Before reading chapter 15, Starting Your Career, I never realized that there were two different forms of résumés, those two forms being the archival and functional approaches to writing résumés. In any class or any time I have ever attempted to write a résumé it has always been archival. The chapter makes it seem like this is the most used and requested type of résumé. I thought it was also helpful that the chapter introduced the functional approach to writing a résumé. Even though this type of résumé is less likely to be used or requested it is good to know the basics if you are ever required to write this type of résumé.
I also never really took into account the style of writing an application letter. After reading this section of the chapter I thought back to any time I had to write an application letter for a class. I realized that I fell into writing the way the chapter specifically says not to do. Specifically the ‘You’ attitude and the passive voice. I also never would have thought about the concept of a scannable résumé. I mean I realized that companies do tend to scan résumés, I never would have thought to specifically tailor my résumé for scanning.
While I was reading the section on interviews, I thought that all of this information was somewhat redundant. I mean all of my teachers and anyone I know that has gone through interviews has drilled this information into my head. I have heard all of these interviewing techniques since high school. The most important technique, in my opinion, is to ask questions of the interviewer. This is something most people do not even think about when they are preparing for an interview. I think that when you ask intelligent questions of your interviewer it helps them to remember who you are when they are reviewing all of their potential employees.
Response
I'm in the same boat in terms of having never seen the functional type of resume. I would, personally, prefer these for any job after my first. They seem to be more oriented towards experience related skills opposed to simply listing education background and maybe some club involvement. I would think that this would be more useful for higher level jobs, and in general it makes more sense to expand on what you've learned and experienced from previous jobs rather than listing previous jobs which isn't so informative.
Resume Strategies
I was also unaware of many of the resume writing strategies presented in this chapter, including the "You" attitude and passive voice cases that you noted. After reading about these, and then considering there effect, from the perspective of the potential employeer, I think I now fully understand the importance of these and will definately be making the proper adjustments in my resume to accurately reflect my change in opinion. On top of this, I also failed to realize the importance of making my resume quickly scannable and will be taking this in to more consideration as well. This chapter has really stressed to me the significants of putting a decent amount of time into developing and editing/revising my resume.
From what I can tell all the
From what I can tell all the companies I have had experience with at job fairs seem to review the resumes in person. I wonder if the most important time that we should make our resumes searchable is via online resume submissions and other non personal resume submission techniques. It would really be unfortunate for someone to loss their opportunity to gain a position just because their resume wasn’t “scanable”. I completely agree that we cannot spend enough time preparing our resumes. This chapter had me thinking about the future, I wonder if I will be using the same base resume that I use today. I would assume so….
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Comment
Yeah I think that the archival is the best way to write a resume in technical careers. After looking at the technical resume I do not understand how that could really be powerful. It seems like it would be a good resume for someone just entering the job force with no experience. The functional resume makes a person's strong points stand out instead of experience. I have never heard of the "scanning" of resumes, but it definitely makes sense. Especially when there are a lot of resumes that are being submitted and large companies tend to stay organized. On your comment of interviewing, I have always heard to research the company on the internet before going to the interview. Having questions for the interviewer is really a good idea though.
Interview
I also felt like the section on interviewing was a little old and drawn out, we have all heard that information for at least the last couple of years. I would also have to say that asking intelligent questions of the interviewee is one of the best ways to land a job. Showing an interviewee that you have taken the time to research their company and think up intelligent questions is a good way to show them that you really care about his job and would make a good addition to their company. Researching a company before an interview and coming up with questions is a great way to impress an interviewee.
Asking Questions
I agree that asking questions is critical. It shows interest in the job and livens up the interview. The interviewer can tell a lot about a candidate by the types of questions he or she asks. For example, if the candidate asks "What time does work get off at?" the interviewer may become suspicious that the candidate is not really interested in this particular job. This question can always be asked later if an offer is made. However, if the candidate asks a question such as "how does the company accomplish XYZ?" the interviewer sees initiative.
Response
You caught my attention in your second paragraph when you stated that you "fell into writing the way the chapter specifically says not to do." I felt the exact same. When reading that section, I felt disheartened at times when I knew I wrote many application letters and letters in general in the passive voice. I remember my high school English teacher always talking about passive voice and how it is bad, but I never figured out what exactly meant until reading Chapter 15. I know for the upcoming employment assignment I will definitely try to work on the 'You' attitude and passive voice.
Archival vs Functional
I found the archival vs functional resume arguments presented by the book to be helpful. For most of us, our education will be the strongest selling point we have to offer a company, and is more prominent in the archival style. Functional resumes seem to stress the different types of skills, and I think could be very useful in a technical field where you have plenty of experience, and that experience is necessary for the job. If the experience was specifically included in the job offering, it's likely that everyone else applying has at least an equivalent educational background, and standing out from that crowd becomes important. On a functional resume, if you can show the employer your skills stand out from the others, you're more likely to get the job.
Functional vs Archival
I would have to agree with you on this one Zephyrus. I think for now most college students would be concerned with an archival resume. Whereas, someone who has a more developed and specific career rolling, would probably utilize a functional resume a little more. I feel this would be used when you are looking for a more specific job that would need to know your specific skill sets with that technology or field. I too would see functional resumes being very useful in the technology field where skill sets range very differently across the different technologies one could work with.