The Old Joel on Software Forum: Part 3 (of 5) - Why are you upset at the resume abuse?

Why are you upset at the resume abuse?

I found it quite amusing.

Joel is in the midst of sorting through a stack of resumes, that if they were printed and stacked, are probably higher than the phone books for all the boroughs of New York.

If you have never been there, you won't understand.

HOWEVER, IF YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND, YOU WON'T MAKE IT THROUGH the sorting process.

Obviously I have. And, when I am on the submitter side, I make it through the sorting pass at least 80% of the time. (I measured it the last time.)

Purpose of a resume is 3 fold.

1. Make it through the first pass sorting phase. Here, the reader can spend at most 30 seconds reading your resume. This is after reading a 100 other resumes. You have to make your best impression in the first 30 seconds.

2. Make it through the second pass. Here, the reader will read the entire resume, possibly several times, and decide whether they want you to be one of the 5? 10? 20? people that will get interviewed.

3. Direct the interview. If it is on your resume, it is fair game for interviewing questions. Thus, if you want to discuss something, put some hint of it there. If you DONT want it, do NOT put it on the resume.
ALSO, READ your resume just before going in to the interview, and refresh your mind about EACH item in the resume. Why is it there? What is the story behind it? Etc.

But don't listen. Just keep sending in those emails. At least they don't make as much landfill.... :)

Doug Hay
Monday, January 26, 2004

I've been working on huge stacks of resumes too; and I understand that what nearly everybody does is look at the first pile, and see if they can generate enough "good" resumes to call in.

If you're not in that first pile, and enough "good" resumes were found, you have zero chance of being seen.

So, Joel's advice on lovingly crafting a personalized cover letter for each and every job we're applying to would doom us to the second pile in most circumstances.

That's the problem - most of the posters on your side of the fence have not understood that the incentives of the applicant can in fact be completely different than the incentives of the job-poster.

MD
Tuesday, January 27, 2004

But if you are trying to find a job, the person doing the hiring is the one you are trying to satisfy.

There seems to be a disconnect between (some) of the people looking for jobs, and what the people looking to hire want.

You are selling yourself. Sales requires satisfying the customer. The customer in this process is the one doing the hiring.

If you do not believe this, you will spend a long time looking for a job.

Doug Hay
Tuesday, January 27, 2004