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> -----Original Message----- > From: Derek D. Martin [mailto:blu at sophic.org] > Sent: Monday, November 18, 2002 11:28 AM > To: Scott Prive > Cc: discuss at blu.org > Subject: Re: further random questions from the newly-unemployed > > > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > Hash: SHA1 > > At some point hitherto, Scott Prive hath spake thusly: > > This is a good point for everyone, and there's another reason for > > sending Microsoft formats (even if *not* requested): Document > > associations don't always work in Windows, and even if they do > > there's no guarantee they display as intended. Definitely don't send > > the document without an extension, and proof the document in MS Word > > for Windows. > > This makes another assumption that I find extremely irritating... > What if I don't have access to Microsoft Word? A rhetorical question: I'm just the messenger. :-) > As it happens, I do > now (it came with the laptop I'm typing this on -- though that's no > guarantee -- normally I blow away any MS partitions before I install > Linux), but for a very long time, I didn't. In the past, if I needed > to use Word for something, I'd have had to borrow a coworker's PC > (mine ran Linux, or Solaris before that (ultrasparc, not a PC)). > Proofing your resume is not the sort of thing you want to be doing on > an associate's system... For a short time I managed to have a Microsoft-free household. I had MS Word on Macintosh, which worked well enough... except documents from it didn't always import into MS Word for Windows. I learned to proof documents on another Windows box (-10 points for mentioning you have a Mac in any interview... this is still true today even if it's updated for OS X). Even if you're 100% Microsoft-free, everyone knows SOMEONE on Windows. > > I don't use Microsoft products. Period. At this point, the only use > I have for them is so headhunters can have a copy of my resume in word > format. Litterally. I no longer even play games with it, for the > most part. Having to keep it around for this purpose is a source of > irritation. > > > Lastly... and I've seen lots of this: SPELL CHECK. It should go > > without saying that spelling errors on a critical document shows a > > lack of "attention to detail". Don't expect a headhunter to proof it > > all they do is match keywords and slap their own letterhead on... > > While I strongly agree this is a good idea, I've recently discovered > that my resume had type-os (actually spell checker missed them -- the > type-o was a word). It's not the HR people that find them, as all > they do is scan for buzzwords. It's generally not even the hiring > manager that finds them, as IME they more-or-less do the same, albeit > visually. IME, it's the techies that find them. And, at least WRT > this, they don't really matter, because they are much more interested > in your technical skills than whether or not you spelled some random > word correctly on your resume... In the past I've been questioned on sloppy resume's. It's now a secondary goal to make sure it's clean. Automated "highlighting" of errors in apps like MS Word make it all the *easier* for someone else to finger your mistakes. That the critic might not have spotted the error wihout software assist is a moot point. Among computer geeks like us, technical skills rule... but you're trying to sell yourself to a group which almost always includes a non-technical decision-maker (who knows more about "Moby Dick" than /bin/sh). This is all part of the competition. > > - -- > Derek D. Martin > http://www.pizzashack.org/ > GPG Key ID: 0xDFBEAD02 > > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- > Version: GnuPG v1.0.7 (GNU/Linux) > > iD8DBQE92RUnHEnASN++rQIRAvesAJ0eyqrbQp+euymp2oLJaK+Jz6UWBQCeP+t/ > fLl8g9UWIt8NxqUVOneQKfQ= > =HF7x > -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- > >
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