§¬§С§Ь§У§а §Х§С §Я§Ц §г§Э§С§Ф§С§Ю§Ц §У §в§Ц§Щ§р§Ю§Ц§д§а (§а§д §У§й§Ц§в§С§к§Я§Ъ§с NY Times):

"I am an electrifying,
spirited, alluring, and amazing programmer who has been
known to defy gravity, wrestle anacondas (and win), and
type thousands of lines of error-free code with my left
hand only."


This article from NYTimes.com is available at
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/24/business/yourmoney/24JMAR.html?ex=1039237554&ei=1&en=08fb0f0f40b03a01




On a RЁ¦sumЁ¦, Don't Mention Moon Pies or Water Cannons

November 24, 2002
By DAVID KOEPPEL






When MTV Networks advertised a junior-level editorial
position that required a good eye for bad English, it was
inundated with nearly 800 applications - many riddled with
typographical, grammatical and spelling errors.

The incongruity is not quite so stark in other professions,
but the job of wading through all that paper is every bit
as frustrating. In one of the most competitive job markets
in recent years, human-resources employees, recruiters and
hiring managers say, nearly every opening in the
metropolitan area is generating a deluge of rЁ¦sumЁ¦s. And
yet, for all the how-to resources available on the Internet
and in bookstores, the submissions are often so amateurish
they sometimes make Mimi O'Connor, MTV's editorial manager,
want to "jump off the Brooklyn Bridge."

It isn't just the spelling mistakes, the recruiters say. It
is also poor formatting, exotic fonts, unnecessary personal
information and, worst of all, vague descriptions of
professional achievements. Do not just write that you
increased widget sales, experts say; say you increased them
by 25 percent, or by $2 million.

Also, they say, the days of the one-size-fits-all rЁ¦sumЁ¦
are over; applicants should customize each to match the job
opening.

"The biggest mistake that people are making is that their
rЁ¦sumЁ¦s have no real impact," said Martin Weitzman,
president of Gilbert Career RЁ¦sumЁ¦s in Manhattan. "People
need to establish their value. Many times accomplishments
aren't defined or focused. A good rЁ¦sumЁ¦ won't get you a
job, but it will get you in the door."

That is a crucial accomplishment these days, when even
people with impressive job records and impeccable
credentials can be lost in the shuffle.

Errors in spelling, typography and grammar topped the list
of rЁ¦sumЁ¦-writing sins singled out by 2,500 recruiters and
headhunters in a survey by RЁ¦sumЁ¦Doctor, a career-services
company in Burlington, Vt. But incomplete contact
information (some people actually forget to give their own
names and phone numbers), wordiness and meaningless
introductions also ranked high.

Some of the faux pas cited by these professionals, though
extreme examples of how not to do it, can nonetheless be
instructive. For example, one job hunter's statement that
he sought a job that would be less likely to give him panic
attacks than his old one and another applicant's request
that her letter be disregarded if anyone within the company
lacked a "pleasing personality," suggest that you should
focus on what you can do for the prospective employer, not
what the employer can do for you.

Similarly, personal information like one job seeker's
description of himself as a "single, white male" (which
prompted the hiring manager to ask, "Am I supposed to place
him or date him?") and another's boast that he loved to
play with his "17 children that resulted from 9 marriages"
argues strongly for eliminating extraneous data.

Using e-mail addresses like sonofsatan, hotlips and
imrbaby; enclosing a photo showing the applicant with his
children or pets or, in one case, dressed in a tuxedo and
sitting on a throne-like chair; listing achievements like
"able to fit a whole Moon Pie in my mouth" and "getting
shot 70 feet out of a water cannon"; and composing a rЁ¦sumЁ¦
in the form of a comic strip - all of these tactics made
poor impressions. Any form of cutesiness is generally a
losing proposition.

And so is overenthusiasm, as in: "I am an electrifying,
spirited, alluring, and amazing programmer who has been
known to defy gravity, wrestle anacondas (and win), and
type thousands of lines of error-free code with my left
hand only."

Almost as bad is unintelligibility, like this
buzzword-saturated job description: "As the Director of
Strategic Sales, my charter focuses on catalyzing the
relevant ecosystem to deliver optimized and synergized
solutions to my strategic E.U. customers."

How to do it right? Think of yourself as a salesman with
five seconds to make your pitch before a door is slammed in
your face. "Whether you're a C.P.A., an electrical engineer
or a nurse, you are your own product," said Michael
Worthington, the operations manager at RЁ¦sumЁ¦Doctor. "Some
hiring managers get 200 to 300 rЁ¦sumЁ¦s a day and will give
yours exactly 5 to 10 seconds. You've got to give them the
information they want on a silver platter."

Mr. Worthington recently received a 62-page treatise from a
college professor that seemingly included every paper he
had ever written. Had the professor highlighted his most
impressive achievements in two pages, he would have
received a better hearing, he said. Mr. Worthington
recommends using a professional rЁ¦sumЁ¦ service, or at least
getting another person to look at the material you plan to
send employers.

Even diligent souls who use the spelling checker on their
documents can make errors. Trudy Steinfield, the director
of New York University's career services center, recently
reviewed a personal trainer's rЁ¦sumЁ¦ that listed "personnel
trainer" as the applicant's occupation. And Eric Bacolas,
vice president for human resources at a large New York
advertising agency, was surprised to read the claim that an
applicant had bolstered employee "morals."

While being creative can sometimes score points with a
prospective employer, it is generally not recommended. Dan
Black, the tri-state director of campus recruiting for
Ernst & Young, the accounting firm, says one applicant's
decision to print his rЁ¦sumЁ¦ on blue paper with little
white clouds only annoyed him.

Many rЁ¦sumЁ¦ experts say anything unrelated to job
experience, professional organizations or education is a
distraction, and they counsel omitting information about
marital status, children, pets, religious affiliation or
political leanings. Even listing hobbies can backfire,
according to Mr. Weitzman of Gilbert RЁ¦sumЁ¦s. "If someone
writes his hobbies are gymnastics or skiing, I'm going to
think that this person is going to break his ankle and be
out of work for six weeks," he said.

Some recruiters are less hard-nosed. Susie Kurtz, a
Manhattan freelance recruiter for the advertising industry,
once received baby shoes attached to a rЁ¦sumЁ¦ that said, "I
want to get my foot in the door," and another time a box of
seeds and a note that proclaimed, "I want to grow with your
company." She found both to be clever tactics that helped
differentiate the candidates from dozens of others.

"In some creative careers, there's more leeway in how a
rЁ¦sumЁ¦ is written," she said.

Whatever the profession you are in, use terminology in your
rЁ¦sumЁ¦ that shows a familiarity with what you do, experts
say. If you are applying online for an accounting position,
for example, make sure your rЁ¦sumЁ¦ contains the words
"accountant" and "accounting" a few times.

Andrew Peck, a 31-year-old unemployed ad account executive
in Manhattan, lards his rЁ¦sumЁ¦ with terms like "leveraging
synergies" whose meaning he confesses is murky. That does
not bother him; in his view, a rЁ¦sumЁ¦ is just a calling
card.

"It's a first step, that proves your value in an industry
and demonstrates that you're worth talking to," he said.
"We live and die by a piece of paper that doesn't really
reflect who we are."