Job hunting perils
So I just got an email, ostensibly from the CEO of JobFox.com. In this email, Mr. McGovern gives me a few tips (5) for crafting the best resumé I can on his job hunting service. [interlude: I signed up for the service months ago, and it has suggested exactly one interesting opportunity, for which I was not even remotely qualified...]
In this email, Mr. McGovern says, among other, potentially valid advice. that I should:
1) Design your resume so a computer can read it.
OK, so he’s trying to do people a favor here, but, really, if a computer is what is going to read my resume first, the thing that, based on totally arbitrary “YES HE HAS IT / NO HE DOES NOT” will pass me on up the line, then I PASS. As I said in an email response to Mr. McGovern, “If an employer cannot take time to treat me like a human before I am hired, I know that I will not be treated like a human after I am hired.” Being treated like a human is important to me. If it’s not to you, then, by all means, take his advice.
2) Don’t doing anything cute. Ever. [YES! SIC!!!]
You know, I don’t, actually, do[ing] anything cute on my resumé. However, I wouldn’t consider working for an employer who would hold the examples that Mr. McGovern cites against me: “We see resumes that use email addresses like hotlegs41@aol.com and include “ferrets,” “wine,” and “losing at golf” as personal interests.” OK, so the “hotlegs41″ might be a little on the non-professional side,(bet it probably gets you further than you think…) but really – if you are in to ferrets, wine, [WINE!!!] or golf [and not very good at it] then put the fucking thing on your resume. If an employer holds what is dear to you against you, then they are not the right employer for you.
I have spent many years not being myself at my job. It has taken a huge toll on me – though it’s one I am learning to move beyond. My last position was one with such good people that I began to actually be the same person in the office that I am at home. I understand and appreciate the separation of parts of a person’s life, but while some restraint is certainly understandable and called for in a professional setting, you cannot and should not be expected to be a different person for the sake of employment.
I forgive you if you find yourself in a position that seems to require this, but implore you to move on, as fast as possible, to something that, if not totally fulfilling, at least does not require you to be something that you are not for 9-12 hours a day. It’s not natural. It’s not healthy. It’s not worth what they are paying you to do it.
BTW, when it comes to gentlemen named “McGovern” I highly recommend the one called “Johnny“