Re: Resume length

[Karen Kay <karenk -at- NETCOM -dot- COM>]

Shelly LaRock said:
> A new college graduate needs to have a lot more information on a resume than
> someone who's been working in industry since 1965!  Prospective employers want
> to know about our previous work experience, what kind of special courses we've
> taken, honors and awards, extracurricular activities, what kind of computer
> experience we have, etc., not to mention our education, major, minor,
 cumulative
> GPA, departmental GPA, and date of graduation.

Including these things really *marks* you as someone who is a new
grad and suitable only for an entry-level position, not as someone who
can walk in and be competent and professional from Day 1. (IMHO, of
course.)

When I first changed careers, I spent a month redoing my resume,
trying to make it look like a tech writer's resume. Then I went to a
Silicon Valley STC meeting, and saw the resume table (where people who
are looking for jobs put their resumes). Whew! There are a lot of
bad-looking resumes out there...  But there were also impressive ones.
And the impressive ones don't include extracurricular activities.

> I will have a lot harder time
> proving myself as a good technical writer than a person who has five, ten, or
> twenty years of experience.

Yes, but you won't be proving yourself on your resume.

> My job descriptions are bulleted lists, so I don't have extensively wordy
> paragraphs.

Sometimes a short paragraph can be more informative than a bulleted list.

> 8pt font, I simply cannot fit all of my specialized course work, education,
> work experience, honors, awards, and extracurriculars on one page.

What sort of course work have you taken that is so specialized that it
can't be listed under a skills section?

Karen
  karenk -at- netcom -dot- com