Re: US Professional issues

[Diane Haugen <dhaugen -at- MEANS -dot- NET>]

I think Elna hit the nail on the head with the telecommuting issue:

> Some places, like Sun, know how to recognize
>a seasoned pro and are willing to let that kind of contractor work off-site
>when circumstances allow.....

There seems to be a real inability of those reading resumes to tell whether
the person is qualified to do the job.

In one phone interview, I was asked if I had really done all the things I
had listed on my resume.  I mean, if I hadn't, would I have admitted it?

I was denied an interview for a writing job because the job description
specfically asked for a four-year degree in "communications."  That I had
two M.A.'s in English, one with a concentration in rhetoric, didn't cut it.
They still refused to interview me.

Eric's experience with being disqualified for not listing PERL is yet
another example of this mentality.

It all comes down to an issue of trust, doesn't it?  If companies cannot
read resumes, they cannot tell how to evaluate applicants.  If they can't
read resumes, they will fixate on some minor point to make the decision.
And trust, as Amy said, isn't really transferrable.

In other words, the person doing the interviewing may well know that
someone would be good at a particular job, but the resume doesn't "prove"
this.  That doesn't mean it's a poorly written resume, only that the resume
can't reflect whether the person is really a good team worker, really a
good problem solver, really someone who jumps in and pulls his or her own
weight in a project.

None of these things really relate to the kind of stuff put on resumes --
because they can't.  I can put on my resume that I'm a good team worker,
but that doesn't mean I really am, and even if references are called and
verify that I'm a good team worker, from the perspective of the person
doing the hiring, I may well not be.

It goes back to Elna's remarks that Sun knows how to recognized a seasoned
pro -- and unless employers have this ability, no resume will give
employers that skill.

In a sense, the prejudice against telecommuters is the same inability of
companies to be able to recognize seasoned, professional talent when they
see it.

I keep getting this mental image of monks changed to the tables during the
middle ages painstakingly copying manuscripts....

Diane




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Diane Haugen         Whiskey Creek Document Design
<http://www.rrv.net/wcdd/wc/index.html>

Editor, Document Design
<http://www.rrv.net/wcdd/dd/index.html>
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