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--- "Carnall, Jane" <Jane -dot- Carnall -at- compaq -dot- com> wrote:
>
> Re. work experience: I've never seen the point of lying about tools.
> If someone asks me about a tool that I haven't used yet or have
> minimal experience with, I tell them upfront that no, I don't know
> how to use it yet, but that I have learned so *many* tools that I
> have complete confidence in my ability to learn any tool that they
> want me to use. That's one reason why I list all the stuff I've
> *ever* used in my CV, so that the agencies will pick up on it, but
> don't bother explicitly ordering every application by how well I know
> it - because that will come up at the interview. (Either
> the interviewer will ask me, or if s/he/it doesn't, I'll ask the
> interviewer...)
I do much the same thing, and for the same reasons. Listing the tools
I've used is less about bragging or working lots of different jobs and
types of jobs. It's more about having some information to back up the
claim that it's not what I know that is important so much as what I can
learn.
The other is to remember that a resume and a job description are the
starting point for more detailed discussions not the ending point. The
best jobs I've had were those I wasn't technically qualified for at the
start. I knew NOTHING about telecommunications other than how to use a
phone. But I was able to convince the interviewers that I could LEARN
their technology well enough to get the job done. The same was true
when I moved to a financial institution. Again, other than as a user I
didn't know the industry. But I've learned a lot since I got here. The
same with the tools. I had barely a passing familiarity with the
primary tool here, and I didn't know squat about HTML and online
documentation when I came here, but I do now.
I guess that's why I put so much emphasis on technical writer as
learner as well as communicator. Otherwise you're limited to what you
already know, and that's, among other things, boring. <g>
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