Document Formats and Recruiting

[Scott Prive]

I'd agree 100% -- and people who know me know I dislike the Microsoft monopoly.

My company makes UNIX servers based on Linux. When I applied, no document format was specified, so I sent both .rtf and .pdf. 

Had they specifically *requested* .doc, you bet your ass I would have given them one. To knowingly send a different format than requested is to shoot yourself in the foot. That's competition. :-)

I think it's foolish to judge a company by how technical their "administrative" staff is. I've spent 7 out of the last 11 years working in predominantly-UNIX environments, and they all have Microsoft-centric administrative folks. That's just the way it is.

Even *IF* the Linux desktop continues to improve and we see more "Linux everywhere" deployments over the next few years, you're still interfacing with non-technical people. All that will change is we have a desktop that meets their expectations without major retraining.

-Scott


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Chuck Young [mailto:chy at genuity.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, November 20, 2002 11:58 AM
> To: discuss at blu.org
> Subject: Document Formats and Recruiting
> 
> 
> I think you guys are asking a lot of staffing firms, HR and 
> "management".
> 
> Are U kidding?  Those folks typically don't know anything 
> beyond windows.
> 
> Direct managers and engineers may be cool, but the larger places
> are firmly entrenched in the current establishment, don't you think?
> It's just a tool.  Who cares what kind of car you drive?
> 
> What is important is that you can get your message across in 
> terms and formats
> they can easily understand; how you do it is irrelevant.
> 
> OK hit me for thinking and saying it out loud...
> 
> ---------------
> Chuck Young
> Security Consulting
> Genuity E-Services
> --------------------
> 
> > | I dunno that I'd want a job at a place that can't figure 
> out how to
> > | read an RTF file! Any more than I'd want a job at a place 
> that required
> > | me to wear a tie. I know in this climate it's hard for 
> beggars to be
> > | choosers, but ya gotta draw the line somewhere, don't you?)
> >
> > Well, I'd think that the real problem is:  If they want  MS
> > Word  format, that implies that they're pretty much a total
> > MS shop. If they really used other systems, they'd be aware
> > of the problems with Word docs.  So unless you're a Windows
> > hacker, you'd probably be a minor player with no connection
> > to management.
> 
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