Why do I ask for a one-page statement instead of a resume? Because I want to mix things up a bit. I want to find out what makes the candidate stand out for the position, and I also want to see genuine interest in the job being advertised. What I don’t want is someone who’s spraying resumes to every available job opening. That guy’s not going to be a good fit for what I’m doing. But someone who’s willing to write up a half-page or one-page explanation of why he’s a good fit for the job, that’s what I’m looking for.
Which is basically a resume by another name. I have sympathy for his position but everything I have ever read indicates that good resumes that get jobs are customized to the position in question, are typically one or two pages, and do not necessarily follow any particular format. Format varies depending on industry, individual, etc.
Yeah, I found job-hunting hard. I don't really expect to ever do that again. Normal jobs seem to be a poor fit for me. That's true for a lot of people. There are plenty of professions where a portfolio is the norm rather than a resume.
Also, the Fortune 500 company I once worked for gave me a battery of tests to see if I could actually do the things my resume claimed I could do, in essence. So his idea of testing candidates is not really new-fangled or something either.
Even after I was a company insider, I could not figure out the job postings the company listed online. I find the whole job hunting process incredibly illegible and loathe it with the burning of a thousand suns. I now do freelance work and have a few personal projects I am trying to develop. I doubt I will ever apply to a normal job again. That really is not all that strange.
I agree that the whole process is flawed. In addition to the resume problem, job listings are ridiculous. They use inflated information about experience needed etc. and scare off people that might be a good fit.
From what I gather, that's true. When I was in GIS school, one of the administrators had an anecdote about how job listings were saying they wanted people with like 5 to 10 years experience -- with a product that had come out less than 5 years earlier.
Why do I ask for a one-page statement instead of a resume? Because I want to mix things up a bit. I want to find out what makes the candidate stand out for the position, and I also want to see genuine interest in the job being advertised. What I don’t want is someone who’s spraying resumes to every available job opening. That guy’s not going to be a good fit for what I’m doing. But someone who’s willing to write up a half-page or one-page explanation of why he’s a good fit for the job, that’s what I’m looking for.
Which is basically a resume by another name. I have sympathy for his position but everything I have ever read indicates that good resumes that get jobs are customized to the position in question, are typically one or two pages, and do not necessarily follow any particular format. Format varies depending on industry, individual, etc.
Yeah, I found job-hunting hard. I don't really expect to ever do that again. Normal jobs seem to be a poor fit for me. That's true for a lot of people. There are plenty of professions where a portfolio is the norm rather than a resume.
Also, the Fortune 500 company I once worked for gave me a battery of tests to see if I could actually do the things my resume claimed I could do, in essence. So his idea of testing candidates is not really new-fangled or something either.
Even after I was a company insider, I could not figure out the job postings the company listed online. I find the whole job hunting process incredibly illegible and loathe it with the burning of a thousand suns. I now do freelance work and have a few personal projects I am trying to develop. I doubt I will ever apply to a normal job again. That really is not all that strange.