From: afisher@netcom.com (Alan Fisher)
Subject: Advice from a hiring manager on resumes
Keywords: Advice
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services  (408 241-9760 guest) 
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1992 22:49:49 GMT

(This was originally posted on misc.jobs.offered, but I hear this is the
right bboard for this one.  With minor modifications to my original
post in [square brackets] -- based on the ton of replies I received, 
here it is again on this bboard)

(This advice is my opinion.  Other managers may look at it differently.)

I have seen hundreds of resumes in the past few months and can't believe how
poor the resumes look like.  I am not talking about the qualifications of a
person --- just the formatting and the amount of useless stuff on the resumes.
Here are some very very simple things to do:

1.  Read your resume after you write it.  I can't believe how many incomplete
sentences or spelling mistakes there are on the resumes.  If English is not
your first language (like me), have somebody else proofread the resume.

2.  If you are sending your resume by e-mail, make sure each line of he resume
does NOT exceed 80 characters.  I am not going to sit here  and reformat your 
resume.

The underlying theme of the following points is:
	Don't state the obvious or the useless
	
3. 95 percent of resumes have the following objective:
	I am looking for a CHALLENGING position in .....
Do you know of an employer who thinks he/she is offering a non-challenging
position?  Just put a simple objective like "A position as a software engineer
with emphasis in Graphical User Interface design and development".  Unless
you have a very specific objective from which you do not want to deviate,
don't even write an Objective.  I have seen resumes like: "A position as 
a hardware or software engineer in design, development or technical support."
Make up your mind!!  No matter how good, he is not getting an offer from me.

4. 70% of resumes include hobbies and other outside interests.  Unless you are
world class material in one or more sports or some other extra-curricular
activity, this is a waste of space and waste of my time scanning through the
resumes.
[Most people replied that hobbies and interests could be useful (e.g., a
ham radio operator found an electrical engineering job by mentioning it.)
Obviously related things should be mentioned.  But just because you play
tennis really has no implication of whether you are qualified or not
for this job.  Some people mention that it is a good area to break the ice
in the interview.  Good point -- but I don't care for it much]

5. Every resume contains "References furnished on request".  Again a waste of
space.  I assume references will be furnished if I ask for them.  
Why state the obvious?

6. In the software resumes I look at, I always see the lines like the 
following:

Languages:  C, C++, BASIC, Pascal, Ada, Lisp, CommonLisp, SNOBOL, PL/I, COBOL, 
ALGOL, Make, SED, YACC, LEX, blah, blah, blah

Systems: IBM PC, Macintosh, IBM 360, HP 9000, VAX 8820/VMS V5.5-1,
SUN Sparcstation/SunOS 4.1, SGI/IRIS Release 4.0.1 System V, 
NeXTStation/Mach 2.1, IBM PC/MINIX 1.3, CP/M, Osborne,.....
	
I can't believe people write every language and system that they have ever
touched and glanced at in the hopes that somebody somewhere might look at it
and immediately pick up the phone and call them.  Either you are the Jack of
all and master of none   or   you just couldn't stick to one thing long
enough to be proficient in it.

Also, I assume that if you know one or two languages, and you are any good,
you will be able to pick up anything new that comes along.

Just write the two or three (yes, ONLY two or three) languages and systems you
are most proficient in -- and say that.  Something like the following would
be most useful:

Most Proficient Languages: C (3 Years), C++ (1 Year).
Most Proficient Development Environments:  Windows SDK (3 Years),  
		X-Windows (1 Year)
Most Proficient Systems:  IBM-PC (4 Years), Sun Sparcstation (2 Years).

Make sure these times are not since you first touched the system, but are 
the amount of person months/years you have spent day in and day out using them.

[Some people mentioned that this could be useful information in some cases.
For example, if you are applying for a system administrator position,
this could be very useful if you know a number of HW/SW. So use common
sense guys, if you really think your ALGOL experience is really necessary 
in this day and age, mention it.]


7. If you are looking for two different types of positions (e.g.,  hardware
and software), write two different resumes and mail them as appropriate.
I see resumes where people try to point out anything and everything on one
resume.  If I look at a resume like that, I'd say to myself that this guy 
doesn't know what he wants to do in life and he just attached every kind of
bait to his fishing pole in the hope that something or anything will bite.

The next two points are related to cover letters.  If there is a cover
letter, I always read it first.  If I don't like the cover letter, I 
don't even read the resume.

8. Try writing a cover letter if possible.  I have seen resumes where 
people write by hand something on top of the resumes -- like "In reference
to your ad in San Jose Mercury News".  If you can't write a cover letter
or don't want to, just DON'T write one and send the resume in by itself.
A handwritten but separate cover letter is just fine and much better
than writing on top of the resume.

9. If you write a cover letter, please customize it to the company and
position you are mailing it to.  Otherwise DON'T write the cover letter.
And be honest and straightforward.  I have seen numerous letters where
people have used sentences like: "I would love to work for a world class
company like yours."  Instead say what you can do to make my company a
world class company or keep it one if it already is.  Something like
this would be great:  "Because of my experience in C++ and Microsoft Windows
Foundation Classes, I can immediately contribute to your ongoing projects."

10.  Leave lots of open space on your resume.  I'd rather see a one page
resume than a two page one.  And I'd rather see a clean resume that touches
on the highlights than a resume that does not have any space wasted and
mentions every system and language that you ever heard of regardless of
whether you even wrote a single line of code in it or not.

11. Finally, if you don't have anything to write, DON'T fill the space will
some useless filler.  Just leave the space blank.

Remember the goal of a resume is to get a phone interview.  The resume
is not supposed to be your complete life history whether relevant or not to
the position you are applying for.  It is supposed to stand out from the
other resumes not bore the reader to death with useless information.

---and again please don't forget to read your own resume.  You won't believe
how many spelling miskates you made or incomplete sentences you

[Running your resume through a spell checker is not sufficient.  Just
look at point #11 -- "will" should really be "with"; or #2 where the
"he" should be "the" -- but it passed the spell checker test!!!]

[Lots of people asked me what a fresh graduate should do.  You know, there
are a lot of companies looking for "Indians" and not "Chiefs".  So
just because you have just a little experience does not necessarily
exclude you from consideration.  The problem is that every resume
looks like every other -- i.e. every one has experience with everything --
so I am faced with calling tens of people to find out who really has
got some experience and who has heard of something and put it on the
resume as something he/she knows about]

[I received a lot more comments. When I get a little more time, I'll try
to collect and post a summary of reponses]

[I hope this was useful.  This message is more a reflection of my
frustration since all resumes look exactly the same  but the levels
of experience and familarity of the different people are quite different].


Razi

-- 
Alan Fisher/Razi Mohiuddin
Software Partners, Inc.  953 Industrial Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94303
Email: afisher@netcom.com;     Phone: (415) 857-1110;      Fax: 415-857-1404
Newsgroups: misc.jobs.misc