Site FeedPalimpsest has moved. Please visit our blog in its new location for the most recent posts from Scriptorium.
Palimpsest
How to Get a Job
Monday, March 09, 2009 — posted by Sarah O'Keefe
[update to correct bad links]This is the best advice for job seekers I've ever seen. India Amos writes about her pile of resumes:
And do you want to know what’s the most striking thing about most of these hopefuls? They are completely wasting their time. And mine, of course, but mostly their own. Because they’re not only not going to get a job with me, they’re not going to get a job with anyone unless that person is as slovenly and illiterate as these applicants.She proceeds to offer some excellent advice in numerous categories. Here are some excerpts from a lengthy list about formatting:
- Learn to use style sheets, so that you can make your heading styles consistent. If you choose to ignore my request for a PDF résumé, try to make sure your Word attachment doesn’t demonstrate to me what a slob you are, formatting everything locally and aligning text using spaces instead of tabs.
- Don’t Capitalize Everything. I Cannot Emphasize This Enough. It Makes You Look Like a 419 Scammer.
- Violet 9pt Arial is probably not a good choice for anything.
Related to this: How Not to Get a Job (Palimpsest, December 2007)
Of course, in today's economy, lots of people need jobs. So here is some long-promised advice on how to get a job:
- Apply for jobs where your skillset is relevant. In this job market, with tons of job seekers, you are unlikely to get the "stretch" position. So, look for positions that are equivalent to your last position, that you are uniquely qualified for, or that you are slightly overqualified for. For instance, let's say you are a technical writer with five years of experience and "the usual" complement of technical skills. What is your unique qualification? If you speak some Japanese, look for Japanese companies where your language skills might be useful. If your undergraduate degree is in music, look for a company that makes music software or products related to music. In other words, look for a position where your outside interests are also relevant. But, at a minimum, apply only for positions that you are reasonably qualified for. It's tempting, especially when you really need a job Right Now, to take the firehose approach and spray resumes everywhere. It doesn't work. Focus your job search and send out a smaller number of really good applications.
- Do your homework. Before contacting the company, investigate. Read their web site, read any recent news coverage. Look them up on LinkedIn and see if you know anyone in the organization. (You are on LinkedIn, right?) Use the information you find to make your application more relevant. If you get an interview, do more homework before the interview.
- When you apply for the job, follow the #!%$#!%#! instructions. If asked for PDF, provide PDF. If asked for Word, provide Word. Et cetera.
- Submit resumes online. Paper and snail mail takes too long. By the time your resume arrives by mail, the position could be filled. Also, dropping off your resume in person? Creepy and needy. (One exception: If you know someone at the organization and they are willing to deliver the resume for you. Even then, I would recommend sending your contact email with the resume and asking him or her to forward it.)
- Whether it is requested or not, write a cover letter. The cover letter should be the body of your email and not an attachment. Follow Ms. Amos's excellent advice. You might also use a T letter as your cover letter, but do send the resume. Tom Murrell describes the T letter in detail in his article Get More Interviews with a T-letter. But again, I disagree with his advice to leave out the resume. If you are instructed to send a resume, send a resume.
- Show up on time for any in-person interview. If possible, do a dry run the day before to locate the building. Or plan to arrive very early. There are worse things than sitting in a nearby coffee shop for half an hour. (Don't chug too much coffee.)
(India Amos via words / myth / ampersand & virgule)
Labels: jobs
10:19 AM Permalink | |
How Not to Get a Job, Part 2
Monday, December 17, 2007 — posted by Alan Pringle
I would like to add some points to Sarah's list of poor job-seeking techniques:- Don't put an email address in your contact information if it contains some variation of a celebrity's name. It comes across as unprofessional (and a tad creepy, to be honest). Use some variation of your name and initials.
- Don't claim to do work you didn't do at a previous job, particularly when you're sending a resume to the person who actually did that work in the time period you specified. (Yes, that happened during our last round of resumes; I didn't react too well to seeing my work on another person's resume.)
- If the posting for a job says no phone calls, do not call about the job. Also, if you work for a staffing agency and call about a job posting that is labeled "principals only," you earn whatever curt responses you may encounter when you call the company or send swarms of email.
Labels: jobs
7:40 AM Permalink | |
How Not to Get a Job
Wednesday, December 12, 2007 — posted by Sarah
We currently have two job openings, so I am getting resumes. Lots of resumes. Resumes by the pound.And the vast majority of applicants are making some really dumb mistakes. For instance:
- No cover letter. A resume sent without a cover letter tells me that the applicant is not sufficiently interested to invest a few minutes in writing a decent cover letter. If you don't care enough to write a cover letter, don't bother applying.
- Cover letter for the wrong position. Of the resumes that did arrived with cover letters, about one third (!!!!) referenced a position at a different company. Several letters arrived looking something like this:
I am very interested in the position of [Not Our Position Name], especially since I am so interested in the [Not Us] industry. As you can see from my resume, I am very detail-oriented.
It's not good when your resume makes me snort.
- When your phone rings, don't sound hung over when you answer it, especially if the phone rings at a time when you have arranged to be interviewed by phone.
- When asked what you know about the company during an scheduled interview (as opposed to a random call), the correct answer is not, "Uh, I haven't really had time to look at your web site." If you're not motivated enough to do 10 minutes of research when you're looking for a job, what do you think that tells me about your future job performance?
Happily, we also have a couple of excellent candidates, and I will try to put up a post on How To Get a Job after the holidays.
Labels: jobs
12:59 PM Permalink | |
We need help. Again.
Friday, November 16, 2007 — posted by Sarah
It's getting to be a habit to post requests for help. Once again, we find ourselves with too many projects and not enough people. (Which is a great deal more pleasant than the opposite problem.)This time, we are looking for help on specific projects, so we're looking for contractors, and we will consider non-locals.
The job requirements are the usual miracle worker stuff. Here is a synopsis:
- Expert knowledge of XML, DITA, XSL, DITA-OT, and other standards-based publishing tools and technologies
- Experience implementing XML and content management
- [...]
- Available for up to 40 percent travel
Labels: jobs
2:54 PM Permalink | |
Are you interested in consulting as a career?
Friday, October 05, 2007 — posted by Sarah
We have just opened up a job posting for an entry-level Editorial Assistant. Let me warn you that this job is even less glamorous than it sounds. But if you think you might be interested in getting into implementing publishing systems, this is your chance to learn all about our business from the inside.Update (10/15/2007): We have filled the position.
Labels: jobs
2:51 PM Permalink | |