Subj : Re: Resume questions, how convey? (was: How much should I charge fo...) To : comp.programming From : Duane Bozarth Date : Thu Aug 25 2005 10:30 am "Robert Maas, see http://tinyurl.com/uh3t" wrote: > > > From: Tim X > > why the mixed case in the domain name > > It's easier to visually identify that various sub-words that way. > > > What about the year you graduated? > > Only an idiot would make it that easy for a potential employer to see > that I'm over 40 and toss my resume in the trash without even glancing > at the rest of it. You want me to be an idiot, I presume? No, but it's expected and when not given it's a dead giveaway, anyway. (Or worse, makes folks wonder if you did get that degree after all.) How are they not going to find out you're 60 when you show up for the interview, anyway? > > What about the courses you have done since (Java, C, Data structures etc) > > My 2005.June resume includes that information. My 1998 resume, and the > early-2003 rearrangement ... I'll repeat yet one more time--you need and should have only (1) current resume and get rid of and destroy any link to everything else ! > > > > - Among top five (in whole United States) in William Lowell Putnam > > > undergraduate mathematics competition > > Shorten the first one. > > How? Drop the puffery portion and unnecessary parenthetical phrase. Something like HONORS AND AWARDS - Top five William Lowell Putnam mathematics competition for undergraduates - ... > > > - Report on nuclear magnetic resonance relaxation published > > > - Report on English-language programming for robot published > > For the published papers, where were they published, when and in what? > That's not important in a resume. I'm just trying to get a programming > job. If they want more info about my published papers, they can ask me > during a telephone interview. In fact I was never told where the NMR > paper was published, and I wasn't given a pre-print as I was promised. That's in a resume--that's what a resume is--documentable performance and credentials. These accomplishments (if they are legitimate and I don't doubt you at least worked on the research which led to some papers) are almost the real credentials you have to sell yourself with. As I noted before, if you're going to list them at all, they need to be in a standard format with full citations. Even if (as I suspect) you were a junior author, that's fine--that's expected for one w/ only a BS working in an academic environment. If, otoh, as I'm beginning to suspect, you were not listed as a co-author, then the papers shouldn't be listed at all. Nor should they be if the were simply submitted but never published. .... > > Re-work this to give a better impression > > I don't know how. You'll have to help me. You have been told several ways to find and get help w/ this problem and continue to ignore it. No one here "has" to do anything for you--that you have had as much constructive criticsm w/ very little flaming is a credit to all who have gone out of their way to take the time to respond... I repeat yet again--go the public library and the employment offices of your local uni's and get examples of well-written resumes on sections and format and mirror content... .... > > Based on the above, I would assume you have no work experience at all, ... > I have more than 22 years experience writing software, including > several large useful projects. How can I best convey that in my resume > without boring the junior staff member whose job it is to screen > resumes, but without making it obvious I'm over 40 hence unemployable? If the first is true, then the latter is impossible -- one can't have >20 years experience and not be >40 years old. Trying to be what you can't be and to hide facts is a part of the problem you're having. As I and others have noted, attempting to find an entry-level job w/ outdated skills and no recent work history is a losing proposition in today's competitive environment. Someone else noted it ain't necessarily fair, but that's reality. .... > You couldn't tell that each resume deleted different items and inserted > different new items? Yes, but it's minor trivia trimmed from/added to a resume that sucks to start with...as noted before, you need to reform the whole thing into a standard recognized form , then you can (perhaps) tailor something w/ that as a starting point... I've not been able to fight my way through any of them more than superficially after the first quarter- to half-page. They're just catching--too wordy w/ inconsequential nit-picky detail, yet too lacking of major substance. And the lack of a standard format is disconcerting. .