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Subject:Re: Resumes: Best 2 Do What Works 4 U From:Robert Plamondon <robert -at- PLAMONDON -dot- COM> Date:Thu, 20 Feb 1997 10:47:43 PST
A writer's resume MUST be:
* Well-written.
* Focused on the user's needs.
A writer's resume SHOULD be:
* Memorable.
* Written in such a way that it implies an overall mastery of the
craft, a professional attitude towards the work, a respect for
coworkers, management, and customers, and a willingness to roll
up your sleeves and get your hands dirty.
Personally, I choose to ignore the existence of any hacks who stand
betweeen me and the actual decision makers. A resume should be written
in such a way that it resonates with the sort of people you want as
coworkers and managers. Such a resume will often work with HR screeners
as well, but sometimes not. I just refuse to worry about it. There
are plenty of companies which either do not screen, or whose screening
can by turned off by a manager who says, "just sent them all to me."
I always looked at the unscreened resumes, since my requirements were
always flexible. (For one thing, I don't value prior experience very
highly, since most of the technical writing out there does not come up
to my standards. Also, I'm always working in high-tech fields in which
virtually no one has exact prior experience, anyway. So I'm looking for
some large subset of the basic skills and a certain flexibility of mind.
These are difficult for HR people to screen for. Try it: "I want someone
who's a technical writer who is good at mastering high-tech products, or
an engineer or technician with a desire to write, or a young hotshot
straight out of school in some semi-relevant discipline or other, but I
don't care about the details or what tools they know because they're going
to need to be retrained anyway.")
-- Robert
--
Robert Plamondon, High-Tech Technical Writing, Inc.
36475 Norton Creek Road * Blodgett * Oregon * 97326
robert -at- plamondon -dot- com * (541) 453-5841 * Fax: (541) 453-4139 http://www.pioneer.net/~robertp
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