Resumes and Reality[{locked}]

[Deleted]

yuz gotz to learnz the new shit to gets yur job

[NancysSummerSip]

Speaking of resumes and reality - I'm starting a serious job search myself. I've been looking, but my boss has apparently decided that because of insurance expenses, I'm too expensive to keep. Yes, I checked the exchange. Yes, I qualify, and also get a subsidy. And yes, he would likely underwrite most if not all of the cost (it would be a lot less than what he pays now just for me).

But it's the principal of the thing, that he would rather waste gobs of money on stuff than keep a very good, long-time employee happy. It's business, I know. He does not owe me a thing. No one does. But business also means leaving and going on to something better. And I am close in age to Mich, and like Mich, I've done basically the same work for years. And years. The hard part so far is convincing a prospective employer that I'm worthy of new and different work, yet have past work experience to bring to the table and enhance that office.

The resume is up to date, and lean (about a page and a half; I've been in the work force for a total of forty years; thirty-three of that full-time).

There's no room for cutesy, crystal-voodoo visions philosophy in the job-seeking world. Pins and purses? Please. No employer gives a hoot. They want to know if your skills are up to date. They want to know if you are reliable, dependable, and able to fit in and hit the ground and run with whatever right away. My prospective employer does not want to know diddly about my childhood and what kind of person it made me. They can find that out from my resume, my references, my volunteer activities (I do list some of them), my licenses/certifications.

[zibazinski]

A Geofrey pin? Seriously? I don't think you really want to work at all, just make excuses. You sound like Doxie.     I'd have shown your ass to the door in a NYM. What a jerk thing to do. I'm sure you think acting childish might get you a job but employers want maturity, common sense, and skills.  Lacking all three keeps you unemployed.

[Deleted]

Feb 20, 2014 17:09:07 GMT -5 NancysSummerSip said:

Speaking of resumes and reality - I'm starting a serious job search myself. I've been looking, but my boss has apparently decided that because of insurance expenses, I'm too expensive to keep. Yes, I checked the exchange. Yes, I qualify, and also get a subsidy. And yes, he would likely underwrite most if not all of the cost (it would be a lot less than what he pays now just for me).

But it's the principal of the thing, that he would rather waste gobs of money on stuff than keep a very good, long-time employee happy. It's business, I know. He does not owe me a thing. No one does. But business also means leaving and going on to something better. And I am close in age to Mich, and like Mich, I've done basically the same work for years. And years. The hard part so far is convincing a prospective employer that I'm worthy of new and different work, yet have past work experience to bring to the table and enhance that office.

The resume is up to date, and lean (about a page and a half; I've been in the work force for a total of forty years; thirty-three of that full-time).

There's no room for cutesy, crystal-voodoo visions philosophy in the job-seeking world. Pins and purses? Please. No employer gives a hoot. They want to know if your skills are up to date. They want to know if you are reliable, dependable, and able to fit in and hit the ground and run with whatever right away. My prospective employer does not want to know diddly about my childhood and what kind of person it made me. They can find that out from my resume, my references, my volunteer activities (I do list some of them), my licenses/certifications.

nancy

one page....period.

cut something...change format....do what you have to do

guys like me do not look at resumes over 1 page long (just saying...)

[zibazinski]

Nancy, YOU will get a job.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

nancy

one page....period.

cut something...change format....do what you have to do

guys like me do not look at resumes over 1 page long (just saying...)

So what do you do when your degrees and certifications run over half a page? Hell, my list of publications runs about 3 pages alone. While it's not relevant to any job in a new profession, it WILL be to one if I ever return to my old profession.

[Deleted]

I'm not in IT, but even in teaching skill sets expire.  If you aren't actively teaching and getting X number of hours of professional development within a five year time frame, you have to go back to school to take a few courses in order to renew your certification.

Multiply this requirement by A LOT if you are an IT professional.  I don't doubt that you know what you know, but people on here are trying to help you.  I'm sure it comes across as "negative energy" to you, but that's because you are (an) Optimist.  Pun intended. 

Now try being a Realist.  I'm probably one of the most optimistic people I know, and I do know how tough it is for people our age.  You don't need to be hip.  You need to be "relevant." 

OMG! I used a buzz word.  The sky is falling!  the sky is falling!  Oh, wait, the quotation marks are my life preserver.

