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Subject:Re: Resumes/Interviewing From:Jo Francis Byrd <jbyrd -at- byrdwrites -dot- com> To:techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com Date:Tue, 30 Nov 1999 15:46:17 -0600
"Brady, Joy" wrote in part:
> I do think a lot of us learned the vague, general resumes from a time when no
> one wanted us (new college grads have a harder time listing past
> accomplishments in business even now, I suppose). Should I always keep an "I
> can do anything you want, just name it, I promise I'll be good" general resume
> on file in case the economy goes south again? Does anyone else remember those
> harder times, and what it was like to create a resume for nobody in
> particular? Maybe I suffered alone!
No, you did not suffer alone, Joy. Career changers frequently go through the
same misery.
When I got laid off from my job in the oil industry in late '91, the economy was
pretty ugly. Just when I thought I had it all figured out (I was a geophysical
technician - with a liberal arts degree!), I had to decide, one more time, "What
do I want to be when I grow up?' I hadn't a clue, and I floundered. As a
consequence, I had a very general resume.
After several months I blundered my way into a pseudo tech writing job. Both the
job and the company were horrible, but I finally knew what I wanted to be when I
grew up, and armed with no experience and unwarranted confidence, I set out to
become a tech writer. Fortunately, I didn't know I couldn't do this, so I
succeeded, but for at least another two years, my resume remained rather
general. Finally a friend who happened to work as a recruiter, called me when I
faxed him my resume and said, "OK, it's time to change this. You now have a
track record as a technical writer." I redesigned my resume, and it's gradually
evolved into its current format.
Having created both a general and specific resume, I can tell you for me, at
least, specific is easier.
