There are also some typos in those 12 pages. I always have a number of people
proof read my CV to fix such things.
I'll point them out when I see you at work tomorrow ;)
Steve.
-Original Message-
From: Heinrich Breedt [heinrichbre...@gmail.com]
Date: 06/01/2011 03:05 PM
To: ozDotNet ozdotnet@ozdotnet.com
Subject: Re: .NET Consultant role - Microsoft
Thanks scott,
really appreciate your comments and will def take them to heart
(wow, from mistake comes some real good after all :) )
On 6/1/11, Scott Barnes scott.bar...@gmail.com wrote:
Resumes are part factual evidence and part information architecture. The
purpose for you in this case with Microsoft is to somehow get past the
recruitment side of things and into the hands of a blue badge (your future
boss) who's probably going to have a mixed approach to reading resumes ...
(ie to this day i have no idea how i got hired at Microsoft when i did - so
take this as a former blue badger who read resumes often as just one guys
opinion).
1. *Embrace the concept of more than one column*. Summary of expertise
needs better spacing between paragraphs and you need to provide
highlights.
The objective here is to show bit of leg, but not give away the entire
prize. Tease the person into wanting to get you into the interview to
know
more. Its a dangerous posture to take, but ultimately its always going to
be
a crap shoot.
2. *Don't be afraid to rip out the highlighter :)* ... inside Microsoft
we had this problem around excess information..everyone is hitting you
24/7
with must read...you enjoy reading an email / document as much as a
swift
kick in the head. I found huge wins by just highlighting data points in
anything i sent around ...as then its a case of blah blah blah You need
to focus on this blah blah blah its not traditional when it comes to
resume transactions but if you want someones attentionthen grab it.
3. *Skills Employment History. *You've told me upfront you have xyz
technologies but levels? these days most resumes i have seen etc have
advanced, intermediate, specialist etc type leveling. You're wanting to
tell the person looking at the resume your strengths and weaknesses.
We'll
get to the testing of those levels later in the interview process, for
now
i'll take your word upfront .. Cite them once and move on. Don't re-list
them again in the area's of where you worked, its redundant and honestly
the
person(s) reading the resume are unlikely to map the relevance. Pick 5
major
project highlights and thats it, list the brands you worked for but given
the visibility of most devs these days don't be afraid to put 1995 -2002
(Upon Request). in there somewhere. As its expected behavior in IT to
have a
resume thats quite long given the contract arrangements these days. Also
tell us what you did not the problems they had..ie i couldn't find where
you
fit into GIS System you worked on.. sounds interesting, but what role did
you play? that sort of thing. 25 words or less per item btw.
4. *Fonts*. Your all over the place with your text sizes. Keep a
consistent flow, leverage MS Word Heading1, Heading2 etc. Don't make them
to
big either 12pt max with secondary text being around 10pt to give the
reader
balance. Use bold to sparingly more to highlight a new area of focus (ie
like this email i guess). Allows readers to skim read if need be.
5. *References etc*. Upon Request. Firstly it removes the page count and
secondly its a fishing expedition at times when hunting for jobs, so them
having to ask you for who the references are shows they are
interested...nothing like a oh so you read it, good.
Layering is the key imho. You're a product so you need to sell yourself as
one and a good healthy resume feels like you are just doing that - about to
make a great acquisition. You want the cover to be eye catching but when you
turn it around basically you want a feature break down of what's
inside...this is what you're about to buy. Take a slice from Apple's product
marketing (as weird as this may sound) they give you just enough but not to
much information. Layer in your message about who you are, what you can do,
how often you do it and what you want to do next. An example would be start
at 100+ words for a description of what you did at a role etc, then scale it
back to 50, then back to 25... why 25? why not... :D
Anyway, Good luck! :) and MCS is an interesting area to dwell in... bring
thickskin and an open mind hehehe...
---
Regards,
Scott Barnes
http://www.riagenic.com
On Wed, Jun 1, 2011 at 9:46 AM, Heinrich Breedt
heinrichbre...@gmail.comwrote:
I honestly would not know how to cut it down to 2 pages.
--
Sent from my mobile device
Heinrich Breedt
“Do not wait to strike till the iron is hot; but make it hot by
striking.” - William B. Sprague