[Deleted]

Mich: You aren't talking about a resume.  You are talking about a vita.  They are two different animals where publications are expected to be listed.  However, I'd probably cut any really old ones unless they were particularly prestigious.

[Rocky Mtn Saver]

Feb 20, 2014 17:18:43 GMT -5 The Walk of the Penguin Mich said:

nancy

one page....period.

cut something...change format....do what you have to do

guys like me do not look at resumes over 1 page long (just saying...)

So what do you do when your degrees and certifications run over half a page? Hell, my list of publications runs about 3 pages alone. While it's not relevant to any job in a new profession, it WILL be to one if I ever return to my old profession.

Just as an FYI, these resume threads recently inspired me to reduce my resume to one page. It's not easy, so I hope it works!

[Cass]

On the advice of a Career Counsellor, I recently went up to two pages from one and have been getting more calls than ever 

[Rocky Mtn Saver]

Sure, now you tell me!

[hoops902]

A resume is not meant to be some all-encompassing picture of who you are as a person, what shaped you, and what lies within your soul.

It's meant to be a simple and straightforward tool for hiring managers to figure out who they want to interview. 

I consider it similar to online dating.  People don't want to hear your entire life story when you create a profile.  They want to look at a few things that they feel are the most important and decide from there whether they want to hear more of your story. 

[Opti]

Feb 20, 2014 8:14:17 GMT -5 wvugurl26 said:

Your lifetime of work experience may shape the person you are and your skills but in IT it is about the most recent stuff. It changes quickly. Heck even stuff from 5 years ago is probably obsolete to many. I wish you luck in finding good full time employment but I think you need to admit with IT that it is all about the most recent stuff. It always has been.

And Lucent doesn't even exist anymore so playing off that experience probably isn't going to get you anywhere.

www.alcatel-lucent.com/

Perhaps you could let "Lucent" know they don't exist anymore?

[Peace Of Mind]

Feb 20, 2014 18:07:51 GMT -5 Opti said:

Feb 20, 2014 8:14:17 GMT -5 wvugurl26 said:

Your lifetime of work experience may shape the person you are and your skills but in IT it is about the most recent stuff. It changes quickly. Heck even stuff from 5 years ago is probably obsolete to many. I wish you luck in finding good full time employment but I think you need to admit with IT that it is all about the most recent stuff. It always has been.

And Lucent doesn't even exist anymore so playing off that experience probably isn't going to get you anywhere.

www.alcatel-lucent.com/

Perhaps you could let "Lucent" know they don't exist anymore?

Just an observation, Optimist but what I've noticed about you lately is that it seems to be more important for you to be right than it is to reach your goal of finding the job you want.  You spend more time proving why you are right instead of listening to the good advice being given to you.  People really want to help you and you are using most of your energy arguing with it. I hope you don't do this in your RL especially when you interview. You seem to have no problem getting your foot in the door. It's when you are in that it seems to not work out. Just a thought and I'm truly not trying to be snarky but I'm trying to give you constructive criticism so that you can maybe work on that a little bit if you are doing that in RL too.

Wishing you the best interview and job offer soon!     

[Opti]

It has made me wonder if the youth culture of the US and even this board has made us collectively more stupid than we need to be.

Having skills that are relevant and employers wanting skills that are relevant is not stupid. Life is not static it didn't stop moving forward since the last time you updated your certifications. Refusing to adapt with the times and bring your IT skills into 2014 because you don't think you should have to is stupid.

Thus posted DQ.

This is the problem when people post on what they think they know, instead of
actually quizzing the OP or any poster for that matter. I've read some library books
on Solaris 10 and even had an informational phone interview with a former colleague
who was the head of Linux and UNIX computing at Pfizer/Pharmacia/whatever potato/potatoe/vodka.

Certifications do not prove you know anything. At best they might prove you
are good at taking tests or had someone take it for you. My knowledge is built
on a deep base, so some of this "new" stuff is kind of ho hum, we aren't still
there yet for me. I've worked in big companies like Pfizer where we had reps
give us presentations on the new stuff and what was coming down the pike.
Yet, Windows XP, which is what my laptop has is still popular. I have a friend
roughly 10 years older than me who is working with .php and UNIX files. He
has no experience, but because he has an engineering mindset he is getting by
and not losing his job. He was transistioned. Unfortunate for me, it would be a piece
of cake for me to do what he does now, even though I don't know php yet/all that
much. But many years of experience with various programming languages have
given me the ability to make things happen.

