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Great Writers Get Hired

It's not a guarantee that great writers get hired, but this interview with Basecamp CEO, Jason Fried, talks about their process selecting new employees. Recently they got 4,000 applications for 5 jobs, which is a lot, though not that unusual. As I talk with many human resources staff, they often talk about receiving hundreds of resumes for each job they post. With those types of odds, it is important that you find a way to stand out from the crowd.

While I suspect many people reviewing resumes don't review them all, it is possible that some do. Given the large workload, not much time is going to be spent looking at your resume or CV. This really means that it is important that your resume attracts attention and interests a reader. Your goal is to get someone thinking that you are a good candidate and worth hiring.

In some sense, this means you need to communicate well and write something interesting. Certainly you also want to apply early for a position. Why? Most resumes are boring, and as someone that has had to review them, I find my attention wavering as I go through them. I've wanted to do a good job and review all that are received for a position, but when you get over a hundred, I'm not sure that's even possible.

We are human, and our focus degrades over time. If you see essentially the same information over and over, it becomes hard to make good decisions about the differences. This is why a resume that stands out, is written well, and intrigues the reader is important. It's also why it's important to use networking and get submitted to places quickly.

Great writers get hired, or at least get opportunities. If for no other reason than because an HR staffer or hiring manager finds the first contact, the resume, to be interesting. Learn to write better, to communicate and showcase your skills, and you'll get more chances to interview and more opportunities to win the position.

Steve Jones - SSC Editor

Join the debate, and respond to today's editorial on the forums

 
 Featured Contents

A tale of updating a legacy system bug

bkubicek from SQLServerCentral

Even simple changes that don't look like they will affect anything often do.

SQL Server Security Best Practices for an Application Installed on SQL Server

Additional Articles from MSSQLTips.com

In this article we look at the steps you can follow to create a secure and locked down instance of SQL Server to only be used by the intended application on the same machine.

From the SQL Server Central Blogs - Easy Audit Index Changes

SQLRNNR from SQL RNNR

When looking for an easy method to audit Index changes, one of the first technologies to try really should be Extended Events (xevents).
Related Posts:

Implicit Conversion Insights with XE June...

From the SQL Server Central Blogs - Azure Synapse Analytics & Power BI concurrency

James Serra from James Serra's Blog

As a follow-up to my last blog, Azure Synapse Analytics & Power BI performance, I wanted to focus on concurrency when using these two products. A common question I...

 

 Question of the Day

Today's question (by Steve Jones - SSC Editor):

 

Changing Algorithms

I create a symmetric key in a SQL Server 2016 database. I use this code: 
CREATE SYMMETRIC KEY SalaryKey
WITH ALGORITHM = AES_256
, IDENTITY_VALUE = 'Salary Protection'
, KEY_SOURCE = 'Protect this from hackers'
ENCRYPTION BY PASSWORD = 'SomeReallyStr0ngP@ssword';
GO
I then use this to encrypt some data in a table: 
OPEN SYMMETRIC KEY SalaryKey DECRYPTION BY PASSWORD  = 'SomeReallyStr0ngP@ssword'

UPDATE dbo.Employees
 SET EncryptedSalary = ENCRYPTBYKEY(KEY_GUID('SalaryKey'), CAST(Salary AS VARCHAR(50)))
GO
I now transfer this data to a SQL Server 2017 database, into the same structure table. Now I run this: 
CREATE SYMMETRIC KEY SalaryKey
WITH ALGORITHM = AES_256
, IDENTITY_VALUE = 'Salary Protection'
, KEY_SOURCE = 'Protect this from hackers'
ENCRYPTION BY PASSWORD = 'SomeReallyStr0ngP@ssword';
GO
OPEN SYMMETRIC KEY SalaryKey DECRYPTION BY PASSWORD  = 'SomeReallyStr0ngP@ssword'
SELECT top 10
 e.EmpID
, e.EmpSSN
, e.Salary
, CAST(DECRYPTBYKEY(e.EncryptedSalary) AS VARCHAR(50)) AS DecryptedSalary
, e.EncryptedSalary
 FROM dbo.Employees AS e
GO
What is returned in the DecryptedSalary column?

Think you know the answer? Click here, and find out if you are right.

 

 

 Yesterday's Question of the Day (by Steve Jones - SSC Editor)

CHOOSing a value

I have code that looks like this:

DECLARE @i INT = 4;
SELECT CHOOSE(@i, 10,20,30,3.14,50,'Test')

What is returned?

Answer: 3.14

Explanation: CHOOSE() acts like an indexing mechanism into an array of values. In this case, the index is 4 (@i), and the 4th value is returned. Ref: CHOOSE() - https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/t-sql/functions/logical-functions-choose-transact-sql?view=sql-server-ver15

Discuss this question and answer on the forums

 

 

 

Database Pros Who Need Your Help

Here's a few of the new posts today on the forums. To see more, visit the forums.

