Reading resumes as cultural economic history

Posted on March 7, 2012
Filed Under Cover Letters and Resumes, Employment, Finding a Job, Hiring Forecast, Recession | Leave a Comment

Have you ever considered what’s driving lexical evolution? That is, have you ever wondered how forces of culture and language interact, and may influence each other? Although it can be difficult to trace effect to cause, determining how the introduction of certain words into the public lexicon may begin to impact or shape our cultural horizons and vice versa, woven into our everyday language is a complex web of understanding. While stating that language is a gateway to understanding may be a bit mundane—after all, without language we would presumably lack the requisite tools to properly formulate the ideas which form the foundation for all understanding—perhaps more exceptional is the remark that, in using language, we sometimes subconsciously communicate information about our social, cultural, and/or historical context. That, unbeknownst to us, our use of certain words instead of others may covertly convey important details about the socio-cultural milieu of which we are part. So what does this have to do with resume writing? More than you might think. Read more

Translation vs. Transposition: How to apply military experience in civilian markets

Posted on February 27, 2012
Filed Under Career Change, Cover Letters and Resumes, Employment, Federal Employment, Finding a Job | Leave a Comment

Admittedly, the lines connecting military experience and professions in the civilian sector are not always clear cut. In fact, the translation of military experience into civilian terms is not always easy—some ideas, experiences, skills, and qualifications may not always seem translatable, computable, or easily applicable. Thinking about the difficult task of translation with which servicemen and servicewomen are often tasked brings to mind something poet and translator John Ciardi wrote in his introduction to his translation of Dante’s Inferno, writing, “I believe  that the process of rendering from language to language is better conceived as a ‘transposition’ than a ‘translation,’ for ‘translation’ implies a series of word-for-word equivalents that do not exist across language boundaries any more than piano sounds exist in the violin.” Although Ciardi’s words ring true as it regards the business of translation, many employers (including the federal government) have come to realize our men and women in blue are not only highly trained, but possess an array of unique skills and abilities carefully honed through military service. Using Ciardi’s metaphor, even if piano sounds may not exist in the violin, a violin can certainly carry a melody played on a piano. So too, even if the specific duties one performed while in the military may not directly correlate to professions in the civilian sector, employers have come to realize that military experience and knowledge can be easily transposed, and put to use in the civilian workplace. Read more

Saying goodbye to the resume, RIP

Posted on January 31, 2012
Filed Under Career Change, Cover Letters and Resumes, Employment, Finding a Job, Social Network | Leave a Comment

It’s the last vestige of our antiquated, analogue past. A symbol of a bygone era. Putting it in really dramatic terms, it’s the last, remaining remnant of an Ancien Régime. You know, Ancien Régime: the old French socio-political order that was upturned by the French revolution. Although “Ancien Régime” may seem like a rather obscure bit of language to folks who have yet to be pulled in French history’s mystical gravity, Ancien Régime is a phrase that has come to embody a very peculiar idea relating to the collapse of an old, established regime—a changing of the guard, if you will, but on a paradigmatic scale. In this context, I am using this term as a way of conveying the seismic shift taking place in the world of hiring, or, Western life in general. How a new establishment—way of thinking—characterized by attaching a lowercase ”i” random nouns, e.g. iPotato, digitization, and (what some might call) digital escapism, has come to replace vestiges of the pre-Information Age: handwritten letters, vinyl records, hardback books, and yes, the almighty resume. The resume, has remained the thing connecting the hiring process of the not-to-distant past from our present. Read more

How saying the wrong thing in your resume could prevent you from landing that job

Posted on December 5, 2011
Filed Under Cover Letters and Resumes, Employment, Finding a Job | Leave a Comment

It’s no surprise that a career services blog would devote significant time and energy to sufficiently treating the issue of how to craft the perfect resume. Though, describing only those things make a resume truly stellar paints half a picture. In the same way the Plato believed it’s impossible to know what anything is unless you first become acquainted with what it is not (e.g. without first experiencing sadness you lack the cognitive ability to properly identify, or comprehend happiness), I believe I have spent too much time explaining what a resume is, instead of focusing on what it is not. The truth is, writing a good resume is a developed skill—something you hone over time. It’s not intuitive. The first time, we all get lost, inevitably and include too much, too little time, or the wrong information. Read more

A woman, a resume, and a balloon, Part II

Posted on November 25, 2011
Filed Under Cover Letters and Resumes, Employment, Finding a Job | Leave a Comment

The story of Ms. Elangwe, a women who recently harnessed the raw power of helium to send her resumes flying (literally) into the hands of recruiters, highlights a few points every job seeker should consider when faced with today’s job market. I think the most important takeaway (there are a number) is that today’s job seeker needs to get creative. Though not every job seeker is willing to stuff balloons with their resume, there are things they can do to get the attention of prospective employers. Read more

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