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Subject:What's a negative? (Re: The Kiss of Death) From:JIMCHEVAL -at- AOL -dot- COM Date:Fri, 23 Oct 1998 12:32:31 EDT
In a message dated 98-10-23 11:55:36 EDT, taltom -at- SIMPLYWRITTEN -dot- COM writes:
<< there are parts
of the country where military personnel are welcomed as being "insiders" to
many government processes, as well as being generally more mature and
disciplined. >>
I don't generally hire (being a contractor) but I have had a lot of input into
the process lately. The first thing I'd say is I wouldn't eliminate ANYBODY
just based on one item - any resume that's at all decent should be pretty
three-dimensional.
This said, there are things that put me off. My experience with people with
physics degrees, for instance, tends to be that they're very good on details
and hopeless on the big picture. (The worst example I knew was a man in HR -
probably the least appropriate function he could have exercised.) I'm
cautious too about philosophy degrees (for writers - not programmers, who not
infrequently have that background.) Still, I'd be looking at lots of other
things on their resume (fortunately, because one of the last candidates I
talked to had a philosophy degree - and a very pragmatic outloook.)
In Southern California, lots of people have military 'attitudes' about writing
who aren't actually veterans because of the number of TW's who come out of
aerospace. On the positive side, this suggests to me a familiarity with
rigorous procedures. On the negative, I'm always concerned they won't know
how to operate in a less structured environment.
In terms of straight military background, ex-war protestor though I am, I
quickly learned in big banks to respect people whose military background had
taught them teamwork and discipline. And. among managers, a real concern for
motivating people (as opposed to parroting the latest management theory.) So
I'd tend to regard it as a positive.
Especially since one of the most original and off-the-wall - yet effective
managers I've had was an ex-Marine....
So I'd say, put it on. If only because you probably don't want to work in an
environment where they'd seriously hold that (or any other one thing on your
resume) against you.
