Garann Rose Means:
Made sure I grabbed the rest of the six pack.
Here we go....
Problem #3:
- NEVER-EVER-EVER put references on a resume.
- 1. You want to use the resume to list all YOUR skills and what your did. In your case - this is particularly important.
- 2. When you get called in for on-site interview - and fill out application for employment (note: this may happen after offer is made and on your first day of work) - is when you turn in contact list.
Why? You want to call your contacts/references the day after you give their info to an employer - so you can prepare them and remind them to call you IF someone actually contacts them.
It's also considered more professional in the business world to give refereces at on-site interview or first-day employement that to just "volunteer" them.
----
Again? I want the total focus of the interviewer to be on ME - GOOD OLD ME!!!.
I want to use the entire 1 or 2 sheets of my resume to focus entirely on me.
As Mark Hershberg has mentioned - he is on other side of game playing recuiter boy. He has about 10-20 seconds to look at resume.
That's it!!!
I have 8 yrs of college and 4yrs of IT experience. All I get is 20 seconds for a yeah or nay!!! Period!!!
-----
I want Mark (or any recruiter) to focus solely on ME!!!
--------------------------------------------------
My advice:
Go to library - get a table every day this week for an hour. Don't do nothing - except write down your skills - and what you have done at company. Don't read any resume skill books - just focus on what YOU did in your IT career. How you grew - your contributions - anything.
Watch the people in the library - it helps you to concentrate. Daydream if you have to - let the thoughts just roll on in.
You'll be amazed at what you pick-up doing this for 5 days.
You'll also be surprised that 95% of the folks out there have the same resume format - resume style - and resume info as you do.
You'll also be surprised that - even though what I say on this board is repeated 10,000 times all over the NET - 95% of the folkd out there put all of 10 minutes into the interview/resume process.
YOU NEED TO SEPARATE YOURSELF FROM THE CROWD!!!
Hopefully, my advice will get you started.
------------------
Side Note: One of the reson's I write on this board - is to focus my thoughts on the interview / resume process. Amazing, when I am writing here - how many thoughts come into my mind. I actually sit here with notepad writing down ideas.
When you get good at this game - you can actually go in and try different ideas out - see what works - what doesn't.
For example:
I've noticed that if I am offered coffee or a coke - I automatically say yes. It really and truly helps to break the ice. I may not actually open the can of coke - and I really do hate coffee - but I'll go through the motions.
This is in contrast to what the interview books say to do. So you gotta play the game and find out what works for you.
------------------
Note: If you think you need the help of a resume writer - for God's sake - still do the library thing and sit and hack out your skills and what you want to say - and get this down on paper before seeing a resume writer.
Take some time out at lunch - look around your office/cube/box and let the ideas flow - what have you hacked on / worked on at work.
Did you do any customer support? if so, on what - was there a problem that needed solved. If so - what? Did it require a coding solution - if so, what/what language? How did you get the mother through managment and into production?
Did the system every crash - How did you fix it?
Was it a 2AM production support phone call?
Did you fix/proof anyone elses code? How do you ocntribute/prepare for code walkthroughs?
----
All of the above is intended to give you ideas to write down on paper and get that brain of yours working.
Remember - you can take a simple project/fix and make a big deal out of it and put it on resume. Sometimes you have to do this!!!
-----------
Give you an example:
I worked at EDS - I did mainframe production support. Didn't know shit about COBOL - still don't.
But - I was the guy they called at 2AM for production support. Why - Cuz I knew how to re-start programs and talk to folks.
So on resume: I indicate that program runs in 3 countries (USA, Canada, Puerto Rico) - I indicate that I was responsible for batch cycle support. At interview - when asked how I made contributions to project - I put mention that I physcially put in "restart instructions" for each step of JCL code.
I mentioned that I would sit down with senior folks on project and verify that my restart instructions were correct. I also asked how I could verify that the generated output was correct.
I also created "SAS" reports to validate my data. Why? Try reading an IBM Core Dump at 2AM to find which account crashed the system due to bad data formatting.
A SAS report run over a data file - will instantly tell you which account has character data in an integer field or vice versa. Then you pull the account out of production. Restart the job and evaluate the account in the meantime.
Find out what caused the account to go bad - hopefully, you received bad data from another group and it's their problem. If it's our problem - research it - and call team members if a whole buch of accounts start crashing the batch cycle.
Once fixed and evaluated.
Put the account back into production for the next night's batch cycle. Generate report for management.
When I would all operator in Ohio, California, Texas or wherever EDS happened to be that month - I would point operator at code and have them read instructions on how to restart the job.
I also mentioned how I created "status reports" every morning for managmenet. This would help my manager "validate" his request for personell resources.
-----------------
Again - take a minor situation and make it into something important. Show how you took charge - show your communication skills.
Most of all - remember the hiring process is a game. The more you prepare and practice at it - the better you get.
So approach it as a game. Your first step will be to re-hash the resume - and put more substance into what you actually did.
Next step - take it to a pro resume writer. If you can't affort the $100 to have it professionally hacked/re-written/proofed/etc - then don't be in this game. You spent a few grand on college - what's another $100 (if that).
-----------
Note: I don't care about on-line resume's - God knows we've had enough discussions about this the past 3 or 4 yrs on this board. It's nice - but I don't care about your HTML skills.
Management is going to want an MS-Word document in their grubby little hands. So make sure you put an MS-Word copy of your resume on your web-site so it can be printed off.
================
BONUS HINT/SUGGESTION:
In case you "forget resume" or "reference list" when on the road - put them in MS-Word format on your web-site.
Why?
All you gotta do is jump on the net - hit your site - print off a few copies. If you have time - hit a local library ad pay the 10 or 15 cent per page fee to get a few printed off.
Hell - can ask the receptionist at company to do this for you. It's happened. Especially, after going out of town to a job fair and then having interviews the next day - and you are like "shit" I ain't got no more.
Note: It's ok to use resume's printed on plain paper while at interview - as I've had to do this a few times - due to lost luggage or just plain having too many interviews lined up over the day or two while out of town - it happens.
Best of all - relax, have fun
Johnny
(
[email protected])