I hate resumes

It could have gone better. To start, I am not a very good salesman, and I had never really been on a job interview before. Two things I allowed myself to forget leading up to this. The interview was 4 job related questions and a "Why me" question. I sat at one end of along table and three interviews sat at the other end. I had studied for pretty much every possible question but never worked on the delivery. I went and it was like when Ralphie finally meet Santa at the department store. I answered the questions correctly but everything was blurted out quickly and I was visible uncomfortable. Since they hired almost solely based on that interview this time I am staying put. It's been interesting to see who does and doesn't interview well.

Errrg. I hate when that happens (and it's happened to me more than once, or twice). I'll just say keep your chin up Wally , as if you wouldn't anyway. The good stuff comes around eventually and sometimes in a better package than the one you thought you wanted originally.

I've been job hunting seriously for about 6 months. I haven't applied to a bunch of places, only the ones that seemed specifically suited to my skill set. That said, time after time I heard nothing back at all. It has been the first time in my "mature" career that I've had to look for a job (all clients before and the owner of a small business). I really began to worry that I wasn't "up to snuff" compared to others in the marketplace. One job in particular I wanted more than the some, as my friend worked there, was a fairly laid back, but cutting-edge web development agency that served large clients that actually paid (think autotrader). I reworked my resume for it, had an awesome cover letter, my friend's recommendation (lead programmer), and an interview that went pretty well. Still nothing. Again.

Low-and-behold, a few weeks ago I interviewed with the head of the web department at the power company, pretty much on a fluke. BIG corporate stuff. He gave me the job on the spot. I was dumbfounded and elated. Now I'm doing more design work than I would have at the other position (a.k.a. what I love), for more money. I'm 2.5 weeks in and really couldn't be happier.

It's tough while you're in the hunt though. Seems to last forever.

BTW- Just tell them your "sort of a big deal" on the GRM forum. That should open some doors.

When I was in high school, our last quarter of Senior English was "How to Write a Resume", taught by the principal. After graduation, I kept all of my notes.

Ten years later, my wife decides to apply for a new job. Applications were to be submitted to the superintendent of schools, who happened to be my former principal. I dug out my notes and we wrote her resume exactly how he had taught me that a resume should be written. She has been working there ever since.

They didn't take enough people the first time so I may get a second chance to start babbling to a new group of people

In reply to Wally:

use your GRM voice n you'll be in

Woody wrote: When I was in high school, our last quarter of Senior English was "How to Write a Resume", taught by the principal. After graduation, I kept all of my notes. Ten years later, my wife decides to apply for a new job. Applications were to be submitted to the superintendent of schools, who happened to be my former principal. I dug out my notes and we wrote her resume *exactly* how he had taught me that a resume should be written. She has been working there ever since.

"I love it when a plan comes together."

I hate resumes too.

I hate READING them.

Part of my job is being involved in a hiring team. The worst part is reading the horrific resumes.

So few people understand what they are for- I find their resumes VERY easy to throw in the trash.

Seems there are basically 2 kinds- Those that put NO effort into it, and those that ramble for pages trying to make themselves sound important.

A resume is infinitely important. All those resumes I trashed never got an interview. But you've got to understand the purpose. The purpose of a resume is to generate interest, and get someone wanting to ask questions to learn more about you. IT doesn't have to be comprehensive or complete, just interesting.

If your resume is boring- circular file. I want people who are creative and interested in what they do, and excited about doing it (even if they are boring bean counters- I want someone excited about counting beans!).

If your resume is wordy- circular file. You've got to be able to get your point across in a reasonable amount of time. Yes, 2 pages is set in concrete. I've only met 1 man in my life who really needed 3 pages to sell himself, and we didn't hire him because we were all intimidated by him.

If you have misspellings in your resume- circular file. If you can't figure out how to use spell check, you can't help us, even if you are a forklift driver.

If you have big gaps of time in your resume- likely circular file. You'd better have a darned good explanation that doesn't include numbers on the front of your jumpsuit.

If you play tricks with the font size to either fill a page or shrink it to 2 pages- circular file. You gotta EDIT. I read hundreds of resumes. You can't fool me- I know what 12 point looks like.

I pay more attention to the summaries of objectives and overall qualifications (typically at the start- shows aptitude), and "other" interests (typically at the end- shows interest and motivation). The only thing the job and education history do is support the objectives and interests- they show you have done what you say you can.

Lighten up. Make it a good read. Make me want to meet you and learn more about why it is you are passionate about what you are passionate about.

My best selling point I ever put on my resume was that I raced a Yugo!

For most positions we have open, I have to read between 25 and 50 resumes. There are a lot of people looking.

We will usually interview no more than 5 people for 1 position. We can't spare the human resources to do more than that, and we don't have to. We can usually find a good candidate among the 5.

That means I throw out 80%- 90% of the resumes with no interview.

I don't read most of them in their entirety. I don't have time for that. I know that sucks, but it's the truth. Just being honest.

If you write your resume thinking about poor slobs like me who have to read the drivel, and make them even a little tiny bit interesting, you will increase your chances of an interview by at least 100%.

SVreX wrote: For most positions we have open, I have to read between 25 and 50 resumes. There are a lot of people looking. We will usually interview no more than 5 people for 1 position. We can't spare the human resources to do more than that, and we don't have to. We can usually find a good candidate among the 5. That means I throw out 80%- 90% of the resumes with no interview. I don't read most of them in their entirety. I don't have time for that. I know that sucks, but it's the truth. Just being honest. If you write your resume thinking about poor slobs like me who have to read the drivel, and make them even a little tiny bit interesting, you will increase your chances of an interview by at least 100%.

Would it be possible to give us an example of a real world resume you liked (change name, address, companies etc listed)? The reason I ask is, everything on the interwebs is generic BS. I've even talked to HR people that saw my application but was not accepted for the position, and I can't tell if they are lying to me or being honest that my resume/cover letter is good.

In fact, when you say resume, do you MEAN resume, or cover letter? I can see being creative with a cover letter, but a resume is a bit harder to do.

Edit- Since it sounds like we may be in similiar industries SVreX from another post of yours in a different thread (I believe I saw a vague mention to instrumentation/plant design), I would be in your debt if you would take a peek at my resume and cover letter. If you'd like, please e-mail me at aevokes AT shaw D0T ca, it would be very helpful to have a set of eyes go over my application that is in industry

I mean resume. Cover letters are nearly meaningless (but you've got to do them).

There are very narrow parameters for what is the "right" way to do a resume, and most people try to follow the "rules". But they turn them into an attempt at detailing EVERYTHING they want to say about themselves. That is for the interview, not the resume.

Make it a teaser. Leave things in there that make me want to say, "What do you mean by this", or "What were your experiences with that, or "Tell me more about what you accomplished in that job".

6 unrelated jobs in a row only tell me you have had jobs. Yawn. "Interest in building and racing custom classic race cars" makes me want to know more, and why you think that would be valuable to my job as a bookkeeper, or warehouse stocker.

HiTempguy, I'd be happy to look it over. You can email me through my contact address on the board.

What bugs me about resumes is that most aren't even read anymore. Instead, companies "scan" your resume for key words/phrases that tell them whether or not you are the kind of employee they are looking for. Admittedly, you probably have a better chance of promotion if you are looking for a position with the company you already work for...but it's not a lock.