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"your resume does not reflect technical writing!"

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L

Lhadatt

Member
So, I've been out of work since Friday. Of course, I've been spamming resumes off like mad since.

I applied for a technical writer position this afternoon. I don't necessarily have technical writing experience other than college, but I know I can do the job.

I got home tonight after hanging out with a friend, and found this in my inbox:

-----
Subject: RE: Tech Writer/ Documentation/ Design (BWTW)
Date: Tue, 8 Feb 2005 18:42:52 -0500
From: "****, ****" <****@****.com>
To: "**** ****" <****@****.net>

your resume does not reflect technical writing!

**** ****
-----

This is close to the most unprofessional thing I've ever seen. The only thing that I can recall that tops this is the way I was let go from my job.

I'll be contacting her supervisor tomorrow morning. She should have simply thrown away my resume instead of being snotty. I know I'm a dime-a-dozen out-of-work generic tech guy, but I think I do deserve at least the professional courtesy of a polite brush-off.

BTW, if anyone knows of any IT-related jobs in Austin, I'd appreciate a PM.
 
N

number386

Member
Maybe she was trying to help you out, as to tell you your resume's format or use of wording is inapropriate.

Did she offer constructive critisism?
Or did she flat out rank on you?

Sort out the info before calling her supervisor maybe all she was doing was trying to help you.
 
D

Dilbert

Member
Lhadatt said:
I don't necessarily have technical writing experience other than college, but I know I can do the job.
Click to expand...
My take on the email -- assuming that all she sent was that one line -- is that she's telling you the blunt truth. If you don't have the qualifications on your resumé, then either a) your resumé is badly-phrased and you should rework it so that your qualifications are clear or b) stop wasting your time by applying for jobs out of your league.

Although sending back a curt response is probably a sign of exasperation more than anything, at least be glad that you got SOME kind of response back. Most people send their resumés into a vacuum and never get ANY kind of feedback about how it was received. Sometimes the truth hurts.

Finally, I don't know what your exact background is, but technical writing is HARD. Don't assume that because you have a technical background of some kind that you'll be able to step into tech writing without a problem.
 
M

MrAngryFace

Banned
she is afraid you will replace her. Prey on her weakness. Send her technical writings copied from other sources to scare her into hiring you.
 
E

evil solrac v3.0

Member
-jinx- said:
My take on the email -- assuming that all she sent was that one line -- is that she's telling you the blunt truth. If you don't have the qualifications on your resumé, then either a) your resumé is badly-phrased and you should rework it so that your qualifications are clear or b) stop wasting your time by applying for jobs out of your league.

Although sending back a curt response is probably a sign of exasperation more than anything, at least be glad that you got SOME kind of response back. Most people send their resumés into a vacuum and never get ANY kind of feedback about how it was received. Sometimes the truth hurts.

Finally, I don't know what your exact background is, but technical writing is HARD. Don't assume that because you have a technical background of some kind that you'll be able to step into tech writing without a problem.
Click to expand...


you fool. heed the words of MAF. she must be annihilted. scattered to the four winds of the human resources landscape and her corpse discarded like soiled underpants. let it be a warning to all who dare speak the truth about the fact that he really doesn have any technical writing expertise whatsoever.
 
L

Lhadatt

Member
-jinx- said:
Although sending back a curt response is probably a sign of exasperation more than anything, at least be glad that you got SOME kind of response back. Most people send their resumés into a vacuum and never get ANY kind of feedback about how it was received. Sometimes the truth hurts.
Click to expand...
She's a recruiter at a recruiting firm. It's her job to sort through people who may or may not be qualified. If I'm not, then that's fine - she can fire off a "We'll compare your qualifications against the requirements for the job and get back to you. Thanks for the submission." I applied on the off-chance that I'd fit the bill.

Finally, I don't know what your exact background is, but technical writing is HARD. Don't assume that because you have a technical background of some kind that you'll be able to step into tech writing without a problem.
Click to expand...
That's fine. I'm not qualified for lots of things. I'm OK with that. I'm not OK with her lack of professionalism. I'd rather her burn my resume like most people do than snap at me for making her do her job.
 
