Heh! You reminded me of an incident that happened to me on a train a long time ago:
I was sitting in the Smoking Car (remember those?), waiting for the doors to close and for the train to move out, when a rather disheveled gentleman walked onto the car, looked up the aisle, looked down the aisle, said "you get cancer from smoking," and walked out.
I shared an amused grin with the person diagonally across the aisle from me, and said "You get cancer from people who say you get cancer from smoking."
Reminds me of story my girlfriend - who's in computer tech support - told me about her supervisor who, when asked by a user about seeing the other side of a PDF made from scanning a two-sided page, told the user, in perfect deadpan, to walk around their desk and look at the back of their (LCD) monitor.
My response to that would be to let all the errors go. And look for another job, because the company will be out of business soon.
Even with all that's being talked about here, there are plenty of companies out there know feel insulting prospective customers' intelligence is bad for business....
Heh - and it looks like I need to learn a few things myself! That should be "... companies out there that know insulting...."
No more closed minded than you arses that insist on sending that crap doc file format... docx.
Bullshit.
Students aren't creating Word documents because they're close-minded. They're creating Word documents because they have Word. It came with the machine. Or it came from Daddy's office. Or they're evil pirates and they got it from some torrent site.
Doesn't matter. The point is, the teacher can open Word documents more easily than the students can get another wordprocessor - yes, clicking "Open" is easier than downloading OOo. If LaTeX can't handle Word documents, why doesn't the teacher download OOo?
A previous poster was right - I hope my kids never have that teacher. "Computational physics" indeed.
Didn't we solve that problem by going digital? Isn't a 1 a 1, no matter how many times you copy it?
Isn't that why there's all this hullaballoo about DRM in the first place????
True, which is why the current vogue on TV seems to be starting a new season with some useless "recap" episode - but billing it as "All new episode - season premier!!!"
But then what the hell is someone like me supposed to do?
I look for a job: everyone says "You need an A+." So I go and get the A+.
(Parenthetically, getting the A+ was an expensive joke. They scheduled me for back-to-back tests with a 2-hour time period for each one. I get to the testing site 20 minutes early, pay the two-hundred-whatever fee, and I'm out of there in 12 minutes flat -- before my first testing period has even begun! -- having aced both tests.)
Then I look for a job, telling everyone I have an A+. No responses.
So then I go back to school, thinking I'll get an Associates Degree in computers. Well I got a job in the middle of my first year, and they want me to get a CCNA. I quit all my classes except the CCNA classes.
I leave the job (for various reasons not having to do with my technical skills -- and I decided to leave, they didn't get rid of me), and pass the test and get my CCNA.
So now I'm looking for a job and telling everyone I have an A+ and a CCNA. And I'm still not getting any responses.
And now you're telling me that doesn't matter?
Someone on here said they'd THROW OUT MY RESUME because I list my certs on them! But all the ads say they want the certs -- I'm damned if I do and I'm damned if I don't!
The fact is, I'm a very talented computer technician, with very good people skills. I speak well, I write well, I'm dependable and conscientious and have a good work ethic. I'm an avid learner and I LOVE this tech stuff. I rarely leave a problem unsolved, or a user unhappy.
But I'm 40 years old, so my age and my original degree -- a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre (so I was a theatre tech before I became a computer tech -- doesn't everyone have a past?) -- are things I have to figure out how to HIDE on my resume and job apps.
I can't PROVE I know my stuff, because the HR drone doesn't see 10 certs on my resume -- which the company ASKED for in their ad! -- so it doesn't even get to the hiring manager.
I can't SHOW any stuff because it's -- tech support! How do I put things I actually did on a resume? "I helped 27 users figure out how to use their scrollwheel" ???
If I tried to explain on my resume what I've done throughout my career, it would take pages -- but no no no! Only one page! Gotta grab their attention and leave them wanting more!
So I list where I've been and what I've done. I make it as succinct and informative as possible. I think it's impressive. Everyone I show it to thinks it's impressive. But... no responses.
Exactly how many more hoops am I supposed to jump through, or not jump through, or appear to have jumped through, or NOT appear to have jumped through, before I can talk to someone who knows where I'm coming from and can appreciate my skills and experience, and who I can reasonably convince I'm worth what I'm asking for?
I'm at the point now where I'd be willing to work for a month or two for free to prove I'm worth a decent salary, but again -- how do I communicate this without sounding desperate and pathetic?
Especially when I can't even get past HR?
I ask again: What the hell is someone like me supposed to do?
Here's one I saw in a college physics class a long time ago. I believe the scientific point was gravity's effect on the trajectory of a projectile. I seem to recall it was also an anecdotal reason why squirrels don't dive off a tree branch when they hear a gunshot.
A small metal hoop with a cloth bag attached was suspended from an electromagnet several feet in the air at one end of a stage. At the other end of the stage was a blowgun with a ball in it. At the end of the blowgun was a sensor -- triggered by the ball exiting the barrel -- which would cut off the electricity to the electromagnet holding the metal basket. IIRC, the blowgun was aimed directly at the center of the metal hoop.
The prof would blow through the blowgun, the hoop would drop, and the ball would end up inside the basket. Worked every time.
The wierdest thing was that you couldn't see the ball in flight.
Anyone willing to (constructively) critique?
on
Resume Tips For Jobs
·
· Score: 1
www.4jobs.com* allows a user to set up a home page with their coverletter, resume, references,
and even a "QandA" section to (I guess) get the more mundane parts of an interview out of the way.
