It has occurred to me that my resume is way passé'.
It needs re-writing from scratch.
Prior to the year 2000 it's simple and synchronous.
From then, there are many overlaps when I was contracting and sometimes on a "retainer" if you will (no retainer fee like lawyers get).
Used to be people would seek me out and try to hire me away from other companies - which happened a couple times. That's all flattering and stuff mind you. But, it don't pay the bills.
Time to strap on my "big boy" pants and get it together. For the past several years I have been developing a web site that never seems to end and the target seems to move until the guy pulled the plug on the project just after Christmas. He still owes me about $1k but that won't last long.
Anyway... I need to completely re-build my resume - from scratch I'm thinking.
No re-branding. I am who am and that will not change. Well, not necessarily. Until tonight I haven't had a drink or a smoke in a week. No big deal.
never minding that, where do I begin. I have a resume prior to my experiences/adventures land surveying, carperenting, commercial logger, farm hand, handy-man, et. al.
I also have one resume listing all my experiences up to and including land surveying.
Kind of looks odd that a Chief Technical Officer/Senior Vice President with a seat on the board of directors now becomes rod-man on a field crew up in the mountains at an engineering/surveying consulting company. Doesn't it?
All-the-while I was open, and did, some contract programming for some surveyor folks and one storm chaser who needed APRS data packets parsed in real-time.
Then this feller here in GA contacts me out of the blue to come surveying for him.
So I move back here where I am now thanks to Taso - that I probably can't [but would love to] repay.
Where on oblate ellipsoid do I begin?
I am no salesman. Especially when it comes to myself. That's just not me.
I need some help with this.
Do I let the time overlaps show? Leave stuff out? Doctor up a new resume to target the receiver every time. See, this is just what I am. Let the accomplishments do the talking and leave me out of that "selling myself" crap. I really am an introvert but many may argue the obverse. Point being I will bloviate myself. Self-aggrandizing is out of the question.
Sure, I'll talk to anyone but they have to start the conversation first.
To me all those experiences are relevant to my life. I shouldn't leave them out. However that makes the list long. I'm sorry that HR idiots have the attention span of a single page. That's their fault. Not mine. Thus my dis-respect for head-hunters and HR people in general.
I let my last wife, who was/is adept at editing and writing, have a go at my resume. She turned me into something I was not and that dam sure soured the evening. In her defense, she had no clue of the technology I was involved with. That's fine.
I won't have anything to do with head-hunters either. They do the same thing.
I'm kind of scatter brained right now. This concussion after effects are weird.
Thanks for any help.
E.
It's a wacky world out there these days
The professional resume experts seem to have turned everything upside down. Everything needs to fit neatly on one page and grab someone's attention. It's more about style than substance. What a crock! Apparently, the goal today is to give them something that makes them curious enough about you to contact you to get more information, rather than the standard approach of giving them the entire story from day one to today. As you recognize, it could take 20 pages to describe your entire work history, education, recognitions, professional memberships and so forth. They do not want to see that in the basic resume they want from you. Most of what they want to know is how you would fit into the little cubby hole of an idea of what it is they are trying to achieve with whomever they end up hiring. They don't give a tinker's dammmm about all of the baggage you bring with you, that they see as being extraneous. All they care about is their perception of who/what they need and your ability to bend your life's story to convince them that you are the closest match to meeting that perception.
It's a wacky world out there these days
Well I don't know about 20 pages.
> All they care about is their perception of who/what they need and your ability to bend your life's story to convince them that you are the closest match to meeting that perception.
"perception" is a key word I think. I'm not going to "bend" my life's story - I'm thinking you mean professional store rather than personal story.
Give me some tips - other than the usual such as
"self starter", "self motivated", "can do", "do'er of dirty deeds", etc.
I'm not a salesman - certainly not about myself.
When I started at Unisys Corp., I was in a group of just three of us. They were way more experienced than I. That was back in the mid-80s. I looked up to them. One was an elder of about 7 years with a masters in computer science from GA Tech and the other was 2 years younger.
You can call either one them of today and ask them this simple question: "who is greatest programmer you have ever known?". Ask them that in that in those words.
I'll bet you a dollar to dog-s.;...t you will get me as the answer.
Again, I am not a salesman. I'm a computer scientist, logician with good mathematics background with an insatiable curiosity for the unknown of anything.
Some have told me I underestimate myself. That's fine. I don't mind.
My mind is scattered and going at light speed. so I'll just dump this here:
One evening me and an ex were shopping in a mall some 30 miles from home.
She goes into a shop and I decide to sit on one of the mall benches waiting.
She comes out from the store with a bag of goodies [Victoria Secrets] and some feller is hollering out my name. He comes up to me grabbing my hand saying about what a pleasure to meet me and stuff. My wife is gob-smacked and turns out his wife worked on the same floor as me. He kept on about what an honor to meet me and all and it sure left me near about gob-smacked as well. Turns out, his company had hired away some of my co-workers and they had some meetings about solving some particular problems that no one could figure out. Apparently, some one piped up and said "what would Eric White do with this?" Funny things happen. About a year later that company bought ours. By then I had become fairly well known in the programming world. That was 20 or so years ago. I'm no body now. Fine - I got tired of the phone calls.
