Resumptuous (cont'd.)

Resumptuous (cont'd.) February 16, 2009

Thanks to all of you who offered advice or assistance with the unpleasant task of résumé preparation.

I've noticed there are a whole bunch of books on the subject with titles like "66 Résumé Don'ts" or "101 Career-Killing Résumé Mistakes" or "33 Common Résumé Errors That Are Like Fingernails on a Frickin' Blackboard for Personnel Professionals." But I haven't actually read any of those books, so it's possible that my first draft includes many such common errors. Or even that it consists of nothing but one long string of such errors.

Anyway, that draft is now posted here in the sidebar if anybody wants to take a peek and offer any suggestions, corrections or inventions.

Posting one's résumé on one's blog may turn out to be a Really Bad Idea for a host of reasons. I, for one, have never been reading along in someone's blog and found myself thinking, "Oooh! A résumé! I can't wait to read that!" and I can't imagine anyone else ever thinking such a thing, either. Unless, that is, the person were also thinking, "Finally — a full name and home address, now I can complete my revenge!" (Hastily redacts blog-version of first draft.)

Worst of all, presenting your résumé in the same context as your blog posts forces you to keep the personal history you present on the blog as factually accurate as the history you present in the résumé, and where's the fun in that? No more "nobody knows you're a dog" freedom to enhance, embellish and exaggerate.

Not that I'd been doing much of that, but I liked the idea of having the option. And now I won't be able to tell that story about the time I rescued my family from the wreckage of a destroyed sinking battleship.


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