Re: Non Tech Writing Experience on Resume?

[Tom Murrell <trmurrell -at- yahoo -dot- com>]

Emily,

I hope you're not surprised that I agree with what you say. As far as I know, there
is no 'magic bullet' for getting a new job. I've seen very good looking resumes,
chock full of all sorts of accomplishments, abilities, skills, and knowledge NOT get
someone a job, and I've seen people get jobs with resumes so bad *I* would have been
embarrassed to have my name on them. (But then they weren't MY resumes, so I didn't
have to be embarrassed.)

I believe I made a couple of points about the T-Letter that are worth repeating.
Nobody hires based solely on a resume or a cover letter for that matter. Ultimately,
we get hired out of the interview process. The objective of the T-Letter (or resume)
is to get the interview.

My second point is that I have found the T-Letter approach really upped my 'hit
rate,' that is, the number of jobs I respond to that lead to an interview. I've
never been at 100%, nor do I know anyone who has. I'm just a big believer in an
approach that increased my applications-to-interviews ratio substantially.

Yes, there are companies out there who trash anything that doesn't meet their
exacting requirements. I hate to generalize, but I will to this extent: I suspect
that I would not be a good fit at a company more interested in meeting requirements
or fitting in than in finding someone who will get the job done, get it done well,
and get it done on time. But that's how I evaluate it; YMMV.

One final thought: I note from your comments that several of those companies who
were suspicious of your real qualifications or experience did call you for
follow-up. In my book, that counts as a win. Your T-Letter resulted in a
conversation as opposed to either a form rejection or, more likely, no response at
all.

Oh, and I ALWAYS follow-up a T-Letter with a resume. I take a resume focused on that
company's specific needs to the interview and make sure to leave it with the
interviewers. I treat it as my sales brochure for that client. But I must confess
that it is true that I don't have and don't anticipate putting together a
chronologically organized resume for anyone. To me, it's not worth the time or
effort.

Tom Murrell

--- Emily Berk <emily -at- armadillosoft -dot- com> wrote:
> 
> Hey, Tom:
> 
> I find that your t-letter format addressed my chronological issue (as a
> consultant, I have worked on many projects simultaneously, discontinuously, some
> for long periods, some for short) while allowing me to focus on the skills and
> experience that qualify me for any particular job.
> 
> On the other hand, I have gotten a great deal of push-back on the t-letter, even
> from people who wanted to hire me.  Perhaps this is because of the current state
> of the market.  On the other hand, people have specifically told me that their
> initial reaction was that I must have chosen the t-letter because I lacked real
> experience at real companies.  They often insist on a chronological resume as
> follow-up before they are willing to speak with me.  (Or, they speak with me, are
> convinced I can do the job, but want a chronological resume to present to their
> boss or HR or the team.)
> 
> Usually, once they see my clips, they know I can do the work.  But I do think that
> the t-letter CAN be off-putting to certain audiences...
> 
> Thanks for publicizing this format.  Again, I am a believer and I use this format.
>  But as with anything else, there are some downsides to the t-letter.
> 
> --Emily

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