February 15, 2013 at 10:01 am
Eric M Russell (2/15/2013)Everyone needs a narrative about their career that makes them stand out.
i agree, but the problem with that many times is that narrative turns out to be total BS. 😀
"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 10:20 am
TravisDBA (2/15/2013)
Eric M Russell (2/15/2013)Everyone needs a narrative about their career that makes them stand out.
i agree, but the problem with that many times is that narrative turns out to be total BS. 😀
Even if the narrative turns out to be BS most of the time, it's not necessarily a problem, if you discover it during the interview. For those candidates who manage to BS their way into a position, they can be motivated (or coerced by threat of termination) to live up their resume.
"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho
February 15, 2013 at 11:40 am
jhgoodwin (2/14/2013)
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.
well said
February 15, 2013 at 1:55 pm
Eric M Russell (2/15/2013)
TravisDBA (2/15/2013)
Eric M Russell (2/15/2013)Everyone needs a narrative about their career that makes them stand out.
i agree, but the problem with that many times is that narrative turns out to be total BS. 😀
Even if the narrative turns out to be BS most of the time, it's not necessarily a problem, if you discover it during the interview. For those candidates who manage to BS their way into a position, they can be motivated (or coerced by threat of termination) to live up their resume.
Maybe it works that way in the private sector, but in the government sector it is much more difficult to get rid of someone for that reason after they have already been hired. Even if there is a probation period, you have to have more than just saying "they are not living up to their resume". That's too vague. Particularly, if that person happens to be a minority. Now, if on the otherhand, they do not pass the background check or the drug test results don't come back until two weeks later, then that is a much different story. That is a clear cut reason for termination. It's just the way the government works nowadays and many times it is not always discovered in the interview either.. Coercing someone by threating to terminate them if they "don't live up to their resume" is considered harassment in the government sector and that can set them up for a lawsuit. Again, this is particularly so if the person in question is a minority.:-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 2:30 pm
TravisDBA (2/15/2013)
Eric M Russell (2/15/2013)
TravisDBA (2/15/2013)
Eric M Russell (2/15/2013)Everyone needs a narrative about their career that makes them stand out.
i agree, but the problem with that many times is that narrative turns out to be total BS. 😀
Even if the narrative turns out to be BS most of the time, it's not necessarily a problem, if you discover it during the interview. For those candidates who manage to BS their way into a position, they can be motivated (or coerced by threat of termination) to live up their resume.
Maybe it works that way in the private sector, but in the government sector it is much more difficult to get rid of someone for that reason after they have already been hired. Even if there is a probation period, you have to have more than just saying "they are not living up to their resume". That's too vague. Particularly, if that person happens to be a minority. Now, if on the otherhand, they do not pass the background check or the drug test results don't come back until two weeks later, then that is a much different story. That is a clear cut reason for termination. It's just the way the government works nowadays and many times it is not always discovered in the interview either.. Coercing someone by threating to terminate them if they "don't live up to their resume" is considered harassment in the government sector and that can set them up for a lawsuit. Again, this is particularly so if the person in question is a minority.:-D
I spent a few years on an IT consulting gigs for a federal agency. The staff are typically career government employees and / or have university degrees in scientific or government administration. If they want to hire someone for a specific project and set of technical skills, like building a data warehouse or website design, then it makes sense for them to farm it out to contractors. It's more economical in the long run, and for the reasons you've mentioned above, a lot easier to scale back team members if they don't measure up for some reason.
"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho
February 18, 2013 at 7:40 am
You can't reallistically farm out long-term IT technical support to outside contractors without it costing a bunch of money the government claims it doesn't have nowadays. IT support is 24X7x365 on most of our systems and most of them are in-house. 😀
"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 18, 2013 at 7:51 am
TravisDBA (2/18/2013)
You can't reallistically farm out long-term IT technical support to outside contractors without it costing a bunch of money the government claims it doesn't have nowadays. IT support is 24X7x365 on most of our systems and most of them are in-house. 😀
Agreed (and I work freelance). Ideally with careful permanent candidate selection and judicial use of temporary expertise one can improve the in-house skills whilst also maintaining a flexibly sized workforce at a sensible cost level.
Gaz
-- Stop your grinnin' and drop your linen...they're everywhere!!!
February 18, 2013 at 7:52 am
TravisDBA (2/18/2013)
You can't reallistically farm out long-term IT technical support to outside contractors without it costing a bunch of money the government claims it doesn't have nowadays. IT support is 24X7x365 on most of our systems and most of them are in-house. 😀
I agree that's it's not cost effective to farm out operational support and database administration, although there are companies that provide services like 24x7 monitoring and support. However, I thinking more along the lines of software development, website / SharePoint portal design, database design, etc.