In conclusion, I have been reading up and broadening my skills. I just don't
have any certs to prove anything. I just need to find smart employers, possibly
those who are 40+ years old who aren't so enchanted with the now that they miss
its just a natural progression from what was. Linux/Solaris is still not at the point
mainframes were in 2000. Windows still can't do some simple stuff that UNIX has
been doing for two decades. (Whine and ramble off. Time for dinner and more
useful endeavors.)

[Opti]

POM, they aren't giving me good advice. The fact that everyone has united,
makes me know I'm on the right track. I don't care whether you all believe or
not. I adore you POM, but you haven't been out in the workforce as a 50 something.
Most of the advice givers are in their 30s and are going to give advice that works
better for 30 somethings than 50 somethings.

( www.research.att.com/directions?fbid=M8hl-fe7Jv_

For shit and giggles. This is where the AT&T portion of Bell Labs
Murray Hill relocated to.
 

I am going to get a good job. I'm going to do it on my own terms
and leverage my network.

Peace out and all that jazz.

[Rocky Mtn Saver]

Certs help employers manage the large number of resumes they receive so that they can locate people who are a starting point.  They don't have time and energy to sit down over coffee with each candidate to ask them what they've been reading at the library.  They have to start somewhere concrete and identifiable or they'd never get anything done. 

[Rocky Mtn Saver]

Feb 20, 2014 18:23:50 GMT -5 Opti said:

POM, they aren't giving me good advice. The fact that everyone has united,
makes me know I'm on the right track. I don't care whether you all believe or
not. I adore you POM, but you haven't been out in the workforce as a 50 something.
Most of the advice givers are in their 30s and are going to give advice that works
better for 30 somethings than 50 somethings.

Yes a diverse group of people from different areas, backgrounds, and mindsets all agreeing on the wisdom (or lack of it) of a particular course is a sign that it must be wrong!

[Rocky Mtn Saver]

Feb 20, 2014 18:23:50 GMT -5 Opti said:

I am going to get a good job. I'm going to do it on my own terms
and leverage my network.

Believe it or not, I hope so.  But I've been hearing you say this for a long time now, and so far 'your own terms' hasn't really been working out.  What seems to be the prevailing suggestion around here is, 'why not try a new tack?' 

[Opti]

You seem to have no problem getting your foot in the door. It's when you are in that it seems to not work out.

Actually I'm not getting my foot in the door anywhere good.

If Boston peeps want to PM me though, I have an opportunity at
Backstage Libraryworks I plan to apply to. It will only pay $12-15/hr.
if I get it, so I need suggestions on where to live or think about living
should I get the opportunity to interview and get the job.

(FWIW, to me good is at least $50K/yr, given I made double that in 2003.
$10/hr. isn't good, even in LCOL Indiana. Its survival wages, not thrival pay. MO.)

[Opti]

Feb 20, 2014 18:24:29 GMT -5 Rocky Mtn Saver said:

Certs help employers manage the large number of resumes they receive so that they can locate people who are a starting point.  They don't have time and energy to sit down over coffee with each candidate to ask them what they've been reading at the library.  They have to start somewhere concrete and identifiable or they'd never get anything done. 

Totally get that, which is why its a sales job and a networking job.
If you can network your way in, the fit factor usually gives you an
edge over a candidate with a cert but no inside networking contact.

[Rocky Mtn Saver]

I'm confused.  Their website says they're located in Utah and PA. 

[Opti]

Yes a diverse group of people from different areas, backgrounds, and mindsets all agreeing on the wisdom (or lack of it) of a particular course is a sign that it must be wrong!

Sometimes yes. After all, there was a time everyone agreed the earth revolved
around the sun. The last very difficult thing I did, I was the only one who
believed I could be right. Then someone came into my life and agreed. Had I
believed everyone else I'd be on psych meds, doing God knows what, permanent
damage to my brain, kidneys, and liver, and not be who I really am.

Thank God I listened to my internal voice and I know that my issue has always
been allergies and sinus issues. The mental side effects just happen when the sinus
infection goes retrograde and I don't sleep. Hence posts most peeps can't follow.



