July 15, 2023 at 12:00 am
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Keep your Resume Reasonable
July 15, 2023 at 2:35 pm
My most valuable lesson in the area of resumes and touting accomplishments came from a meeting with the president and co-owner of the company I worked for in 1974. One morning we were in his office for a short discussion and I attempted to 'bring him up to date' on what our department had recently accomplished. His simple response was to ask "What are you going to do for me today?"
That's been 49 years ago now, and I still remember his wisdom. Traditionally we all thought we needed to impress interviewers with our history. My advice now is to discover as much as you can about what your future employer is working on and doing, show your interest and enthusiasm for that, and express what you can offer and do for them to promote their needs.
If the interviewer REALLY wants to know about you ability with SQL Server 4.0, THEY'LL ASK YOU.
Rick
Disaster Recovery = Backup ( Backup ( Your Backup ) )
July 16, 2023 at 8:54 pm
My most valuable lesson in the area of resumes and touting accomplishments came from a meeting with the president and co-owner of the company I worked for in 1974. One morning we were in his office for a short discussion and I attempted to 'bring him up to date' on what our department had recently accomplished. His simple response was to ask "What are you going to do for me today?"
That's been 49 years ago now, and I still remember his wisdom. Traditionally we all thought we needed to impress interviewers with our history. My advice now is to discover as much as you can about what your future employer is working on and doing, show your interest and enthusiasm for that, and express what you can offer and do for them to promote their needs.
If the interviewer REALLY wants to know about you ability with SQL Server 4.0, THEY'LL ASK YOU.
I'm curious... what was your answer to your old boss' question?
I ask because I find that most bosses that ask such questions are really out of touch with their people and someone taught them they would seem to be smart if they asked such a question during such a meeting. I think they got it out of an old out of print book titled " 'How to be a Boss' for Dummies". 😉
It's like the bosses that say "Don't bring me problems... bring me solutions". While I understand the sentiment behind that, if I don't first bring you the bloody problem, how are you going to understand the solution I'm getting ready to ask you for funding for?
Heh... maybe I should reverse things on them... Hey, boss, I need an estimated 2 Years spread across 4 FTEs to do yadda, yadda, yadda. And they ask, why would we need to do that? My answer should be "You told me to bring you solutions... not problems". 😉
I'll also say that if you made an absolute killer fix using something as limited as SQL Server 4.0, then it's ok to bring it up as a proof of out-of-the-box thinking even way back then and you've been doing so every day since then. Think, "Ok... here's what I've done in the past... just imagine what I can do for you in the future". 😀 If you can't prove what you did in the past, how can you prove what you can do in the future? Remember... "how you think" and "how you solve previously unknown problems" is important in an interview.
--Jeff Moden
Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.
July 17, 2023 at 2:52 pm
skeleton567 wrote:My most valuable lesson in the area of resumes and touting accomplishments came from a meeting with the president and co-owner of the company I worked for in 1974. One morning we were in his office for a short discussion and I attempted to 'bring him up to date' on what our department had recently accomplished. His simple response was to ask "What are you going to do for me today?"
That's been 49 years ago now, and I still remember his wisdom. Traditionally we all thought we needed to impress interviewers with our history. My advice now is to discover as much as you can about what your future employer is working on and doing, show your interest and enthusiasm for that, and express what you can offer and do for them to promote their needs.
If the interviewer REALLY wants to know about you ability with SQL Server 4.0, THEY'LL ASK YOU.
I'm curious... what was your answer to your old boss' question?
Jeff, I honestly don't remember what my answer was. but I'll add this: Today my answer would be :
"If I ever get out of this silly-assed meeting I'll go find SOMETHING better to do for you."
Of course, I haven't worked in 13 years, so I'm not concerned...
Rick
Disaster Recovery = Backup ( Backup ( Your Backup ) )
July 17, 2023 at 3:35 pm
Your article reminded me a of an incident a few years back. The site I was working at was being closed, with everyone laid off. I traded resumes with another programmer there, with the intentions of improving mine for future interviews.
His resume was similar to how he programmed. Everything run together without form or reason. Passages that did not fit. Adding new learned skills to the end of the resume. The thing ran 11 pages of poorly worded accomplishments.
From my resume he took verbatim my forecasting skills section even though he had no experience. The company hired him was looking for forecasting. I'm not sure how it ended, but I know the company was upset with him.
July 17, 2023 at 6:02 pm
I remember working with one developer who was really good at BS. He even got into a position as a director but it only lasted about 3 months. Anyway, he tried to advise a junior developer to add anything the hiring company was looking for to your resume regardless of experience. He told the guy "If they ask for Java, add it in, even if you don't have the experience you can always google it and make it up later."
Needless to say, that advice was not welcomed by the junior but it explains a lot when I see a lot of developers who seem to have no idea how to perform the job they were hired for. Software design is an art and a talent that you can't just throw a warm body at like you can some assembly lines. Even in manufacturing, things like welding and painting are not trivial skills and take time, talent, and effort to master.
July 18, 2023 at 12:49 am
Jeff, I honestly don't remember what my answer was. but I'll add this: Today my answer would be :
"If I ever get out of this silly-assed meeting I'll go find SOMETHING better to do for you."
Heh... you sound like me. 😀 Well said, Rick.
--Jeff Moden
Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.
July 18, 2023 at 12:54 am
The company hired him was looking for forecasting. I'm not sure how it ended, but I know the company was upset with him.
Didn't they interview him? Given the choice, I even interview contractors regardless of source.
--Jeff Moden
Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.
July 18, 2023 at 1:20 pm
The 'tag cloud' of skills often seen on resumes or LinkedIn profiles may not be necessary and can even come across as cluttered and pretentious - but it's still an understandable adaptation by many folks to the reality that recruiters locate candidates by performing keyword searches across thousands of profiles. I agree that it's not useful to list every single version of SQL Server someone has experience with (or just heard of).
I typically list "SQL Server 2022 - 2000" and then follow that up by listing separately the following: "Azure SQL, T-SQL, SSIS, database administration, performance tuning, data warehousing", because it's not a given that someone with experience in SQL Server has actually used every feature or within a specific business domain. It highlights what genre of SQL Server professional I am. For the same reason, I'll also list other SQL Server adjacent tools that I routinely use on the job like: "PowerShell, SentryOne, Redgate, PowerBI, Git, Atlassian, Octopus, Grafana".
"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho
July 18, 2023 at 1:37 pm
Some people are exceptionally good at bovine scatology.
July 20, 2023 at 3:25 pm
You would think so. I know the guy thought forecasting is easy. It was the hiring company's fault. They seemed to be taking anyone from the closing site. Banking industry - the company closing their doors is a top bank and the hiring company was a bottom feeder.
I had offers from them myself but declined.
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