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Subject:Re: Non Tech Writing Experience on Resume? From:Tom Murrell <trmurrell -at- yahoo -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Mon, 23 Dec 2002 04:47:32 -0800 (PST)
Ester Willard wonders:
--- efwillard -at- mindspring -dot- com wrote:
>
> So now I wonder if I should be filling in the gap of time on my resume since
> Feb so employers know that I have not been sleeping all day long or is it
> just unnecessary fodder that will be simply extend my resume and annoy those
> who perhaps would have otherwise given me a chance?
I have long been an advocate for an objectives and accomplishments focused resume
rather than a chronologically organized resume. I think the best, most concise, and
most effective resumes focus on what you have accomplished that will be of interest
to prospective employers in the field for which you are seeking work. I offer one of
my own resumes as an example of how you can get around questions about gaps in
employment by shifting the focus to what you have accomplished in your Technical
Writing career (see http://home.columbus.rr.com/murrell/writer.html).
In this time where job and career changing is the norm, presenting a chronologically
organized resume can give out too many mixed signals to employers about what you can
do for them, which is their prime concern, and about how you are positioned to offer
them skills and accomplishments with which to judge you more beneficially for all
concerned.
Of course, I still maintain that your job finding will be greatly enhanced by using
a T-Letter approach to all employers and using your resume, focused on the
employer's needs, as a follow-up piece of information. (More on the T-Letter can be
found at http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/employmentarticles/tletter.html.)
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