the reality that it is, I also think it is absurd--and apart from giving pragmatic advice, it is the last thing a professional writer should be promoting. Like "any other story" (or a mathematics formula), a resume needs to be as long as it needs to be (and no longer). I've worked in several different industries (telephony, ERP, ILM, elections, and biotech), and I've held each job for a significant period of time. Consequently, while I mention only what is unique and significant to each job, my resume is nevertheless five pages. I have never had a problem finding excellent jobs with variations of this resume.

While I think "keep it to two pages" is probably good advice in general, I don't agree that a senior tech writer should be able to squeeze, say, five pages of genuinely meaningful and pertinent information into two pages. A senior tech writer who can communicate effectively and concisely should understand that over-redacting a document does a disservice to the reader.




This message contains confidential information intended only for the use of the addressee(s). If you are not the addressee, or the person responsible for delivering it to the addressee, you are hereby notified that reading, disseminating, distributing, copying, electronic storing or the taking of any action in reliance on the contents of this message is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message by mistake, please notify us, by replying to the sender, and delete the original message immediately thereafter. Thank you.


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Create and publish documentation through multiple channels with Doc-To-Help. Choose your authoring formats and get any output you may need.

Try Doc-To-Help, now with MS SharePoint integration, free for 30-days.

http://bit.ly/doc-to-help

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-

To unsubscribe send a blank email to
techwr-l-leave -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com


Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit
http://www.techwhirl.com/email-discussion-groups/ for more resources and info.

Looking for articles on Technical Communications? Head over to our online magazine at http://techwhirl.com

Looking for the archived Techwr-l email discussions? Search our public email archives @ http://techwr-l.com/archives


Follow-Ups:

References:
OT: Having fun with your resume - good idea/bad idea: From: yehoshua paul
RE: Having fun with your resume - good idea/bad idea: From: Dana Worley
Re: Having fun with your resume - good idea/bad idea: From: yehoshua paul
RE: Having fun with your resume - good idea/bad idea: From: Lynne Wright
RE: Having fun with your resume - good idea/bad idea: From: Kat Kuvinka
Re: Having fun with your resume - good idea/bad idea: From: Yehoshua
Re: Having fun with your resume - good idea/bad idea: From: Lauren
RE: Having fun with your resume - good idea/bad idea: From: Will Husa Documentation Solutions
Re: Having fun with your resume - good idea/bad idea: From: Lauren
RE: Having fun with your resume - good idea/bad idea: From: Green, Duane
Re: Having fun with your resume - good idea/bad idea: From: Milan Davidović
RE: Having fun with your resume - good idea/bad idea: From: Lynne Wright
RE: Having fun with your resume - good idea/bad idea: From: Porrello, Leonard

Previous by Author: RE: Having fun with your resume - good idea/bad idea
Next by Author: RE: Having fun with your resume - good idea/bad idea
Previous by Thread: RE: Having fun with your resume - good idea/bad idea
Next by Thread: RE: Having fun with your resume - good idea/bad idea


What this post helpful? Share it with friends and colleagues:


Sponsored Ads