SQL Server 2017 - Development
Query tweak - Is there any way to tweak the following query? Thanks ; WITH CTE AS ( SELECT DATEPART(QUARTER, GETDATE()) as 'Quarter', DATEPART(YEAR, GETDATE()) as 'Year' ) select Quarter,Year from CTE where Quarter IN (SELECT Quater from Quaters) AND Year IN (SELECT Year from Quaters)
SQL Server 2016 - Administration
Kerberos / SQL Service Accounts - Cluster - Hi, In single server setups I have always used a single domain account for SQL services and set up the relevant SPNs, specifically for IIS "double-hop" issues. I'm now supporting an existing 2016 cluster which has used different domain accounts for Agent and DB Engine services. Interestingly SPNs have only been setup for the domain […]
Listener timeout - Hello folks and happy new year! . I have a lab here at work and i ran into this issue regarding the Listener. This is an Always On Availability group lab i have and everything is going fine but there's an issue when connecting through the Listener. These are 2 SQL server 2016 EE […]
always on issue - After rebooting the server we are unable to see the always on group in secondary  and databases are in sync in primary AG, we did not find any errors in always on dashboard or in event viewr.  how can we bring the always on group again on secondary.    
SQL Server 2016 - Development and T-SQL
Error converting data type varchar to numeric. - , a.sku + p1.SHORT_DESC + ' ' + p1.LONG_DESC1 AS short_description sku is numeric the descriptions are nvarchar It works until I add the sku to the front then I get Error converting data type varchar to numeric. Any help is appreciated.
persisted computed column error - I'm trying to create a persisted computed column to make a distinct clause maybe a little faster here is my code ALTER TABLE xxx ADD groupset AS ( master_id+ company_code+FileLocation_FileBeginsWith +ISNULL(despatch_group,'') +CONVERT(varchar(100),ISNULL(despatch_group_start_date,'01/01/1900')) +CONVERT(varchar(100),ISNULL(despatch_group_end_date,'01/01/1900')) )PERSISTED but i'm getting an error that the column cannot be created as one or more of the columns is not deterministic […]
Administration - SQL Server 2014
Unable to attach database - I need to restore a sql database into a NEW database as I need just one table from it to update another.  I have the backup of the mdf file. I've tried unsuccessfully to attach, point to the mdf file, change the Attach as to Test, then remove the log from the bottom but it […]
Development - SQL Server 2014
convert FOR XML as text - hi, I would like to convert the result of a SELECT FOR XML query into a text field to be able to manipulate the result in my development language. if there is only one level for my xml. No problem. I use convert or cast as text and it's ok. But if i have more […]
SQL Server 2012 - T-SQL
Partition by and count - I'm trying to write a query that will count (N) all members within a specific city but without repeating the name of the city (N) times... any ideas to what is semi-working now?: SELECT city, COUNT(PeopleID) OVER(PARTITION BY city) AS CountOfCities FROM gcdf_DB..PeopleContactInfo
SQL Server 2019 - Administration
Setting flexible security for reporting - I have an increasing number of reports distributed to users. Managing the security is providing challenge. Reporting code is stored in a repository database on the same server the production DB. A user needs to have EXECUTE on stored procedures in the repository DB, though stored procedures that call SP's in the production DB, and the […]
error while install sql server 2019 - hi,   while install  microsoft machine learning components, i have error: there is a problem with this windows installer package . a program run as part of the setup did not finish as expected.contact your support personnel or package vendor thanks for any help.
SQL Server 2008 - General
Can't open Alert in SSMS - Cannot show requested dialog. - When I try to view the properties of an existing alert of try to use the ssms to add a new alert, I get the following error; Cannot show requested dialog. Additional information: Cannot show the requested dialog (SqlMgmt) --Failed to create/initialize Agent Alert dialog. (SqlManagerUI) ----Cannot create/initialize Response page. (SqlmanagerUI) --------Object reference not set […]
Code to extract data - Hi I'm trying to add some code into a query I have written which extracts the data and saves it in a certain file path on my network. Does anyone know a)if any code exists and b)what the structure of that code is?? Thanks in advance
Adding ranges to an existing partion function - I currently have the below code for partition scheme and function. Is the ALTER PARTITION SPLIT Range the best way to add additional ranges to the function? CREATE PARTITION SCHEME [ps_My_Rent] AS PARTITION [pfn_My_Rent] TO ([DB_DPARTITIONS_2012], [DB_DPARTITIONS_2013], [DB_DPARTITIONS_2014], [DB_DPARTITIONS_2015], [DB_DPARTITIONS_2016], [DB_DPARTITIONS_2017], [DB_DPARTITIONS_2018], [DB_DPARTITIONS_2019]) GO CREATE PARTITION FUNCTION [pfn_My_Rent](DATETIME) AS RANGE LEFT FOR VALUES (N'2012-01-01T00:00:00.000', N'2013-01-01T00:00:00.000', […]
Discussions about Books
Hi, having problem getting require result for exam - Hi, having problem getting require result for exam raul.chavez28 at yahoo dot com
 

 

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