Re: resume length

Subject: Re: resume length
From: Joanne Wittenbrook <jwittenbrook -at- ameritech -dot- net>
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Date: Mon, 5 Feb 2007 09:31:28 -0800 (PST)

I agree that resume length can vary, especially as we mature and have a long career behind us. I have short and long versions of resumes. The average recruiter wants the two page version. However, I have come to believe that the whole employment/recruitment process is broken. Recruiters try to digest every candidate down to a paragraph or even a couple bullet points or "key words". Recruiters hone in on the few key words and as a result, many excellent candidates never get beyond the recruiter. The reality is that in the day of scanning resumes and doing searches for key words, it is a pretty good be that a resume rarely gets read at all.

When I have contacted a hiring manager directly, they always ask me to email them a resume, even if I have sent one via the website. They freely admit that many good candidates never get beyond the recruiters in the HR department to the person in charge of hiring.

I had one memorable interview where I talked to the recruiter for an hour. As the interview was winding down, I asked if she wanted to see my writing samples. Her response was that she wasn't a technical person so she didn't think it would help her.

Scary, isn't it.
Joanne
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techwr-l-request -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com wrote: Message: 3
Date: Mon, 5 Feb 2007 01:22:37 +0530
From: "Edwin Skau"

Every job I have held has contributed to what I know and who I am as an
employee. The CV I use for publications jobs provides an insight into how I
have grown professionally, and how each successive job has built on skills
learned in a previous position.

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