You can't break new ground by following the herd.
-author not remembered

[Deleted]

Feb 20, 2014 18:23:50 GMT -5 Opti said:

POM, they aren't giving me good advice. The fact that everyone has united,
makes me know I'm on the right track. I don't care whether you all believe or
not. I adore you POM, but you haven't been out in the workforce as a 50 something.
Most of the advice givers are in their 30s and are going to give advice that works
better for 30 somethings than 50 somethings.

( www.research.att.com/directions?fbid=M8hl-fe7Jv_

For shit and giggles. This is where the AT&T portion of Bell Labs
Murray Hill relocated to.
 

I am going to get a good job. I'm going to do it on my own terms
and leverage my network.

Peace out and all that jazz.

We are the 30 somethings (40 in 4 months) that are hiring for positions you want to fill in IT. 

You seem very bitter.  I hope you don't give off that vibe in interviews.

[Rocky Mtn Saver]

Feb 20, 2014 18:35:43 GMT -5 Opti said:

You can't break new ground by following the herd.

...but you can get a job that way. 

Seriously, I hope you find what you're looking for.  Apparently you feel you know what you're doing, but it seems to me that you've been convinced of that for a long time now, and nothing seems to improve due to that plan.  I guess, here's hoping that 2014 is different! 

[Peace Of Mind]

Feb 20, 2014 18:23:50 GMT -5 Opti said:

POM, they aren't giving me good advice. The fact that everyone has united,
makes me know I'm on the right track. I don't care whether you all believe or
not. I adore you POM, but you haven't been out in the workforce as a 50 something.
Most of the advice givers are in their 30s and are going to give advice that works
better for 30 somethings than 50 somethings.

( www.research.att.com/directions?fbid=M8hl-fe7Jv_

For shit and giggles. This is where the AT&T portion of Bell Labs
Murray Hill relocated to.
 

I am going to get a good job. I'm going to do it on my own terms
and leverage my network.

Peace out and all that jazz.

You are correct that I have not been in the workforce for many years, however, I thought those that are giving you advice actually do the hiring, are in the workforce and are younger than you, your age (or very close), and much older than you. You are getting perspective from all age groups which you will encounter! I would personally want to use that info. in the best way possible.

But I'm sure that you know what is best for you.   

[Miss Tequila]

Feb 20, 2014 18:23:50 GMT -5 Opti said:

POM, they aren't giving me good advice. The fact that everyone has united,
makes me know I'm on the right track. I don't care whether you all believe or
not. I adore you POM, but you haven't been out in the workforce as a 50 something.
Most of the advice givers are in their 30s and are going to give advice that works
better for 30 somethings than 50 somethings.

( www.research.att.com/directions?fbid=M8hl-fe7Jv_

For shit and giggles. This is where the AT&T portion of Bell Labs
Murray Hill relocated to.
 

I am going to get a good job. I'm going to do it on my own terms
and leverage my network.

Peace out and all that jazz.

Lets take a look at this. Those of us all united in saying you are wrong are actually employed, a lot of us in high level positions who hire people who are looking for jobs.

Compare that to you. You haven't found a real job in 5 years yet you are convinced that the rest of us are wrong and you are right?

I can see why you are unemployed ....

[mmhmm]

I'ma get real simple here and quote Dr. Phil:  "How's that been working for you, Opti?"

While I'm no Dr. Phil fan, that little bit of brain charger always struck me as right on the money.  Doing the same thing again, and again, and again and finding yourself at the same point every time is a clue.  What you're doing isn't working.  You need to do something differently.

[Rocky Mtn Saver]

Feb 20, 2014 18:35:43 GMT -5 Opti said:

Thank God I listened to my internal voice and I know that my issue has always
been allergies and sinus issues. The mental side effects just happen when the sinus
infection goes retrograde and I don't sleep. Hence posts most peeps can't follow.

Y'know, and I'm not being snarky here, you seem to have a lot of personal issues, needs, and health problems. You have difficulty managing a part-time job along with said issues. Are you sure you should be seeking to go back to a 40+ hr job in what sounds like a fairly demanding field? Will you be able to handle it, realistically?

[Deleted]

Feb 20, 2014 18:35:43 GMT -5 Opti said:

Yes a diverse group of people from different areas, backgrounds, and mindsets all agreeing on the wisdom (or lack of it) of a particular course is a sign that it must be wrong!

Sometimes yes. After all, there was a time everyone agreed the earth revolved
around the sun.


Optimist: I hate to break this to you, but the earth DOES revolve around the sun.

Welcome to my world.