February 14, 2013 at 10:31 pm
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Impressive Accomplishments
February 14, 2013 at 11:34 pm
It is difficult to stand out in resume form.
I think the simplest way to think about it is that your resume isn't simply a checkmark task. It is a marketing product. As such, it should do the best job possible of accomplishing it's job - getting you an in person interview. Spell check it, check your margins, make sure the order makes sense, look for competing ones you like, and copy the elements you like, so on.
That said, DO NOT RELY on your written resume to get contacted. Network like crazy through every option you have available. Any application you fill out online, follow up on them. Do not make the mistake of thinking "the system" will work for you. Assume you will have to go out and beat the bushes yourself to get that job. At least then you won't be disappointed.
For those who stand out in person, that's easy. Don't show up looking/acting like a 9-5'er putting on his blowhard hat just long enough to pass the interview stage and get the job. Come seeking to pull more than your weight. Come expecting to do important work that changes the planet. Ask where the hard problems are, so *you* can contribute on them. Show up looking like a winner, talking like a winner, and most importantly, working like a winner. To do that, you need to practice being a winner in all aspects of your life.
Simply put, a winner is someone who focuses on objectives, and conquers them consistently.
Also, for heaven's sake, don't try to multitask during the interview, either. Turn off your stinking phone. It won't kill you to stop looking at it for a few hours.
As a side note:
One question interviewers sometimes ask towards the end of the meeting, which is not really out of line, is to tell them about myself, and my experience. Having worked 15 years, 60-80 hours a week most weeks doing active work, study, side work, or personal projects, it's quite an onion to peel in the last 5 minutes of an interview.
To be honest, I'm not really sure what's best in this particular scenario.
When I do technical interviews, I ask more and more detailed questions until I get vague answers. I use that as my guide to know when the person interviewed has met their depth.
If you are interviewing someone else, don't make the mistake of letting the interviewee talk endlessly about their past conquests. Ask specific directed questions about things you think they should know. If you can afford the time, put them to work, and shoulder surf their quality of work.
There are lots of people out there who could do an average job. I don't care to work with them. Why should you? Be among the best, and demand those around you to be likewise.
That's my two cents on the subject.
February 15, 2013 at 2:01 am
1) I like it when candidates show an interest in the less glamourous but more worthy aspects of the role e.g. developers who are interested in a rigorous software development life cycle (SDLC) - by this I mean they see testing as a key responsibility that THEY see as part of their work not something forced on them.
2) Candidates who are more interested in the role than the interviewer is with filling it. I find that if I have more enthusiasm to get that candidate into the job than the candidate has in coming to do they job then they don't want it enough.
Gaz
-- Stop your grinnin' and drop your linen...they're everywhere!!!
February 15, 2013 at 5:58 am
I usually end up doing the technical dirty work in interviews, asking the probing questions to figure out if they candidate actually knows SQL Server or has just read something about it. Having used SQL Server since v4.2, I guess I know why I get that role.
I have found 2 things that impress me and show that there is more going on than the CV implies. The first is that the candidate is familiar with order of execution. If they have gone to that amount of trouble to learn internals then they are probably capable of learning whatever is necessary and have the desire to do so.
The other one is when they don't know the answer to a question and ask for a reference beyond BOL to research the answer themselves. That may not get them hired, but it will make them better in their current job and in a future one. The desire to push the bounds of their knowledge makes them valuable today and tomorrow.
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Buy the ticket, take the ride. -- Hunter S. Thompson
February 15, 2013 at 6:38 am
G Bryant McClellan (2/15/2013)
I usually end up doing the technical dirty work in interviews, asking the probing questions to figure out if they candidate actually knows SQL Server or has just read something about it. Having used SQL Server since v4.2, I guess I know why I get that role.I have found 2 things that impress me and show that there is more going on than the CV implies. The first is that the candidate is familiar with order of execution. If they have gone to that amount of trouble to learn internals then they are probably capable of learning whatever is necessary and have the desire to do so.
The other one is when they don't know the answer to a question and ask for a reference beyond BOL to research the answer themselves. That may not get them hired, but it will make them better in their current job and in a future one. The desire to push the bounds of their knowledge makes them valuable today and tomorrow.
I'm curious as to what would be a reference beyond BOL? SCC for example or are you thinking something else?
February 15, 2013 at 7:09 am
A few that come to mind:
1) Other books from various authors
2) video training
3) peers
4) online forums
5) self study/your own notes/your own work
6) sample code
7) books on other database systems ( for example Oracle has some nice DB tuning/perf guides which do crossover to SQL Server)
February 15, 2013 at 7:27 am
What impresses me most about a candidate is not always on their resume. Once, a number of years ago I was interviewing someone and it came to the part of the interview where I get to find out a little about them and their outside interests. This one candidate said that he did alot of charity work, and volunteering. Particulalrly, with wounded veterans. That impressed me because it immediately showed me that:
1. They freely help others
2. They care about something other than themselves.
3. They love their country.
Those traits are so rare today. So many people disrespecting and bad-mouthing our country today and only out for themselves here. Well, anyway he got hired. I actually went with him a couple of times after that to the veterans hospitals. Man, it broke my heart to see people who have given just about everything for their country and the conditions they were in at that hospital.
