Re: The 1-page Resume

["Huber, Mike" <mrhuber -at- SOFTWARE -dot- ROCKWELL -dot- COM>]

Exactly. When you are crafting a resume, the goal is not to do justice
to a career. Maybe writing a memoir would be a good idea, or a web page
for those who want the details.

What a resume is, is a specific document produced for a "client." There
are two separate and competing goals: your client wants a document that
summarizes the information needed to determine whether you are an
appropriate person to interview, you want a document that gets you the
interview. Neither goal requires full disclosure of all details.

The client specifications of the document include brevity. There might
be 10 pages worth of relevant information, but the client doesn't have
10 pages worth of requirements. Look at it as if you were buying a
computer: you want the Pentium 200 MMX, you don't want to read the batch
number of each RAM chip.

Considering that minimizing documentation is a hot thing in the industry
right now, not being able to condense a resume down to a page might be a
particularly bad thing, particularly if you generate a resume in
response to a particular job listing.

That being said, I've never gotten a job using a resume. It's always
been by network (some bizarre networks at times) and I've always been
asked for a resume after I had the job in the bag.

>----------
>From:  Susan W. Gallagher[SMTP:sgallagher -at- EXPERSOFT -dot- COM]
>Sent:  Thursday, February 20, 1997 2:34 PM
>To:    TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
>Subject:       Re: The 1-page Resume
>
>At 12:54 AM 2/20/97 -0600, Daniel Wise wrote:
>
>>How do you summarize 30-40 years of experience in six different industries,
>>doing a wide variety of different kinds of publications, using different
>>production equipment/methods, and including supervisory and managerial
>>experience, in one page and also have room for academics, honors, awards,
>>achievements, and publications, let alone statement of a goal?
>
>Yabbut, Dan,
>Why would you think that what you did 30 years ago in a different industry
>is pertinent to the job you're applying for *now* in *this* industry? Even
>in the same industry, old experience isn't really relevant.
>
>The way I've summarized that info? Stating the number of years in the
>industry and adding the line "miscellaneous older systems" to my hardware/OS
>list. Not even *I* really care that I used to be an expert in Wang Decision
>Processing, and I threw away all my 8" diskettes *years* ago!  ;-)
>
>
>Susan W. Gallagher               Manager, Technical Publications
>sgallagher -at- expersoft -dot- com         Expersoft Corporation, San Diego CA
>                                 http://www.expersoft.com
>
> TECHWR-L (Technical Communication) List Information: To send a message
>to 2500+ readers, e-mail to TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU -dot-  Send commands
>   to LISTSERV -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU (e.g. HELP or SIGNOFF TECHWR-L).
>  Search the archives at http://www.documentation.com/  or search and
>browse the archives at http://listserv.okstate.edu/archives/techwr-l.html
>

 TECHWR-L (Technical Communication) List Information: To send a message
to 2500+ readers, e-mail to TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU -dot-  Send commands
   to LISTSERV -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU (e.g. HELP or SIGNOFF TECHWR-L).
  Search the archives at http://www.documentation.com/  or search and
browse the archives at http://listserv.okstate.edu/archives/techwr-l.html