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Subject:Re: Questions about TW Resumes From:"Michele Marques" <mmarques -at- cms400 -dot- com> To:techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com Date:Wed, 10 May 2000 10:21:26 -0400
Sona Mehta <sona -dot- mehta -at- haysmt -dot- co -dot- uk> writes:
> What do you
> generally expect to see in a techwriter's resume (apart from experience
> of course)?. Does a CV create an impression even before you meet the
> person? Here I am talking about the format, layout, information present
> in the CV etc and not the *content* as such.
First, I don't know about in the UK, but in Canada and the U.S. a
"CV" is different from other resumes and is generally for academic
positions. I assume you are asking about a typical (non-academic)
tech writer resume.
About 6 months ago I looked at quite a few resumes when hiring a
technical communicator. I was surprised that only a few people
seemed to take advantage of the resume as an opportunity to
demonstrate formatting and layout potential.
In terms of actual interviewing and hiring decisions:
- Some people included their resume as a web site (in addition to
traditional format) or included a URL with another sample. As
web site development was part of the posted description for this
position, I was glad to see actual samples. This did lead to the
offer of interviews, when the content also merited consideration,
and gave an edge in borderline situations.
- Some people had especially poorly formatted resumes or
awkward phrasing (to my ears/eyes) in the resume. These people
might have otherwise been considered, but were ruled out
based on these samples.
- When the content was poor, a well-formatted resume did not help.
Various popular word processors come with some attractive
resume templates, so "pretty" formatting did not overcome other
problems. Creative and unusual layout or presentation could
have helped.
Keep in mind that a resume can only help in leading to the
interview - the interview is an important step of the hiring process.
-------------------------------------------------------
Michele Marques
Lead Technical Communicator, CMS Manufacturing Systems
mmarques -at- cms400 -dot- com
905-477-4499 x280
