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Subject:Re: Resume length From:Karen Kay <karenk -at- NETCOM -dot- COM> Date:Tue, 18 Oct 1994 16:11:45 -0700
Shelly LaRock said:
> When I said "specialized course work", I meant areas
> of concentrated study in addition to tech writing.
> These *are* listed under skills, but I don't know
> how in-depth I need to get with my skills.
If they relate to tech writing, they should go under your skills. If
they don't, then you need to rethink whether they belong on your
resume. I have four college degrees, none of which are in tech
writing, and while I include the degrees, I don't list the contents of
the courses.
> I've tried making my resume NOT look like a new
> college grad's, and the first thing I'm asked in
> interviews or at career fairs is what all of my
> GPA's are, whether I've had Calc IV, do I know
> how to use [insert name here] software, etc.
> I guess I'm just trying to figure out what it
> is a recruiter/interviewer wants to know from
> my resume.
I don't know anything about job fairs, so I can't speak to them. But I
would find it intensely weird if someone were to ask me about calculus
or my GPA in an interview. Asking if you know how to use a particular
software is relevant, of course, but it sounds like they haven't read
your resume.
As far as GPA's go, I'm fairly cynical about them. I flunked out of
college, and then came back and managed to get into Yale graduate
school with a 2.65 GPA. Impressive, I think, as is the fact that I
went to graduate school in Japanese without ever taking an
undergraduate course. But--none of this appears on my resume. I don't
think a GPA indicates too much by itself.
> But typical interviews on
> campus only last 25-30 minutes, which makes it
> kind of difficult to fit everything in.
This is only a first interview; you don't have to fit everything in. I
just read something recently--I can't remember where, it could even
have been here. That the only purpose of the resume is to get you an
interview. You don't *have* to put everything on it. That's what
interviews and second interviews are for.