If you've got something constructive to say, you're welcome to surf to:
Slashdot Mirror
Heh! You reminded me of an incident that happened to me on a train a long time ago:
I was sitting in the Smoking Car (remember those?), waiting for the doors to close and for the train to move out, when a rather disheveled gentleman walked onto the car, looked up the aisle, looked down the aisle, said "you get cancer from smoking," and walked out.
I shared an amused grin with the person diagonally across the aisle from me, and said "You get cancer from people who say you get cancer from smoking."
And we both cracked up.
That's very good.
Reminds me of story my girlfriend - who's in computer tech support - told me about her supervisor who, when asked by a user about seeing the other side of a PDF made from scanning a two-sided page, told the user, in perfect deadpan, to walk around their desk and look at the back of their (LCD) monitor.
My response to that would be to let all the errors go. And look for another job, because the company will be out of business soon.
Even with all that's being talked about here, there are plenty of companies out there know feel insulting prospective customers' intelligence is bad for business....
Heh - and it looks like I need to learn a few things myself! That should be "... companies out there that know insulting...."
No more closed minded than you arses that insist on sending that crap doc file format... docx.
Bullshit.
Students aren't creating Word documents because they're close-minded. They're creating Word documents because they have Word. It came with the machine. Or it came from Daddy's office. Or they're evil pirates and they got it from some torrent site.
Doesn't matter. The point is, the teacher can open Word documents more easily than the students can get another wordprocessor - yes, clicking "Open" is easier than downloading OOo. If LaTeX can't handle Word documents, why doesn't the teacher download OOo?
A previous poster was right - I hope my kids never have that teacher. "Computational physics" indeed.
Didn't we solve that problem by going digital? Isn't a 1 a 1, no matter how many times you copy it? Isn't that why there's all this hullaballoo about DRM in the first place????
True, which is why the current vogue on TV seems to be starting a new season with some useless "recap" episode - but billing it as "All new episode - season premier!!!"
But then what the hell is someone like me supposed to do?
I look for a job: everyone says "You need an A+." So I go and get the A+.
(Parenthetically, getting the A+ was an expensive joke. They scheduled me for back-to-back tests with a 2-hour time period for each one. I get to the testing site 20 minutes early, pay the two-hundred-whatever fee, and I'm out of there in 12 minutes flat -- before my first testing period has even begun! -- having aced both tests.)
Then I look for a job, telling everyone I have an A+. No responses.
So then I go back to school, thinking I'll get an Associates Degree in computers. Well I got a job in the middle of my first year, and they want me to get a CCNA. I quit all my classes except the CCNA classes.
I leave the job (for various reasons not having to do with my technical skills -- and I decided to leave, they didn't get rid of me), and pass the test and get my CCNA.
So now I'm looking for a job and telling everyone I have an A+ and a CCNA. And I'm still not getting any responses.
And now you're telling me that doesn't matter?
Someone on here said they'd THROW OUT MY RESUME because I list my certs on them! But all the ads say they want the certs -- I'm damned if I do and I'm damned if I don't!
The fact is, I'm a very talented computer technician, with very good people skills. I speak well, I write well, I'm dependable and conscientious and have a good work ethic. I'm an avid learner and I LOVE this tech stuff. I rarely leave a problem unsolved, or a user unhappy.
But I'm 40 years old, so my age and my original degree -- a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre (so I was a theatre tech before I became a computer tech -- doesn't everyone have a past?) -- are things I have to figure out how to HIDE on my resume and job apps.
I can't PROVE I know my stuff, because the HR drone doesn't see 10 certs on my resume -- which the company ASKED for in their ad! -- so it doesn't even get to the hiring manager.
I can't SHOW any stuff because it's -- tech support! How do I put things I actually did on a resume? "I helped 27 users figure out how to use their scrollwheel" ???
If I tried to explain on my resume what I've done throughout my career, it would take pages -- but no no no! Only one page! Gotta grab their attention and leave them wanting more!
So I list where I've been and what I've done. I make it as succinct and informative as possible. I think it's impressive. Everyone I show it to thinks it's impressive. But... no responses.
Exactly how many more hoops am I supposed to jump through, or not jump through, or appear to have jumped through, or NOT appear to have jumped through, before I can talk to someone who knows where I'm coming from and can appreciate my skills and experience, and who I can reasonably convince I'm worth what I'm asking for?
I'm at the point now where I'd be willing to work for a month or two for free to prove I'm worth a decent salary, but again -- how do I communicate this without sounding desperate and pathetic?
Especially when I can't even get past HR?
I ask again: What the hell is someone like me supposed to do?
Here's one I saw in a college physics class a long time ago. I believe the scientific point was gravity's effect on the trajectory of a projectile. I seem to recall it was also an anecdotal reason why squirrels don't dive off a tree branch when they hear a gunshot.
A small metal hoop with a cloth bag attached was suspended from an electromagnet several feet in the air at one end of a stage. At the other end of the stage was a blowgun with a ball in it. At the end of the blowgun was a sensor -- triggered by the ball exiting the barrel -- which would cut off the electricity to the electromagnet holding the metal basket. IIRC, the blowgun was aimed directly at the center of the metal hoop.
The prof would blow through the blowgun, the hoop would drop, and the ball would end up inside the basket. Worked every time.
The wierdest thing was that you couldn't see the ball in flight.
www.4jobs.com* allows a user to set up a home page with their coverletter, resume, references, and
even a "QandA" section to (I guess) get the more mundane parts of an interview out of the way.
If you've got something constructive to say, you're welcome to surf to:
www.4jobs.com/evanrichter
and email the address found there to let me know what you think.
If you REALLY like it, are hiring, and you're in Portland, please don't hesitate to give me a call!
* I am not now, nor have I ever been, associated in any way with 4Jobs -- except as a user!