L

Lhadatt

Member
evil solrac v3.0 said:
you fool. heed the words of MAF. she must be annihilted. scattered to the four winds of the human resources landscape and her corpse discarded like soiled underpants. let it be a warning to all who dare speak the truth about the fact that he really doesn have any technical writing expertise whatsoever.
Click to expand...
:lol

I don't mind that she told me the truth - it's the way she told it.

I'd expect to be cooked alive by my boss if I got caught sending out that sort of response.
 
element

element

Member
the lack of professionalism is shocking. i mean it is her job to act professional. what a cunt.

the place she really fucks up is adding the ! at the end. while the sentence isn't the greatest, it would have been ok for a brief email, but adding in the ! at the end makes it personal.

I'd call her boss to see if this is how their firm wants to be recieved as unprofessional.
 
V

Vormund

Member
Damn that is unprofessional.

She could have put something like:

Thank you for your interest in the position.

Unfortunately this position is etc...
 
Z

Zaptruder

Banned
I seriously doubt you'd post about professionalism if her reply had been:

"Your resume is fantastic! Come see me on monday for an interview!"
 
C

ChrisReid

Member
Rushmore said:
Any chance we can get a snippet of your resume? It might help clear up what she was referring to.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'll feel no sympathy if it's riddled with annoying grammatical errors and is poorly formatted in an application for a technical writer's job. The quality of the resumes I see on a daily basis is horrible. And really.. don't you have anything better to do than seek revenge for one stupid sentence? Righteous Indignation is really goddamn retarded.
 
I

iapetus

Scary Euro Man
Lhadatt said:
She's a recruiter at a recruiting firm. It's her job to sort through people who may or may not be qualified. If I'm not, then that's fine - she can fire off a "We'll compare your qualifications against the requirements for the job and get back to you. Thanks for the submission."
Click to expand...

That's completely fucking useless, though. If I've failed to make it to interview stage, I'll take a curt one-line explanation of why over the most beautiful and ingratiating letter that basically says nothing in a long-winded way.

My guess is that your resume shows no background relevant to the job, and that she's telling you this so that you can rewrite it if you want to apply for other technical writing jobs. But rather than take it in the spirit it's meant, you'd rather get all pissy about her 'lack of professionalism'.
 
S

speshylives

Member
Since she's a recruiter, she's probably letting you know in her own special way that you should make something up and add Technical Writing somewhere in your resume. Say you assisted with authoring SOP's or something menial like that nobody would give two shits about.
 
P

psycho_snake

I went to WAGs boutique and all I got was a sniff
I dont blame her. If your only technical writing experience is in college, why should she shoose you over people who sent their resume and do have experience.
 
L

Lhadatt

Member
Hamburglar said:
Another example of mods perfect time to award a new tag to a fine poster.
Click to expand...
And what makes you think I don't want a tag? :lol

Rushmore said:
Any chance we can get a snippet of your resume?
Click to expand...
Nah. She's the only person who's said anything bad about my resume, and I've had it vetted by some rather hard-nosed people.

ChrisReid said:
And really.. don't you have anything better to do than seek revenge for one stupid sentence? Righteous Indignation is really goddamn retarded.
Click to expand...
I'm out of work. Of course I have time! :)
 
S

slayn

needs to show more effort.
you actually got a reply when you weren't qualified and your unhappy about it?

Dear god, I would love to get negative responses so I can stop wasting my time with a company trying to get them to hire me. Hell a, "Fuck off you retarded cs freak! We don't want you!" would be awesome. Better than nothing by a very large margin.
 
element

element

Member
cowell.jpg

she thinks she is Simon!!
 
M

Mejilan

Running off of Custom Firmware
My $0.02? Isolate the kinds of jobs you've a realistic chance of being considered for and filter them into a couple of different general categories, such as industry, or whatever.

Take your base resume (and cover page) and customize it for each one of your categories, and then spam those, as appropriate. I've had better luck doing things this way rather than keeping one resume and just submitting it to 150 bullshit offers a day.
 
D

darscot

Member
The best part of the whole deal is "she" is probable a computer that scans resumes and spits out pre-generated responses. But you go guy, show that box what a man you are. I bet it will even feel bad or at least flip a few 1 and 0 after hearing from you.
 
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