THIS. On Wed, Aug 19, 2015 at 1:30 AM, David Schwartz wrote: > Resumes are a horrid way to communicate one’s skills. Unfortunately, they > seem to be the best thing anybody has come up with. > > I had a screening interview with a recruiter yesterday. He spent 1/2 hour > going through my resume with me on the phone. He called it an “in-depth > look at my experience”. It was a farce. > > The position was for a “senior Delphi developer”. This guy apparently > knew nothing about Delphi, so he spent most of the time looking for > evidence of stuff that he DID know about, which seemed to be MS SQL Server. > > I have done so many different things over the years in the course of my > work and other side gigs that I have lots of talents I’ve accumulated that > cannot ever be expressed in a resume. > > For example, for over 10 years I managed my own Linux server that I had > set up at a co-lo facility. After it died the 2nd time, I dumped it and > just went to a reseller hosting account and have managed that for nearly a > decade now. At the moment, I’m switching over to a VPS. > > I’m pretty good at Linux admin, php, html, and related stuff. But I have > never had a “job” doing it. I’ve never been able to convince anybody to > even interview me for any kind of role where these skills are a > requirement. I’m no “superstar”, but I’m certainly competent. > > Why? I learned Unix back in the mid-80’s working at Motorola on the team > porting Unix System V Rel III to the 68020. They gave me a box and said, > “Here, learn how to make this sing and dance!” I did. Today recruiters say, > “1985? Man, that was 30 years ago!” Yeah, so? I still work with Linux > systems regularly, and it’s one reason I prefer working on Macs rather than > Windows, which I’ve used for over a decade now. > > I’ve had clients here and there where I helped them fix problems on their > wordpress sites that required me to use these skills. I’m working with > someone like that this week, in fact. I got referred to them b/c someone > posted a question in a wordpress forum asking for someone with Excel > expertise. Oh, there's another one … Excel. > > Anyway, when you “open” a .csv file, it usually opens in Excel, so this > person naturally figured it was an Excel issue. > > It turned out the data was wonky, and it took someone else 4 months to > discover it. I could see it the anomaly in the data after about 10 seconds. > This guy needed someone to fix it. Not at the spreadsheet level, but inside > the custom wordpress plugin that they paid a guy to write (in php) 6 months > ago; it’s counting things wrong, and the reports it’s putting out have a > column with incorrect data in them. > > It’s a nice little 30-40 hour project. If I included every one like this > on my resume that I’ve ever had, it would be 15-20 pages long! > > Nobody takes stuff like this into account. It’s impossible. > > I’ve yet to find someone who can suggest how to make it visible in any > useful way in my resume. > > I’m mainly a software developer. So they look for programming languages > and specific software tools. I learn new tools in a few hours when I need > to use them. Recruiters and HR people look for a job where you were using > them regularly for 3 years! > > Eg., I got denied a programming gig b/c the recruiter said the client was > insistent that they hire someone with at least 3-5 years of “demonstrable > hands-on experience using git”. I kid you not. This was just a programming > job where they used git as their VCS. > > Do any of you guys call out your VCS (git, svn, sccs, rcs, etc) experience > on YOUR resumes, other than in passing? > > This guy I talked to yesterday acted like he was looking for a MS SQL > Server DBA. All he seemed interested in was how much expertise I had with > SQL and TSQL. Not one single question was directed at Deplhi. But it was a > Delphi programming role. I doubt I’ll hear back; he simply didn’t know what > to look for, or what he was looking at, in my resume. > > When using Delphi to do what the job req seemed to describe, you spend > about 15-30 minutes composing a SQL query or stored proc, then about half a > day building a form to work with the data. But when you don’t understand > the role Delphi plays, all you can focus on is the SQL part, which in this > case is minimal. Yet it’s the gating item for this job — according to THIS > particular recruiter’s background. > > This is why resumes suck. Too often, the people reading them initially > have no clue what they’re looking at. These tend to be the same people who > are deciding whether to pass your resume along to someone who DOES know. > > So this guy will find someone with a shit-pile of SQL and TSQL expertise > who’s got some Delphi background and THAT person will get hired. > > BTW, he told me they’ve been having a difficult time keeping this position > filled. Anybody wonder why? > > -David "The Tool Wiz" Schwartz > > > > On Aug 18, 2015, at 9:43 PM, Alan Pratt wrote: > > I am an IT manager. When I have a position, the HR department scours > several sources for candidates the meet the criteria and requirements and > presents the resume of potentials to me. A resume is an absolute > requirement and needs to be complete, concise, accurate and is your face to > the hiring manager before you even get an interview. > > > On Tue, Aug 18, 2015 at 4:58 PM, Stephen M wrote: > >> I agree with Jerry. Although yes it is good to have some type of >> presence online you still need a resume.While social media has gotten >> bigger over the last few years nothing beats telling someone about >> were you been like a resume. I have a Linkdin profile and I will >> change it once in a while but I also update my resume every month or >> 2. Just depends on what you are looking for. >> >> On Tue, Aug 18, 2015 at 11:27 AM, Jerry Snitselaar >> wrote: >> > On Tue Aug 18 15, Bryan O'Neal wrote: >> >> >> >> Do people still use resumes? Seriously though LinkedIn and github >> >> professionals seem to be the modern trend. >> >> >> > >> > Even with those I think you still need a resume to pass along into >> > their system once the process starts. At least that was the case for >> > me with Oracle and Red Hat. >> > >> > If I was searching, I would probably tailor my resume to the position >> > while my Linkedin profile wouldn't change. >> > >> > Jerry >> > >> > --------------------------------------------------- >> > PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.phxlinux.org >> > To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: >> > http://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss >> >> >> >> -- >> Stephen Melheim >> 602-400-7707 >> SMelheim85@gmail.com >> --------------------------------------------------- >> PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.phxlinux.org >> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: >> http://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss >> > > --------------------------------------------------- > PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.phxlinux.org > To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: > http://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss > > > > --------------------------------------------------- > PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.phxlinux.org > To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: > http://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss >