Re: T-letter, a good, good, thing.

["Chuck Martin" <cm -at- writeforyou -dot- com>]

<dmbrown -at- brown-inc -dot- com> wrote in message news:218879 -at- techwr-l -dot-  -dot-  -dot- 
>
> k k wrote:
> >
> > I have been told by hiring personnel that the approach
> > was helpful because right off the bat it answered just
> > about all their questions about my skills. It's sort
> > of like showing them a portfolio.
>
> I can vouch for this approach.  Years ago, if a potential client wanted
> a resume or sample project, I'd send both as separate, linked WinHelp
> files on a floppy disk with a nice label that included instructions
> along my company's logo and contact info.
>
I was probably one of the first, if not the first, person to put my resume
in WinHelp format. I did this way, way back in about 1992 or so, right
around the time I entered my senior year. It got tons of raves from everyone
who saw it.

A couple of years later I was carting copies around on floppy disks
(remember those?) at a trade show (may have been Seybold). I was talking to
a member of the editorial staff of a computer publication about the
possibility of working there, and offered up one of my nicely labeled disks,
but it was refused. I was told that the person who would get it never
accepted electronic files because he was afraid of viruses.

I was going through a pile of old floppy disks a couple of months ago and
came across one with that old WinHelp resume. Takes me back to the days of
authoring in Word, writing WordBASIC macros, and creating binary file
output.

I also did my resume as a brochure for a time. I used to get catalogs from a
company called Paper Direct. which made papers for use in laser printers.
They had a really cool brochure with a computer theme. I ordered some and
designed a PageMaker template to fit the graphics on the paper. I then
poured in my resume content and tweakerd both the content and layout to fit
the format. I then took a couple of quotes from computer magazine reviews
that had praised User Guides I had written and put those on the brochure
cover. This also got a lot of praise and attention--but it had one problem,
one that I also reconized and compensated for: it was not scannable. So
while it showed off my skills, creativity, and out-of-the-box thinking (not
to mention meant I'd definitely be remembered), when I went to a job fair,
I'd ask if the company scanned resumes. If the answer was "yes." I'd pull
out the same resume content on plain white paper and leave them with both.
Always trying to anticipate user needs....

Now, I have my resume on my web site. I've taken to simply putting the URL
in a cover letter email unless the job poster specifically requests a resume
in text or Word or some such. On the resume entry page, I give viewers the
choice of viewing the resume in Word-generated HTML or PDF. I think it works
well: http://www.writeforyou.com/resume/. And I think recipients appreciate
their Inbox files not being so bloated by emails with attachments.

Eventually, the site will have well-scrubbed samples, plus lots of other
stuff. (My next goal is a thorough review--including usability--of my latest
gadget, a Rio Nitrus mp3 player.)

Chuck Martin



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