atw: Re: Recruitment Agencies
- From: Kirsty Taylor <kirsty.taylor@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 1 Feb 2010 23:07:13 -0800
Less so about recruitment agencies and more so about resumes (please add
appropriate diacritics in your minds' eye as you read).
I am looking at some resumes applying for a job I posted about last week. I
have been surprised by the following inclusions in some of the resumes I've
seen:
* Age/ date of birth
* Marital status
* Hobbies
* Detailed information about positions held over 20yrs ago that do not directly
relate to the job advertised
For the first three, I ignore those elements on the resumes. I don't have any
expectation or thought as to what age the successful candidate should be. I'm
more concerned if their resume can tell me if they can do the job.
For the fourth item, I'm not concerned about that person having been in the
working world for 20+ years - I'm concerned about their ability to write and
edit appropriate information for a given audience. But I may overlook that if
the more recent work history tells me what I want to know.
I'm not saying it's necessarily *wrong* to include these elements in your
resume, but I do still find it surprising that applicants include this info.
I've attended some conference sessions on resumes and job hunting by Jack
Molisani, a former tech writer who now runs a tech comm recruitment company in
the US and the LavaCon conferences. He's got a good handout on resume/job
hunting secrets on his site:
http://www.prospringstaffing.com/Resource/MolisaniJobHuntingSecrets.pdf
As ever, just my thoughts, and your mileage may vary.
KT
-----Original Message-----
From: austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Lewington, Warren J
(WT)
Sent: Tuesday, 2 February 2010 2:16 PM
To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: atw: Re: Recruitment Agencies
I'm with you Bill. I don't release my age, or indicate with any
certainty how old I am, and my university days and work experience hides
my age too...
People at one workplace freaked out when they found out I was over forty
- they had engaged my services, and had worked with me for several weeks
when I dropped the bundle. They surreptitiously wanted someone under
forty because the managers were all younger than that - I mumbled
something about age discrimination and continued producing my by then,
well appreciated, output...
The fact I don't "look" old really helps too. Guess I am possibly a bit
lucky like that.
But seriously, I don't think that a younger person is as good at
technical writing as more mature people. We do get better with age, and
my staff are no youngsters - I would be unable to achieve what we are
achieving without the experience my aged colleagues have. This bulldust
about old people not having the ability is just plain wrong -the reality
is we see through the younger persons crap quicker than they can give it
and we tell them to get over themselves even quicker. Wise heads make
for steady friends, and workers.
I had a run-in with a young tradesman years ago. He was faster than me
and worth more money so we went at it with the knowledge of the boss on
his time. I sat down and had a coffee while he charged in and went at it
like a bull dog. Oh he was way out in front, really was much much
quicker. I gave him twenty more minutes helping the apprentice and had
some more tea or coffee and finished waiting for parts to dry after
cleaning; while he put his together wet with all new parts and shiny
paint and spit and blood and filthy hand and finger marks. But my
reconditioned starter, freshly dried and clean, replete with spare parts
and paint and spit and polish (no blood or finger marks) and clean
hands, worked before his did. It worked the first time. I didn't get
docked by the boss either...
Young blokes. Can't kill'em; can't cage'em...
Regards,
Warren
-----Original Message-----
From: austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Bill Parker
Sent: Tuesday, 2 February 2010 14:46
To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: atw: Re: Recruitment Agencies
This reminds me of the health care agency in the UK who wanted to hire
"reliable hard working" staff and got knocked back by the local
authority because it "discriminated" against unreliable people. I
refuse to divulge my age to anyone. Its none of their business.
Bill
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