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Re: What do interviewers read? (was: US Professional issues)
Subject:Re: What do interviewers read? (was: US Professional issues) From:"Marie C. Paretti" <mparetti -at- RRINC -dot- COM> Date:Fri, 16 Oct 1998 11:45:33 -0400
At 10:58 AM 10/16/98 -0400, John David Hickey wrote:
>snip snip
>When I think about the interview process, a potential client/employer always
>asks me to tell him/her about my work experience. Just before I'm about to
>speak, I always think "Didn't they read my resumé? It's all there. I'm just
>going to repeat what I wrote!"
>
If I interview you for a technical writing job and ask you about your work
experience, I'm not asking because I can't read or don't understand your
resume. I'm asking because I want to hear what you *choose* to highlight
and elaborate on based on what I've told you about this company and this
position. In other words, I assume your resume is relatively "generic" -
everyone gets the same thing; now I want to know what all this work
experience does for the job I'm interviewing for. And I want to know how
well you can assess your audience and tailor your content. If you simply
repeat what I've already read, then my estimation of your technical
communication skills goes down.
That's not to say the resume doesn't matter - I look at it as a way to
determine whether or not it looks like you have the skills/experience I
need. It should include, in my opinion, enough information to tell me the
kinds of work you've done and what qualifications you've got, but I don't
need a blow-by-blow description of every job. It also tells me - since I'm
looking for a tech writer - whether or not you know on paper how to
condense and highlight relevant information and display in a way that is
visually appealing and accessible. In that case, I'd guess 3 pages is
getting a bit too long.
So hey, if you're sending me a resume for that job I posted, now you know.
;->
Marie
Marie C. Paretti, PhD
Recognition Research, Inc. (RRI)
1750 Kraft Drive, Suite 2000
Blacksburg, VA 24060
mparetti -at- rrinc -dot- com http://www.rrinc.com
