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Posted by BearItAll on 06/07/05 15:00
On Mon, 06 Jun 2005 09:52:36 +0000, Jacob Atzen wrote:
> On 2005-06-06, BearItAll <spam@rassler.co.uk> wrote:
>> On Fri, 03 Jun 2005 13:35:57 -0700, mattvenables wrote:
>>
>>> If anyone needs a programmer to work on a project, you can e-mail me at
>>> mattvenables (-AT-) gmail.com. I am extremely skilled in PHP and many
>>> other web languages. Let me know!
>>
>> I have interviewed a lot of people over the years and because of the
>> mountains of CVs and letters you receive, you tend to scan rather than
>> read, the first scan to get rid of unlikely candidates you just pick out
>> the 'style' rather than the content of them. I'm afraid that before I
>> re-read your post to see what you were actually saying, I had already
>> mentally thrown it into the bin.
>>
>> What ever your skills in programming you aren't going to get very far
>> until you can write better introductory letters.
>
> Your criticism is only marginally helpful to the OP. You say the style is
> bad but not what the problem with the style is nor how it could be
> improved. Please, enlighten us.
I don't have any problem with people trying to get work out of their
chosen subject, in fact I wish more would try, because the work is out
there waiting to be done. Also we aren't so short of bandwidth that I
would object in any way to them trying through the news groups.
They are people and places on the net much better for learning how to
create an introduction of that kind, much better skilled than I am. I'm
only really talking from the point of view of being on the receiving end
of applications. The more you receive the more quickly you have to filter
through them, even a fairly minor computer related job attracts
sometimes a hundred or so applications, eventually you learn how to
scan rather than read to narrow them down to a number that you can
concentrate on better.
This isn't an exact description, but I think it's fairly close.
Think of a musical note, absolutely pure, at a frequency and volume thats
comfortable, even pleasant to listen to. It takes no effort to listen to
it. Add just a touch of noise and it detracts from the underlying note,
already less pleasant to listen to. The more noise you add, the less able
you are to listen or at least to listen without effort.
Similar with a book. The first book I ever read simply because I wanted to
read it, rather than those that school told us to read, was The Lord of
the Rings when I was about 15. Before then reading was a struggle, because
i was aware of the act of reading, which detracts from what you are
actually reading. Tolkien's skill was his ability to write in such a way
that you didn't actually go through the act of reading in a conscious
sense, instead all you really did was soak up the story that flowed from
the pages.
I wouldn't expect a resume to be to Tolkien's standard. But I shouldn't
have to spend too much effort on the act of reading to soak up the
contents. You get a lot of letters and resumes to every advertised job,
but enough of those that write in are skilled enough to make reading
theirs easy, so those who don't manage that, irrespective of their skills
for the job, will not get their resume read.
Please don't see any of this as a criticism of matt, or others like him
trying to sell their skills. I agree with what you said, it wasn't enough
to say that I would of rejected his letter, I should of said why so he
has the chance to learn the skills that will put him at the top of the
pile.
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