TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:Re: Limited Experience on Resumes From:Caryn Rizell <caryn -at- HPPTC95 -dot- ROSE -dot- HP -dot- COM> Date:Wed, 9 Nov 1994 12:30:11 PST
Use a functional resume instead of a chronological resume.
Even though I have 5+ years experience as a tech writer, I
still use the functional resume because it lets me show
my functional accomplishments rather than my job experience.
If you do this, you can include experience not related
to a paying job
If you just want to show that you know a lot of tools, list
them in a tools section of your resume. when I write about
my accomplishments I do not say what I did it on. I leave
that for the interview and for the appropriate section on
the resume.
Does that help?
Caryn Rizell
caryn -at- hpptc95 -dot- rose -dot- hp -dot- com
> How do you handle limited experience on a resume?
> Case 1. I'm a died-in-the wool DOS-Windows-OS/2er, but about 4 years ago
> I worked for a year doing a monthly newsletter for my church. This was
> done on a Mac, and I got some solid Mac experience, but it was limited
> and did not involve tech pubs.
> Case 2. Part of my company's product is on a mainframe. I have a 3270
> emulation window on my workstation. I can muck around TSO to find the
> dataset I need, log on to a CICS region, use RECEIVE downlad a text
> file to my workstation (if I concentrate), use Memo etc., but I'm
> no MVS whiz.
> How do I (or do I) list these things on my resume?
> Mike Christie
> Technical Writer
> Syntelligence Systems, Inc.
> mikec -at- syntel -dot- com