urk!

I am in that industry, and it's funny that you mention this. I put an ad in for the job the other day and in the first 2 days alone I've gotten about 60 resumes. I've been kind of shocked. I'm not paying much. Only $24-$27/hr, but I've been flooded with resumes from very qualified people with tons of industry certifications. Some have PhDs or Master's degrees with a lot of experience too. I've been trying to figure out why they would take so little for this job. I don't think the market is that rough right now. I think they just want to work in a relaxed environment, or especially work for a tv producer. I think they want to be "discovered".

My advertisement requested that they send me their resume in Microsoft Word format. Some were sent to me in PDF format. I can open either of them, but if they can't follow simple instructions, I am thinking I should disqualify them even though the contents of the resume are impressive.

A lot of them have very funny names, but not funny in the way I was discussing earlier. I don't have any Frank N. Steins, Lemonjello, Ocean, etc. names, but I've got a lot of very foreign ones. I don't discriminate on those kind of names, just the freak names by cruel parents.

In my personal point of view, hands-on experience is worth more than classroom education, certifications, or a college degree. I can tell within 2 minutes of an interview if someone is a poser or the real deal. If you've got hands-on experience you'll stand out in a crowd. A lot of people pad their resume or learn buzzwords hoping to get their foot in the door. I can spot these guys a mile away. Of the few that slipped through, I told them when they arrived for the first day of work, I'd give them 3 days to show me their stuff and if they can't hit the ground running or show me they know what to do, they'd be gone. Some didn't get past lunch on the first day.

If someone wants a document in MS Word format, I also send it in PDF, just in case they have a different version of Word.

Another bonus is that PDF opens way faster than a Word document, if you're not using Adobe Reader.

Grad school is over in three months... about time to polish my resume and start sending it out again... bah...

Spelling is important in your résumé. Even in the modern world there are still people out there who will bin a résumé that doesn't have the acute accents on both e's. Spelling is still used as a measurement of general level of education by many even though such a measurement is not usually accurate. You could have ten years of education and experience, but some employers won't even let you in the door for a first interview if you spell "separate" with three e's.

If your spelling is not top-notch, do not rely on a spelling checker, either for the résumé itself or the covering letter. Many spelling checkers are not able to tell if a word is used correctly, thus they will let through incorrectly-spelt words that happen to match the spelling of another word. For example, spelling checkers cannot distinguish which of "weather", "whether" and "wether" is the right word to use in a particular sentence. Spelling checkers are also limited by the contents of their dictionary and may not recognise some technical terms even if they are spelt correctly.

I suggest that you have someone else who is a good speller proof-read your résumé and covering letter for spelling, grammar and punctuation.

In IT, a sound grasp of spelling is important if you are writing applications that are sold to the general public, or are writing library functions that are going to be used by others. It is less important for system administration, although it helps to have a dictionary on hand if you need to write a Message of the Day or emailed memo.

Do you have a checkbox about parentage?

Application form for working for Radar for peanuts

Name: last___________ first_____________ middle initial___
Is that your real name? Y/N (circle one)
Are you shitting me? Y/N (circle one)
Are your parents
___twisted and cruel
___uninformed
___African American
___foreign so it's not actually a cruel name where they come from
(check all that apply and mark your application form SPAM. Unless that is your name.)

;)

What not to do.:headshake

I've got my resume sanitized and completely professional.

I'm wondering if I shouldn't sneak a little personality back in there.

Your personality? Better think on that. :stickpoke

That's a fair point. I thought about it and decided against it.

Someone else's would be cool though... then you could add "channeling" to your skill set.....

Crikey me! A sterling example of how the Cellar educates me.
I had to look wether up on dictionary.com.
I now know the correct word for a castrated ram. Thank you.

Did you for a moment imagine that we would steer you wrong? Bull!

Shit. Cover letter?

Dear Sir/Madam,

Flint was not able to turnin the job application like you wanted because the cat was sick on it and I only had a 2c stamp. Please excuse him from the cover letter part of his application, it was not his fault.

signed My Mom

Gawd, I hate cover letters. It totally depends on how you're sending in the resume, IMHO. If it's an email submission, you have to have something because a blank email with an attachment is just weird. In that case I think short and straightforward is best. "I am a [job title] in the [city] area with [number] years experience in [thing 1], [thing 2] and [thing 3], and believe I would make an excellent candidate for your recent job posting."

If you're actually mailing it in, a longer one might be more appropriate. Write it as if you're answering the question, "What makes you an ideal candidate for this position?" and just hit the highlights. If your personality should be allowed anywhere, it's the cover letter, but never too much. :)