Re: Forget about resumes?

[Jim Purcell <jimpur -at- MICROSOFT -dot- COM>]

Networking is the most important thing in job hunting, but you've still
got to have a resume. This isn't even open to debate. Unless you are
lucky enough to get hired by Tim Altom, even after you've done all your
networking you will still have to provide a resume. I've got almost
every job I've ever had by knowing the hiring manager or somebody who
knew the hiring manager. In many cases, the hiring manager called me and
asked me to apply. But they always wanted to see a resume. I used to do
hiring, and almost everybody I ever hired was recommended by a writer
whose opinion I respected. I still wanted to see a resume.

This isn't just contrariness or rigidity. As others have pointed out, a
resume is a writing sample and a screening device. It's also a guide to
the interview, should the applicant get that far. A good interviewer has
a set of generic questions and a set of specific questions. If I don't
know anything about you, I won't have any specific questions. I'll go
into the interview unprepared, and I'll probably end up looking bad. If
I want to hire you, I don't want you to decide you don't want to work
for me because I was so clueless.

I could always ask your friend about your background, or I could draw
you out at an STC meeting or whatever. But why waste everybody's time
and leave so much to chance when a resume serves everybody's purposes so
well?

Jim Purcell
jimpur -at- microsoft -dot- com
My opinions, not Microsoft's

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