resume question

[Karin Warren <warrenk -at- JACOBS -dot- CSOS -dot- ORST -dot- EDU>]

I've noticed that many of the posters in misc.jobs.resumes include the
software and tools they use or are familiar with. Granted, most of the
posters are programmers, but some are tech. communicators and even their
resumes are similar, e.g., "I am an expert in Word, FrameMaker, and these
1500 ;) Windows applications: ... {bulleted list follows}". Is this
common practice in the resumes of tech. communicators?

My current resume does *not* list:

1. Tools (WordPerfect, PageMaker, HiJaak,...)
2. Software I'm familiar with (Windows, dBase,...)
3. Programming languages of the software I've documented (Alpha-4,
   Clipper, MicroStation...)
4. Operating systems

I purposely exclude #1 because it seems too limiting; someone who wants
an MS-Word or FrameMaker pro could throw me out on that basis and I'd never
make it to the interview stage where I could possibly charm them into giving
me the job. #2 may have the same problem and keeps changing anyway. #3, to
me, is irrelevant because when I document a program I'm acting as a user and
don't much care whether the interface was written in Clipper or FORTRAN.
#4 is usually self-evident (I do list the hardware in my resume: PC, VAX,
IBM).

Should our resumes include software information and all the accompanying
acronyms? Mine currently emphasizes the *kinds* of things I've written,
e.g., a user manual for Company B, a video script for Company D, rather
than the tools I used to do the job.

Thanks in advance for your advice!

Karin C. Warren
warrenk -at- jacobs -dot- csos -dot- orst -dot- edu