Resume Arts and Sciences (The Jungle, Chapter 2)

Last time, I described how I left my previous position.

Getting My Resume in Shape

I never attempt to write the perfect resume in a single session. My philosophy is to brainstorm, focus, and refine, refine, refine.

In the first few drafts, I write as much as I can about what I’ve done, with no regard for verbosity. Then I slash away at it until nothing more can be removed.

A Glimpse and a Hook helped. As did Sorting Resumes.

Ten Tips for a Slightly Less Awful Resume is good stuff.

The Art of Resume Writing for Software Developers is also interesting. I’ve had a chance to meet this young man, and boy that’s just a straight shooter with upper management written all over him.

The Diverse Resume Audience

When editing my resume, I make an exhaustive effort to be conscious and considerate of my audience.

Machines

Keyword searches in resume databases, job boards, and search engines.

HR

Non-technical beings who will be examining my resume. They look for keywords, experience in the relevant domains (defense, finance, etc.), or potential negatives such as job-hopping.

Recruiters

Similar to HR, except some of them are quasi-technical. They usually have a financial incentive to get me hired.

Manager

This person could be my day-to-day boss, or someone who heads a department or division of the company. I must assume at least a basic level of technical competence, but also consider the higher-level business objectives that they are concerned with.

Developers

This should be my most straightforward audience, but also the most difficult to impress. I want to show that I’ve done interesting and relevant work. I also want to be careful not to be too “fluffy” — I’ll try to describe my work in plain language and not be overly reliant on buzzwords.

A resume has to function on multiple levels of depth and complexity. It must have the ability to impress a variety of a people, with a variety of interests.

Targeting my resume

I had 2 main fronts of attack for my resume:

Google

I created PDF and HTML versions of my resume and put them on my web site. I immediately started seeing hits for searches such as “java san diego intitle:resume inurl:resume”.

Job boards

Dice and Indeed seem to have the best content.

I soon started making contact. I’ll talk about that next time.