TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
The comment about 1982 reminds of one little faux pas I made a few years ago. I was getting back to work after some sort of hiatus, school or whatever. I sent my resume to a contact that I had worked with before so she had some familiarity with me. She called me and asked, "How long have you've been out of work?" "Oh just a few months." "Well your resume shows your last job as being three years ago." "I've worked since then. Read the resume to me." She read parts of the resume and I realized that it was one of the ones I had from earlier in my career that still showed some early administrative positions I had. I was a little confused and a little confusing. If I'm a technical writer, then why would I mention my vendor management skills? I tend to name my resumes with my name and I had apparently picked one from an archive folder rather than from my current resume folder. It's one thing when a resume goes back a few years, but it really should not go back a few careers. That old resume did include mentions of DOS and mainframe applications. Mmmm... DOS. And I can rebuild a Datsun.
Lauren
________________________________
From: techwr-l-bounces+lt34=csus -dot- edu -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com on behalf of Combs, Richard
Sent: Mon 1/22/2007 1:04 PM
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: RE: Getting Hired...Opinion #2500
Suzanne R. O'Kelly wrote:
> Hi folks. I'm reading your posts on your 4 page resumes, and
> I'm thinking "no, no, no." Too much blah blah puts you right
> in the no pile.
It's been a few years since I waded through a pile of resumes, but the
last time I did, there were over 200, and I sorted them into 3 piles:
(1) Consider, (2) Reject, and (3) Too Funny Not to Share. Everything
over two pages went into one of the latter two. Category 3 included
someone whose 30-year work history took 20 pages to describe, and
another who thought we'd be interested in details about his
accomplishments as an assistant fast food manager and a part-time
library assistant.
Category 2 included the more mundane long, boring resumes. Hey, the old
TW adage, "It depends," applies to resumes, too, I'm sure. But I'll go
out on a limb and declare that almost nobody cares that you documented a
DOS-based custom scheduling application in 1982, producing a user guide,
reference manual, and 3 different readme text files. The names of the
manuals you worked on? Are you kidding me?!?
If someone hands me a long resume full of trivial information, outdated
or irrelevant information, or repetitive information, I'm going to
assume that they'll turn out 400-page user manuals full of trivial,
outdated, irrelevant, and repetitive information. IMHO, such a resume
demonstrates that they lack good judgement and can't effectively
summarize, distill, prioritize, generalize, discard, and organize
information.
Of course, there are places where "kitchen sink" manuals are de rigeur,
and such writers fit in nicely. So I'm sure some of you will continue to
dismiss calls for brevity by arguing that your 6-pager has been plenty
successful. Well, good for you. I'm glad you found a place that suits
you. I'm just glad it's not in the cube next to mine. ;-)
"It's my opinion and it's very true."
Richard
------
Richard G. Combs
Senior Technical Writer
Polycom, Inc.
richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom
303-223-5111
------
rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom
303-777-0436
------
WebWorks ePublisher Pro for Word features support for every major Help
format plus PDF, HTML and more. Flexible, precise, and efficient content
delivery. Try it today! http://www.webworks.com/techwr-l
Create HTML or Microsoft Word content and convert to Help file formats or
printed documentation. Features include single source authoring, team authoring,
Web-based technology, and PDF output. http://www.DocToHelp.com/TechwrlList
---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as lt34 -at- csus -dot- edu -dot-
WebWorks ePublisher Pro for Word features support for every major Help
format plus PDF, HTML and more. Flexible, precise, and efficient content
delivery. Try it today! http://www.webworks.com/techwr-l
Create HTML or Microsoft Word content and convert to Help file formats or
printed documentation. Features include single source authoring, team authoring,
Web-based technology, and PDF output. http://www.DocToHelp.com/TechwrlList
---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- infoinfocus -dot- com -dot-
