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Subject:Re: Tie Po Zin Re Zu Maize From:Robert Plamondon <robert -at- PLAMONDON -dot- COM> Date:Thu, 27 Feb 1997 17:14:12 PST
>I guess I have too much self respect. I would proofread my (one page) resume
>over and over again and make sure it's perfect. I wouldn't send out a resume
>with typos, just as I wouldn't go to an interview with mascara smeared on my
>blouse.
My point, which I must not be making clearly, is that self-proofing doesn't
work very well. It's very common for someone to go over their own work
six zillion times, and still not see a typo in the first paragraph.
The issue is "overfamiliarity." The author literally cannot take a fresh
look at his own work. He knows it so well that he barely sees what's on
the page. Only a person who hasn't read the document before can take
a fresh look.
This is why no one copy-edits or proofreads their own work if they
want it to be error-free.
So the question on the floor is not whether your resume should be error-
free, but whether it CAN BE with the resources at your disposal. As
a hiring manager, I realize that most people do job-hunting as a solitary
activity, and have no one to proof their work. To me, that makes a resume
the equivalent of a draft. If it gets the job done, addresses the problem
at hand, is thorough, lucid, properly organized, factually correct, and
immediately useful, then I am pleased. If it needs copy-editing or
proofing, I don't care -- it's the equivalent of a draft, after all.
-- 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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