Re: Should resumes be perfect?

[John Posada <jposada -at- NOTES -dot- CC -dot- BELLCORE -dot- COM>]

Here's another example.  My department has a number of books published by a
person who claims and is believed to be "THE EXPERT" on Web page construction
and design.  He asks for great amounts of money to speak before groups and is
often keynote speaker at STC-type functions, etc.  The name would be instantly
recognizable to 90% of this list.

One day, I figured that I'd go see how the master did his web page.  What I
found was broken links and links to sites that were obsolete.  Hell, one of the
links was to a letter that the other site had posted telling a story about how
they were being restrained/sued by a company because the site appeared to be an
official page and it was not.

To me, his web site was his resume.

Now, does this happen to me and my web sites, sure, I guess it does.  However,
I don't expect to be paid huge amounts of money to speak, I don't write many
books per year, and I don't promote myself as an expert in that field.  With
the title of expert comes an greater degree of responsibility.  (OTOH, I
usually spell check my emails before I send them out.)

If you are claiming yourself as a tech writer, then get it as perfect as you
can.  If I receive something from someone that is not correct, I deduct
points.  I may not deduct enough points so that you fall below the next best
contender, but you might.

John Posada
Central NJ Employment Manager   -   Technical Proposal Writer
STC                                                       -   Bellcore
http://stc.org/region2/njc/                  -   (908) 699-5839

jposada -at- notes -dot- cc -dot- bellcore -dot- com (work)
http://www.bellcore.com (work)

jposada -at- injersey -dot- com (personal)
http://nj5.injersey.com/~jposada (personal)

"If you give a person a fish, they'll fish for a day.  But if you train a
person to fish, they'll fish for a lifetime."
 Vice President Dan Quayle 10/13/92
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I don't speak for my employer and they return the favor
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Here's an analogous situation. When I sold radio advertising, I had a client
who ran a brake and muffler shop. One day when I went to see him, he was
struggling to control his laughter. He'd posted an ad for a mechanic; the
first applicant drove up in a car that was falling apart and barely running.
That mechanic had a few "typos" in his "resume," didn't he?

In our field, our written work represents us the way that mechanic's car
represented him. He was claiming to be a professional, and his car belied
that claim. If I submit a resume and cover letter, they had better be
<I>perfect</I> or really close to it, if I'm claiming to be a professional
writer.

OK, in all fairness, a prospective employer might lose a gem by pitching an
error-filled resume; however, as a professional writer, I can't justify
sending a resume or cover letter with errors in it.

(Disclaimer: I haven't had an editor read this e-mail note. Any errors in it
are due to the e-mail program, the keyboard, or your e-mail program. This
note was perfect in my mind when I wrote it.) ;->
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Thom Remington    thomas -dot- f -dot- remingon -at- usa -dot- dupont -dot- com
DuPont External Affairs
Information Design & Development
http://www.dupont.com
Speaking for myself, not for DuPont.

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