Re: resume question

[Ad absurdum per aspera <jtchew -at- CSA3 -dot- LBL -dot- GOV>]

>Should our resumes include software information and all the accompanying
>acronyms? It depends a lot on your experience and your competition, I think.

And on what the company's looking for.  Sometimes they'll have a
concrete idea of what they want and how it should be done.  In
that case, you'd better either show them a good match between
skills and stated needs or do some fast talking about your ability
to come up to speed quickly.  Other times they're looking more for
creativity and versatility.

Do whatever you can to "read between the lines" of the job posting
and to get the inside skinny on how the company and department
actually work.  This tells you what you need to show them -- and, in
some cases, that you shouldn't bother applying, either because
you're not qualified or because you just wouldn't fit in there.
(Corollary: keep your network alive!  Optimally, you'll always step
to the next job because somebody wants *you*; failing that, you'll
always know who to call for a tip, which is far better than relying
on the cattle calls in the newspaper.)  What you learn can enlighten
all phases of the application process: "hot buttons" to push (or
avoid pushing) in the letter, how to custom-tailor your resume,
which samples to pull from your portfolio, and what to stress in the
interview (be it teamwork, productivity, creativity, eagle eye
for typos, comprehensive legal-pad-to-printing-press knowledge...)

Which brings us back to the resume.  Assuming that you've learned
enough about the company to do so in a meaningful way, customize
your resume for the occasion.  It's one of the greatest advantages
of these dag-blasted computers, so make it work for you.

Me, I've gravitated more towards the creative (and, lately, the
decision-making and -advising) positions.  A persuasive cover
letter, followed up by well-chosen pieces of my portfolio, has
gotten me just about every job I've ever had.  For all the work
I've put into my resume, I'm not sure anyone ever paid much
attention to it.  By the end of the cover letter, they know
whether you can put properly chosen ideas into well-turned
phrases and string the sentences together in the right order.
That's the main thing -- for the kind of jobs I've sought.

I don't even mention computers at that point. My attitude
(expressed in the interview) is that computer literacy should
be a given these days, and once you've achieved computer literacy,
picking up another piece of software is no big deal.  Again, this
applies to the kind of jobs I've applied for.  If your prospective
employers want someone who can step right into a well-established
role in a fast-paced production environment, or who can exercise
excruciatingly honed skills with some graphics or layout program,
they may be more demanding.  Be especially watchful for this in
temp/contract work.

The point for both applicant and employer, I suppose, is that a
full-time career employee will be with the company long after any
particular piece of hardware or software is breeding spiders in
the back room.  "Hire the person, not the skills."

Good luck,
--Joe
"Broken English is the official language of science" --Francois Kourilsky, CNRS