RE: Resumes and such

[Kimberly <JKWilson -at- concentric -dot- net>]

At 04:59 PM 12/2/1999 PST, you wrote:
>Powerful resumes are created using the PAR (Problem, Action, Result) 
>approach.  For each major accomplishment, I state the following: [snip]

This is assuming you are involved in powerful projects. I hate to say it,
because I like my work, but most of the documentation I do isn't really
that important. It doesn't solve big problems and it isn't essential in the
larger scheme of things. <shrug> I make a contribution, and someone, often
many someones, benefit from it, but I rarely face "problems" to be solved
in my work. For example, I'm on a Y2K project right now. The company is way
ahead of the game (impressively so, imo), and I spend most of my time
updating test results documentation, writing preparation bulletins, and
keeping the online library spic-and-span. The Y2K project is necessary and
will have legal ramifications for this company (a huge conglomerate with
many dependent vendors), but what I am doing, while necessary, isn't really
problem-solving. My resume would sound like a campy superheroes movie if I
tried to re-position my work in PAR terms, imo. There are parts of my job
that challenge me, but they don't really come under the PAR format (how to
describe an obscure procedure graphically in a single 8x11 sheet, for
example).