Re: How do you respond to job ads?

["Staples, Lorrie" <Lorrie -dot- Staples -at- NEXTEL -dot- COM>]

You weren't the only one, Matthew!!  Some people have entirely too much
time on their hands to interview people just to browbeat them . . .
(what a bullying way to save a few bucks of salary!!)  If someone told
me that during the interview, they could just finish their sentence in
the room all alone, because I would have walked out.  Who wants to work
for someone starting off on the wrong foot like that??

He obviously doesn't work in a market where technical writers are at a
premium & it's tough to get & keep the good ones!

It's all supply & demand . . .  If you desperately need a technical
writer with certain skills and someone mails in a resume that is
absolutely to a "T" what you are looking for, you mean to say that you
wouldn't interview them because of samples or no cover letter???  Are
you nuts???

Another thought on this subject, have you ever stopped to think that
someone could send in samples that they didn't put together in entirety,
that they only had a small task involved, but are claiming full
responsibility for?  You won't be able to know their true abilities
until they are actually working for you and usually not for several
weeks!

Lorrie Staples
Technical Writer
Nextel Communications, Inc.
Norcross, GA

Lorrie -dot- Staples -at- nextel -dot- com


Horn, Matthew wrote:



I am basically appalled by what Andrew Plato President / Principal
Consultant of Anitian Consulting, Inc. had to say...

<<"Joe, your resume is very good and I am very impressed with your
skills.  I would like to hire you for this position.  However, the
advertisement for this position clearly asked for samples of work and
a cover letter, which you did not provide.<snip> In the future, please
make
sure to follow the directions in position advertisements." <snip>>>

<<It is a little mean, but it puts the applicant on the defensive.>>

Nothing like getting a working relationship off to a good start.

<<It also is a good way to pay them less than what you advertised.  You
can
say that the lower pay is a result of them not following the
directions in the advertisement.  If they can demonstrate they can do
good work, you will reconsider the pay in six months or something like
that.>>

When I am looking for work in the future, please, someone remind me not
to
send my resume to Anitian Consulting.

<<The fact is, people who do not follow directions should not be
rewarded with a job at the salary they want.>>

I guess they don't deserve that gold star on their final drafts they had
been hoping for, either. It sounds like you treat job-hunters with the
same
attitude that a third-grade teacher treats her students. If they miss a
deadline, do you rap their knuckles with a ruler?

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