Re[2]: Resume length

["Arlen P. Walker" <Arlen -dot- P -dot- Walker -at- JCI -dot- COM>]

      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'm getting the impression here that you're wanting to answer all the
interviewer's questions in the resume and cover. That can't be done. Their *job*
is coming up with questions to ask during the interview, so they'll *always*
have some questions. What should be in your resume and cover are the points you
want to be sure they remember.

They're going to talk to hundreds, perhaps thousands, at these fairs. Your job
is to put in the resume and cover what you want to be sure they know about you,
and then do your best in the interview to get your face and interview linked in
their mind with the paper, so when they pick up the paper again, they remember
the interview.

Generalities, I know. Hard to follow because not specific? Guilty. (Sort of like
"swing the bat and meet the ball just right, and you'll hit a home run.") But
it's hard to be specific about this. What makes you memorable to a particular
interviewer may not be anything related to your skills or poise. You might crack
a joke that's just right, and that sticks in the interviewer's head. (Or it
might be wrong, and stick there for that reason -- Bad Thing.)

If I had the perfect answer for resumes and interviews, I'd go on to and make
big bucks. I *can* tell you how *I* react to resumes. I figure the longer the
resume, the more conceited the applicant, and I wonder how the team will react
to the big ego I see coming. I don't automatically trash them, but I tend to
take an "OK, hotshot, you think you're so great? Prove it!" attitude. Again,
that's just me, and I am probably not par for this course (as has been pointed
out time and again). ;{>}

Have fun,
Arlen


Arlen -dot- P -dot- Walker -at- JCI -dot- Com
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