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Subject:Re: Typoz in Resumes From:"Wing, Michael J" <mjwing -at- INGR -dot- COM> Date:Tue, 25 Feb 1997 08:24:38 -0600
>----------
>From: Cathy Krusberg[SMTP:ckberg -at- IX -dot- NETCOM -dot- COM]
>Sent: Tuesday, February 25, 1997 7:55 AM
>To: TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
>Subject: Typoz in Resumes
>
>There is an anecdote I saw -- I thought on this list -- relevant
>to this topic that I have been trying and trying to find, without
>success. Maybe someone else out there remembers (or will admit
>to having posted it, even?).
>
>A technical writer was being interviewed for a job. At some
>point toward what well could have been the end of the process,
>the interviewer (management person) held up the writer's cover
>letter for his resume and pointed to an obvious typo. "Is this
>an example of your work?" the interviewer asked. The writer
>replied, "Yes, it is -- and so is this," and heaved out a thick
>manual that he had written. He then began describing the problems
>that writing the manual had presented and how he had tackled them.
>
>After the writer had said his piece, the interviewer said, "The
>job's yours if you want it. You have a thick skin. You'll need
>it here."
>
<snip>
>
>Cathy Krusberg
I admit to it. I was interviewing for a position in a small company in
Massachusetts. I had used the word "prospective" instead of
"perspective" in my cover letter. The interviewer had circled the word
and had copied the Webster definitions in the margin. He also put a big
question mark next to the word.
In addition to explaining how I had designed and written a manual that
could be easily customized to match the customer's configuration, I
explained to him that creating the cover letter was a task in itself.
My father had a computer with MSWord, Autocad, and a plotter (but no
printer and no typewriter). I wanted to respond to the ad quickly, so I
wrote the cover letter in Word. However, I could not print, so I
imported the text into Autocad and formatted it there (this is early
1990, mind you). I then had to figure out how to configure the plotter
and print the letter.
He said that I was quite innovative and that my use of resources would
come in handy there. He said that they were light on computer resources
at the company and often ways around problems needed to be found. He
asked me why I didn't go to a print shop or typing service. I said,
"How innovative is that?".
Mike Wing
_____________________________________________
| Michael Wing
| Principal Technical Writer
| Infrastructure Technical Information Development
| http://www.ingr.com/iss/products/mapping/
| Intergraph Corporation
| Huntsville, Alabama
| (205) 730-7250
| mjwing -at- ingr -dot- com
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