How do you put all that on a resume (not that I would) without self-aggrandizing or scare people off. I have found in the past that some are seriously intimidated. Especially the HR idiots who have no clue.
I don't mind to tone it down a notch or a bunch of notches.
Where do I begin?
I still have all my old resumes in Word if anyone is interested.
E.
It's a wacky world out there these days
The all important question: "where do I begin?" The first response of the ever-loving pundits love to ask "what do you Want to do?" Apparently, an answer of "a bunch of things" isn't the correct answer. Perhaps if you are able to narrow down the field of things you like to do for work, tailor a resume for each of those specific fields.
Another popular response is "follow your passion". Well, many passions simply don't pay the bills. Sure, doing things that make us happy (on the job) can lead to higher job satisfaction, but money sure has to play a part. Save the lower paying passions for outside of work.
A few years ago, I went to a "career coach" with the hopes I could get some specific suggestions. Turned out to be a huge and total waste of time and money. The person did not seem to have any specific knowledge of any field. The suggestion was to browse the Federal Occupational Outlook site online. Now, talk about massive waste of time! :-X
The "information" in the Occupational Outlook site is years (yes, years) out of date. I guess it takes time to collect and compile the info. But, using out of date data does not make a good predictor. Plus, the actual list of jobs is far, far from being inclusive (or well described) compared to the real world.
For instance, the last time I looked, the prediction was there would be an increased demand for cad drafters. Even without the recession, the demand for cad drafters (as far as I've seen) was actually declining. More companies seem to be having engineers do their own drafting instead of hiring cad monkeys.
Additional thoughts:
Everybody claims that networking is the best way to actually get a job these days. To a large extent that appears to be true. Relatives seem to have the easiest time of finding work, regardless of actual qualifications. The down side of course is that family and friends cane tire quickly of being asked if they know of an open position.
If you are aware of companies that you would like to work for, keep an eye on their web site for potential openings.
My youngest son is preparing his resume this week.
He came to me with 5 hand written pages and ask me to check his info.
I immediately told him that what he had written is something that would be fit for LinkedIn or an online form and that it was 4 pages more information than I would look at for a new hire.
No matter what it says on paper what you think, it's probably not the same with who reads it.
The rest of the info I get from the person when I interview them, either in or over the phone.
To me its is not the paperwork they show me, it is the presence and attitude of the person when I ask them how they would feel when one day they are put in charge of an important task on an high dollar job to obtain the information that is required in a timely and efficient manner and on another occasion when they come to me and ask what they need to do next I respond that it may involve rubber boots or my riding lawn mower or trash bags.
What is important to me is will they preform the same quality of work on any and every task.
0.02
Well...here's what I do. I'm not a professioanl resume writer, so take it for what it is worth.
I sat down and wrote a chronological order of jobs I have worked on. If I thought of something else, I would add toit. A live document if you will. When I have applied for jobs, I rearrange or embellish on some of the history. (not embellish as in lie, but as in be more descriptive). Always the truth. If/when I applied for a management position in Surveying, I point out some history I had had managing in a different field, but not a lot. Some things I just show to show that I was working during that time. It might at least show I work hard; but I only state what my job was for those jobs that have no bearing on the job being applied for.
If I were a software writer, I would tell about all my time surveying and also point out some software jobs I've had and even be more specific about some surveying-related softwares I have written. If I worked on a lumberjack crew, I would probably only show those dates and state what my job title was.
I do like the one-page idea. A lot of employers don't like to read a book to find out your basic qualifications. Nothing wrong with having a basic resume that hits on the primary stuff, and also offering more detailed report if they want it. Most employers (myself included) like the interview process and to see your actual reactions and responses from their direct questioning. You can tell so much more if you ask a specific question and get an answer that is cogent, than if you read a prepared statement. You can also easily lie on a resume and no one might ever know it unless you can present the same background and/or details in a live interview.
I hope that helps in some way.
One more thing....grammatics and spelling. Check and double-check. Especially if it's a job that might require things like writing legal descriptions or some kind of perpetual report. When I see poor language skills on a resume, I am immediately turned off. I get writing quickly and poorly on a discussion board, but look closely at your syntax, and grammar and even have someone else look it over for you as well. I always have my descriptiosn reviewed by someone else....even if you get help on the resume, it at least shows that you have the fortitude to get it done right even if you get outside input.
Well, that was longer than I thought I would write. I hope it helps a little.
Most folks with the high fluff low fact resumes get tossed out quickly. I think those are a result of the cube farm world of 'business' people with limited technical skills or specialized talent, so they struggle to distinguish themselves from the pack. Maybe it's the nature of their work or the fact there are so many of them.
In engineering/construction/surveying world it's more produce or go-away. When I read a resume I skip right to the experience portion to decide if I want to read the rest. Remember, a resume is just a tool to get into an interview. That's where you will win or lose the job.
That said, I 've always had a couple of different resumes lingering on the 'puter. Each was tailored to the job I was seeking.
If I was looking for job in the private sector it would be a little more Rah Rah! Go getter-ish. If the job was for the Gov't I would emphasize team player.
If the firm did a bunch of construction staking I would highlight that experience more than boundary or vice versa.
With the understanding that most surveyor/engineering types are no-nonsense like myself I held my resume down one page until I got licensed and then I let it grow to two pages.
Steve
