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<<<<<1. Is it appropriate to tell your interviewer that you considered the
salary at your previous job low for that market? Or should you continue with
the "that salary was for that job and isn't appropriate here" line? I'm
currently very unhappy with what I'm making now, but I took the job for the
experience and am hoping for greener pastures elsewhere. Is this something
to tell interviewers, or should it be avoided?>>>>
I had a discussion this morning with one of our recruiters about this. I was
NOT asked about previous salary when I interviewed here, and was curious
about how he felt about this issue. First of all, understand that it is
perfectly legal to ask for this, and may be verified to a certain degree by
the former employer (or may not, depending on company policy about such
things). He also added that he felt salary offers should be based on
qualifications and the company's salary structure, not on previous salary
history, and went so far as to say that he thought asking for previous
salary history was unethical.
>From my own perspective, I might give the information, but it would soon
become clear to the interviewer that its irrelevant. What I was making from
a previous job WILL NOT determine what I need now to go to work for a
company. But I've been at this for a while, I know the market quite well,
and know I can pretty much get away with this.
<<<<<<2. I'm a relative newby, with 1.5 yrs full-time experience and 2
years part-time experience wrapped up in tech writing intern jobs during the
college years. Is it appropriate to move my education section to a lower
portion of my resume? I have worked for 3 (4 if I can include it!) companies
as a technical writer, so I do have experience enough to fill the gap (in
other words, there won't be a gaping hole!) but as I haven't worked
full-time for that long, I don't know if its appropriate yet to move the
education section. Ideas?>>>>>>>
Its not a matter of what's appropriate. It a matter of what will do the best
job of selling you to the prospective employer. From what you have
described, it may be time to move work experience to the top. And yes, DO
include your internships as work experience, just be clear that they were
internships.
cw
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Curtis Ward
DST Interactive
curtis_ward -at- dstinteractive -dot- com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Technology is not the important thing, the effects of technology on people
is."
Harlan Ellison
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