Job application pet peeves
May 4, 2010Occasionally I get to see a fellow technical writer’s resume, CV, job application letter, etc.
And I can tell you right now that if you’re applying for a technical writing position and that position requires intermediate to advanced Microsoft Word skills, I’m going to turn on all hidden marks (tab marks, paragraph marks, spaces, and the like) in your submitted document.
Why? Because if you say that you have that level of experience with Word, then I’m going to want to see you ‘walk the walk’. I’m also going to check if you’ve used styles, or if you’ve used manual formatting. And I’m going to check other things too — like the fonts you’ve used, how you’ve used headings to direct the reader, and how you’ve used white space.
In the example below, the person used spaces to center their resume’s footer, and had extra tabs after the first line of the header. Not shown here are the EIGHT different font faces and sizes used in an accompanying three-page document! EIGHT!! And no styles except Normal to be seen…
If you can’t or won’t use styles for your own resume, then I cannot be confident that you can use them in the work environment, nor can I be confident that you have ‘intermediate to advanced’ Word skills, even if you say so. Unless your content is absolutely compelling, I’ve already judged you and eliminated you from the potential list — and if I have lots of resumes to look through, it’s likely that I’ve already dismissed yours and won’t even read it.
Some people say this is a harsh stance to take, but I disagree. If you want a job that asks for good Word skills, then don’t eliminate yourself by submitting a resume etc. that shows me the opposite. If I can’t believe your claims of your Word experience, how can I trust that everything else you say about your skills is true?
BTW, to stop people like me looking at your use of Word, PDF your resume!
[Link last checked May 2010]
Good tips but it staggers me that this comes up so frequently in conversation and the Technical Writing blogosphere. I’d love to send out my CV as a PDF because Word sometimes likes to mess up the formatting of documents when viewed on computers other than that of the author! Most recruiters now insist on Word format due to their automated data harvesting systems, so PDF goes out of the window.
Word won’t “mess up the formatting” if it used properly.
Styles are key: content with direct formatting (i.e. only “Normal” style) will end up being based on the viewer’s default styles and not the creator’s base styles. If you understand how styles work, this is not a problem. Proper use of keeps will even eliminate potential problems with differing page dimensions (i.e. “US Letter” vs “A4″ paper sizes).
PDF doesn’t always work either if not made carefully: I frequently see documents that cannot display because the PDF didn’t have a compatible definition for a font or an image.
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I understand where you’re coming from Rhonda, but how do you KNOW that the Word document you’re viewing has been prepared by the applicant? There’s a high possibility that the document has been altered by a recruiter before you see it, so to base your decision on the single document before you seems kind of childish.
Fair comment, Neil. I’m aware that recruiters have a reputation for messing up resumes before forwarding them to the client.
However, in the past 10 years I have never received a job application via a recruiter — they’ve always been direct from the person, and are almost always unsolicited (e.g.”I’m new to the industry/location/field. Here’s my resume. Do you have a job for me?”). Based on that, I make the not unreasonable assumption that the resume has been created by that person.
Twice in the past 10 years I’ve had subcontractors working for me — again, in those cases, the resumes were created by the individuals, not recruiters. How do I know? Because when I did the interviews, I asked them.
One resume was formatted so badly, I couldn’t even consider employing her — the job required intermediate to advanced Word skills with styles and templates and she had used neither. I had no confidence that she could represent me and my company in the client’s business, when she couldn’t or wouldn’t use the skills she needed for the job in her own job application. Placing a subcontractor meant that it was my company’s reputation on the line — it wasn’t a risk I was prepared to take. That’s not childish, in my book — that’s just good business sense.
–Rhonda