Re: Industry Experience (offshoot of Getting Hired)

["Gene Kim-Eng" <techwr -at- genek -dot- com>]

A bit of perspective from the hiring side...

1.  HR and agencies *are* looking for an "exact match on the 
    basis of resume checkoff points, rather than actual writing 
    ability."  They have no other choice, because for the most part
    they are not writing professionals and don't have any way of
    recognizing your "actual writing ability."

2.  Whenever I cite a specific tool in a job description, I always
    say "or equivalent."  yet I have never gotten a single resume that
    responds to my call for experience with "Adobe Illustrator
    or equivalent" by citing the candidate's familiarity with Corel
    Draw, Inkscape or some other vector drawing program and
    *saying* that that program is an "Illustrator equivalent" (and
    I'm doing second screens of HR rejects, not all managers do
    that).  HR screeners and agencies aren't going to research all 
    the apps you list in your resume to see if any of them are 
    "equivalent" to what's in the job description; you have to *tell 
    them* what is.

So if your resume just lists your experience and qualifications
generically and is not keying off the contents of the posting 
you are responding to, there's a good chance you are getting 
passed by because you've delivered a document that is not 
properly targeted to its readers.
   
Gene Kim-Eng


----- Original Message ----- 
From: <neilson -at- windstream -dot- net>