"Technology is a weird thing. It brings you great gifts with one hand, and it stabs you in the back with the other. ...:-D"
February 15, 2013 at 7:36 am
TravisDBA (2/15/2013)
That is so rare today, with so many people disrespecting and bad-mouthing our country today, and only out for themselves here. Well, anyway he got hired.
Overdosing on patriotism can be dangerous.
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It takes a minimal capacity for rational thought to see that the corporate 'free press' is a structurally irrational and biased, and extremely violent, system of elite propaganda.
David Edwards - Media lens[/url]
Society has varying and conflicting interests; what is called objectivity is the disguise of one of these interests - that of neutrality. But neutrality is a fiction in an unneutral world. There are victims, there are executioners, and there are bystanders... and the 'objectivity' of the bystander calls for inaction while other heads fall.
Howard Zinn
February 15, 2013 at 7:38 am
Abu Dina (2/15/2013)
TravisDBA (2/15/2013)
That is so rare today, with so many people disrespecting and bad-mouthing our country today, and only out for themselves here. Well, anyway he got hired.Overdosing on patriotism can be dangerous.
For your information Einstein, patriotism is what founded and forged this country with the precious blood of those patriots through several trying times....You should go to Arlington sometime if you doubt that in any way.:-D
"Technology is a weird thing. It brings you great gifts with one hand, and it stabs you in the back with the other. ...:-D"
February 15, 2013 at 7:48 am
TravisDBA (2/15/2013)
Abu Dina (2/15/2013)
TravisDBA (2/15/2013)
That is so rare today, with so many people disrespecting and bad-mouthing our country today, and only out for themselves here. Well, anyway he got hired.Overdosing on patriotism can be dangerous.
For your information Einstein, patriotism is what founded and forged this country with the precious blood of those patriots through several trying times....:-D
Ooops touched a raw nerve did I?! 😛
An anarchist vs. a patriot BWAHAHAHA how is that for Friday afternoon entertainment?!
Naaaaaa.......back on topic.
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It takes a minimal capacity for rational thought to see that the corporate 'free press' is a structurally irrational and biased, and extremely violent, system of elite propaganda.
David Edwards - Media lens[/url]
Society has varying and conflicting interests; what is called objectivity is the disguise of one of these interests - that of neutrality. But neutrality is a fiction in an unneutral world. There are victims, there are executioners, and there are bystanders... and the 'objectivity' of the bystander calls for inaction while other heads fall.
Howard Zinn
February 15, 2013 at 7:56 am
Abu, you would fit right in in Haiti then. Don't see alot of people volunteering to go live there though. 😀
"Technology is a weird thing. It brings you great gifts with one hand, and it stabs you in the back with the other. ...:-D"
February 15, 2013 at 8:22 am
I'm not directly involved in hiring decisions, but I do field resumes and then participate in interviews and rate candidates afterward. There really is no one thing I'm looking for on a resume.
Honestly 95% of all resumes look the same to me regardless of the past experience of the candidate, especially if they've been groomed and polished by an outside recruiter or consulting agency... You get the usual 7 - 15 year track record of past employers along with a tag cloud of about 20 different technologies that they all claim to have used.
I actually think that a well written and concise resume makes a better impression on me than one the typical me-to know-it-all resumes that consume 10 printed pages. If someone mentions their primary responsibilities and a brief description of major project(s) for a postition, then that tells me more than simply listing a big name company and a dozen skills.
Of course university degree(s) or certification(s) is one way to objectively differentiate candidates, but I'm not sure how reliable an indicator that is for predicting the performance of one candidate over another. I personally don't have a four year degree (so I'm biased on the side of not seeing it as a requirement), but I do have an (old) certification and am working on a new one. I've never reccomended a candidate based on their certification, but they would tend to do better during the interview, because I ask certification type questions, so they would benefit indirectly in that way. By the time we get around to interviewing a candidate, I've already forgotton wether they have a certification, and my impression based solely on what's said during the interview.
During the interview, I'll say: "Tell me about the project you're currently working on.". I'll listen to their narrative closely, and I expect them to go into detail. I'll then ask maybe a half dozen followup questions like: "Really, how much record volume do you injest on a typical day?" and "Wow, merging 100 million records in a single run is a lot of data, so how do you monitor the performance, and what design considerations did you take into consideration to optimize performance of these loads?". I may go back and forth like this for 15 or 20 minutes. It's at that point I'll know wether the guy is a real ETL developer or just some schmuck with a padded resume a list of memorized SQL Server interview answers.
"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho
February 15, 2013 at 8:39 am
I am always interested in candidates that are geeks: they've played with computers all of their lives and they do it in their spare time like I do. I am also impressed by candidates who know the doco intimately. I don't care so much that you know details but rather that you know how to research unforeseen problems.
February 15, 2013 at 9:05 am
I make sure to look for at least a touch of "customer service" skill no matter what the technical requirements may be.
It's also very important that someone be able to admit when they don't know the answer. BS will not get the job done - knowing how to research will.
February 15, 2013 at 9:46 am
I know that a candidate needs to present themselves well in an interview and be able to write SQL, or manage an instance, but when you are examining dozens of resumes, is there something that stands out?
When it comes to impressing potential employers with an accomplishment, then of course candidates should actually include mention of that impressive accomplishment (wether it's a large database migration or developing a data warehouse) on their resume instead of just listing their employment history and skillsets. Then be sure to bring it up during the interview. Everyone needs a narrative about their career that makes them stand out.
"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho
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