more tips for job applicants

My previous complaint is really not a big deal, I think. I think I’ve even given up immediate junking for that. However…

“Send your resume” doesn’t mean “apologize for having no resume.” You could make a half-assed resume in the time it takes to write a half-assed apology, and you could write a decent resume in only a little bit longer.

“Send your resume in plaintext” doesn’t mean “as a Word document” or “as a link to a Google Apps document.” Doing those things means, “I didn’t read your whole job posting, so who knows if I know what the job even is. Oh, or maybe I just can’t follow instructions.”

“Send your resume in plaintext to jobs@example.com” means to do that, not to reply in any other way that doesn’t get routed directly to my inbox.

You don’t know who reads the resume you send in. Please do not say, “Dear HR Recruiter.” It insults me.

Including an “objective” section on your resume is fine. I don’t mind them. If your objective is at odds with the posting (“objective: obtain a career as a Java programmer”) you will not get hired. Of course, since getting this job is not your objective, maybe you don’t care.

Attaching your resume is great. Give it a name like Ricardo-Signes.txt. Otherwise, when I try to save it to ~/Hiring, I’ll get a message that says “Overwrite, append, or cancel?” Guess which one I’ll pick.

So, if you’re in the Philadelphia area and can follow instructions and want to work at the coolest email company on the internet, we’re hiring a junior sysadmin and a junior programmer.

Written on August 13, 2008
🏷 hiring