"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho
February 18, 2013 at 8:20 am
Gary Varga (2/18/2013)
TravisDBA (2/18/2013)
You can't reallistically farm out long-term IT technical support to outside contractors without it costing a bunch of money the government claims it doesn't have nowadays. IT support is 24X7x365 on most of our systems and most of them are in-house. 😀Agreed (and I work freelance). Ideally with careful permanent candidate selection and judicial use of temporary expertise one can improve the in-house skills whilst also maintaining a flexibly sized workforce at a sensible cost level.
Agree Gary, with a very high emphasis on "careful permanent candidate selection". Also, a thorough reference check also helps weed out fraudlent advertisers as well, but its no guarantee a "poser' is not going to get through the gauntlet. Particularly, if management is more concentrated on personality instead. The technical people have been over-ridden many times from management before with comments like "Yes, I know he doesn't have the technical skills to do the job, but I like him". Turns out he was related to him. This stuff can and does happen, even today. 😀
"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 19, 2013 at 10:10 am
Been out a few days so I am late to the party here. The resume tome is the calling card plus. It is in deed a marketing tool as it should be your ticket to and interview. It has to be accurate, not deceptive, as complete as is appropriate, and pertinent to the hiring authority. Just taking your last resume from three years back and sprucing it up a little does not do justice to the prospective employer or your career.
If a job opportunity is worth sending in a resume because it is interesting, then you should send in an updated resume with information that sells you and your skills to the readers such that they will want to know more about what you have to offer, and you will get an interview.
As far as books go, if you have written a book, good!. If you have written a good book even better! But if you write a great resume that trumps a book.
🙂
Not all gray hairs are Dinosaurs!
February 21, 2013 at 9:19 am
I have read so many articles in the past on writing a great resume and not one of them, and I do mean not one of them, mentions anything about TELLING THE TRUTH! It's almost as if they encourage lieing on your resume. 😀
"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 22, 2013 at 1:56 am
TravisDBA (2/21/2013)
I have read so many articles in the past on writing a great resume and not one of them, and I do mean not one of them, mentions anything about TELLING THE TRUTH! It's almost as if they encourage lieing on your resume. 😀
I agree, however, the better articles only suggest highlighting the most relevant achievements and focussing on strengths etc. Surely some of the responsibility is on the author's own integrity. After all suggesting that someone focusses on the positives and leaves out the less positives (or some negatives) is not necessarily encouraging deception at all. An example is that if you were a junior member of a team and were allowed to silently attend in system architecture meetings saying that you were involved in the process is not untrue but saying you architected the system (even in part) is.
Gaz
-- Stop your grinnin' and drop your linen...they're everywhere!!!
February 22, 2013 at 9:49 am
Gary Varga (2/22/2013)
Surely some of the responsibility is on the author's own integrity. After all suggesting that someone focusses on the positives and leaves out the less positives (or some negatives) is not necessarily encouraging deception at all..
Gary, in many cases that's called "bragging", and the problem with that is most people don't know where to draw the line on doing it in a resume, which ends up crossing the line over into deception (lieing). Leaving that reponsibility totally in the hands of the author without doing extensive background and reference checking to back it up is like leaving bank security in the hands of a bank robber, and then just taking his/her word for it that its good to go.:-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 22, 2013 at 3:45 pm
TravisDBA (2/22/2013)
Gary Varga (2/22/2013)
Surely some of the responsibility is on the author's own integrity. After all suggesting that someone focusses on the positives and leaves out the less positives (or some negatives) is not necessarily encouraging deception at all..Gary, in many cases that's called "bragging", and the problem with that is most people don't know where to draw the line on doing it in a resume, which ends up crossing the line over into deception (lieing). Leaving that reponsibility totally in the hands of the author without doing extensive background and reference checking to back it up is like leaving bank security in the hands of a bank robber, and then just taking his/her word for it that its good to go.:-D
I am certainly not relieving the hirers from their duty just saying that any articles giving inappropriate advice regarding writing resumes / CVs does not excuse the authors in any way whatsoever.
As for the "bragging", just because someone is bragging doesn't mean it is wrong. If you can deliver then brag away. Otherwise it is lying. And wrong.
Gaz
-- Stop your grinnin' and drop your linen...they're everywhere!!!
September 9, 2016 at 2:56 am
On a resume/CV: If there are spelling mistakes, bad grammar or crazy formatting it will go on the no pile instantly. If I feel I am playing buzzword bingo that's also a no. If there is a section on personal interests then all the better 🙂
In an interview: Apart from technical competence, show some interest in the job. If I say "Do you have any questions for us?" then have some! My favourite questions that candidates asked were along the lines of "What will I be working on in my first 3 months" and "What is there to do in this area, where do people go for lunch?"
Ability to communicate (or lack thereof) can be a deciding factor. Remember an interview is a two way conversation!
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