Everyone should benefit and receive new insight from reading Chapter 15. The chapter provides tips on finding jobs; tactics for writing eye-catching resumes; help on writing cover letters; guidance for creating a portfolio; and etiquette and manners for acing an interview. This chapter focuses on every aspect of securing a job, but I will focus mainly on the resume portion. I believe the resume is the most important part of the job search process. Many people will say that the interview is the most crucial. I do agree that the interview is a vital part, but a lousy resume does not usually result in setting up an interview. This, in turn, creates the need for a resume that can be scanned over in a minute or less and make the reader want to set up an interview.
The archival approach to writing a resume was most commonly explained in Chapter 15 mainly because it is the most widely used, especially for entry-level positions. I have written a resume prior to this class for my own job search, and I also took the archival approach. First, I listed my name and personal information followed by my objective. Second, I listed my education and classes taken. My work experience came next, with three different jobs followed by my skills and activities. As you can see, the chapter did not help me too much in this regard, although it did show me new action verbs to use. My resume consisted of some action verbs, but as I read through the chapter, many more caught my eye. I will definitely be changing some of my verbs to these new ones.
Looking back on the last reading assignment, directing my resume towards a primary reader and a gatekeeper is something I struggled with in my current resume. Honestly, I never really gave it much thought that a primary reader, such as my future boss, and a gatekeeper, such as an interviewer, would want to see different information throughtout my resume. Chapter 15 brought this idea about and guided me towards the right direction. My current resume mainly satifies my primary reader which in my mind is my future boss. I was oblivious to the fact that a human resources director will most likely look over it first and interview me. For my upcoming assignment of writing a resume, I now know to revise my current one and direct it towards the gatekeeper as well. To achieve this, I will scatter my resume with key points about how I am a good worker and person such as showing I can meet deadlines, be trustworthy, and also make work fun. These tips in Chapter 15 will prove useful for the upcoming assignments when I search for a job ad and construct a resume. More importantly, I will use these helpful tactics and to boost my resume and interviewing skills to find a job after graduating.
Reply
You offer forth some valid arguments throughout your text. In the opening paragraph, for example, you state that “the resume is the most important part of the job search process,” and proceed to justify why it is so, as opposed to the interview. I, on the other hand, could not begin to decide between the two as both seem equally imperative in acquiring any position. Clearly the resume, as you’ve said “is a vital part” of the application process but it is also just that, a part, where I feel the interview is ‘the other’ part. This is assuming you don’t consider other attributes to play a prominent role, i.e. one’s demeanor, personality, or appearance. In closing your post you state that you “never really gave it much thought that a future boss and interviewer would want to see different information on a resume.” I too found this a new concept, tailoring your resume to target not only different positions but also the various individuals you will interface with within each position, and anticipate it will prove beneficial in the future.
Reply
You bring about a good point when you stated you "feel the interview is 'the other' part." My view on this reading was similar to yours, it was hard to decide what is the most important part of getting a job. My main point when I was struggling to determine this was that the resume needs to be good enough to potentially be interviewed. Yes, the resume and interview go hand-in-hand, and I agree with you that the interview is 'the other' part. However, I strongly feel that if the resume is less than average, securing an interview could be difficult, especially this time in age when computers are often used to scan the resume. I do not agree with this method, as I think everyone should have the opportunity to be interviewed and show-off their personality and mannerisms, but I do not think this is the case in many interviewing processes.
Response
In regard to whether the resume or the interview holds more weight in the process, I think that it's completely situation dependent. If an employer has five thousand resumes to go through and only enough time for ten interviews then I would certainly say the resume is the most important part. However if the opposite is true and almost all applicants get an interview then you’ll want to focus more of your effort on giving a great interview. Sadly, such extremes rarely exist but I think it simply all comes down to the math of the number of applicants to number of interviews.
Shane
Kety words
Your comment about using new verbs on your resume is a good point. I think a big problem for people writing resumes is they are too wordy. They tend to write too much when they could use simple words to condense what they are trying to say and really drive home their point. I know when I first wrote my resume It was too wordy. Using different verbs and key words condensed a lot of information and made it look better too. Using some of the action words given in the text offer a good way to make your resume stand out and might get your resume though the scanning process.