Apparently, those job search articles haven't reached everyone

[electricland]

Dear candidates:

I know it's a tough job market out there. I do know. You know how I know? Foot-high stacks of applications. But for heaven's sake...

1. Please, please try to make sure that you have some kind of minimum qualification for the job you are applying for. Ideally, SOMETHING on your CV should have some kind of tangential relationship to the job. Anything at all. Please?


2. If your CV makes my eyeballs bleed, it's not going to make it very high in the pile. If there are 50 applicants for the position, why would I waste time on the one whose CV is illegible?


3. And the same goes for cover letters. Paragraph breaks are your friends! Left alignment is your friend! Nine-point type and half-inch margins are not your friends!


4. Yes, you should have a cover letter, and it should say more than "Please find attached my CV. I look forward to discussing my candidacy with you."


5. And you should proofread it for embarrassing typos.


6. And you really should make some token effort to customize it for the recipient. If you are applying to a not-for-profit organization, just for instance, you should probably take out the boilerplate about helping to maximize profits.


7. Generally speaking, impenetrable MBA-speak is only impressive to other MBAs. And actually I'm not so sure about them.


8. The languages you speak and the software you can use are potentially of interest to me. Your marital status is... really not.

Speaking of the last, O Readers, what are your thoughts on listing hobbies in a resume? I'm generally against it, unless of course they have some relevance, but I can't think of any situations where they would. Volunteer activities, totally fine. I just don't need to know someone is a yoga devotee or played clarinet in their high school orchestra, y'know?

Comments

[ozreison.livejournal.com]

Once upon a time I remember being told to add hobbies, to show you had a life outside of work, and that you had some extra skills, etc.

Having a life outside of work has fallen badly out of favour, methinks. ;)

You want some interesting resumes, my husband got some programmers who really didn't have English as a skill. Even if it was their first language. The number of people he disqualified because they could not communicate their own skillset was phenomenal. He finally understood why I spent ages complaining about people and their crap poor wording though. ;)

[lostvoice.livejournal.com]

My professional opinion is that hobbies are irrelevant,unless it is a volunteer position you are applying for, or a job as a teacher in primary or secondary school.

[kerlin.livejournal.com]

I have a section at the very bottom of my resume that lists relevant volunteer work. It can be dropped or left in there depending on whether I want to add more to the employment sections.

In my line of work, even volunteering with Pony Club can be relevant, though - it shows I can work with kids. Personally, I like a well-rounded applicant, and I think 2-3 lines at the very bottom of a resume can be a nice grace note. It has to be done professionally, though, as with anything else on a resume.

[kendokamel.livejournal.com]

Oh, don't I agree! I used to teach freshman business students basic career skills (that I personally think they should have learned in high school, but stupid standardized tests have made sure there is no more of THAT).

I cannot tell you how hard it is to explain to kids that even a punctuation mark out of place could be grounds for being relegated to the circular file. (;

The only time I would recommend hobbies would be if the kid had ABSOLUTELY NO work experience - and then I would only recommend that they add things that might be relevant to their cause. (For example, captain of the JV softball team shows leadership and management skills; three years in the HS AV club shows some experience working with various media equipment.)

[fairoriana.livejournal.com]

I inspired interest in a potential employer which led to my current 7 year stint due to a one line comment on Portuguese in my resume. It wasn't needed for the job, but the hirer was Portuguese and we bonded over talk of Mozambique. You never know.

[anaka.livejournal.com]

I think the hobbies thing depends greatly on the company/industry. It's a definite plus for a lot of game companies or a lot of start-ups. Corporations could largely care less if you have a life -- those tend to get in the way, after all.

[cretkid.livejournal.com]

I think it would depend on what the job was, seeing that the CV should reflect the job you're looking for. In fact, a CV is different than a resume, in my opinion.

My CV changes depending on what it's being used for: a pared down version for the national science foundation and a much more extensive one for academic jobs and invited talks at other universities.

But each does include "synergestic activities" which are in part related to 'hobbies' in that I'm a geek and I love to talk to kids about geek-things. I don't mention the fact that I avidly read crap on the internet or that I can juggle 4 bean bags or tennis balls at once, or eat an apple at the same time. Impressive, but irrelevant...

[gurudata.livejournal.com]

Hiho,

I was contracted once to help somebody do some hiring. "Hobbies" made all the difference when selecting the final candidates. Experience and qualifications told us "can they do the job?", but hobbies told us "will they fit socially with the rest of the staff?", which in the case of a small company can be very important.

CU,
Andrew

[raithen.livejournal.com]

*grins*

[talisker.livejournal.com]

We've been reviewing CVs for the past month for an open position here at work and it's just... sad. The fact that you're part of a guild in Final Fantasy does not make you qualified for this job. The fact that you play the bagpipes, while cool, does not make you qualified for this job. And the spelling. Oh, the spelling. My personal beef are personal statements that make absolutely no sense!

[pretentiousgit.livejournal.com]

Depends. In big companies, no, hobbies aren't of any use. In small ones where you may be expected to do anything at all, it can be handy to have notes on what sort of things you're personally interested in. Helps with staff integration and to know about whether or not the person will actually stay with the company any time at all. Essentially, helps determine if you can be friends with the person, so... if you want a job with no damn personal boundaries, it's key!

If it's the veal-fattening pen, though, it shouldn't matter.

[mrs-cake.livejournal.com]

Whoa, you made me flashback: http://mrs-cake.livejournal.com/tag/recruitment+woes

*empathy hugs* Been there...

I don't like hobbies on CVs. Back in the day, hobbies kinda made me judge people (if for example, they mentioned they're an Arsenal supporter) when I needed to be objective in assessing their suitability for a job role, instead.

Personally, I never put mine on my CV because, seriously, who's interested in my watching The Guild (and I really don't want anyone to know about my WoW habit)! :)