SeekJob keywords (was: How much should I charge for fixed-price...)

java-programmer, SeekJob keywords (was: How much should I charge for fixed-price...) > From: Tim X <email***@***.com>
> in larger organisations, the initial culling of applications is
> usually done by some junior staff member from the HR department - they
> know nothing about programming, computer or IT. They have a list of key
> words or criteria which they look for - those that have it get to the
> next stage, those that don't get filed in the round filing cabinet
> under the desk!

So would you recommend the keywords be listed in logical sections, such
as programming languages in one list, platforms in another list,
application areas in another list, etc., or should I just mix all the
unrelated keywords together in one huge alphabetical list to make it
easy for the junior staff member to find the keywords he/she is looking
for?

Given my experience, which keywords from my various resumes should I
keep, which should I flush, and which keywords do I not yet have but
based on my experience I should include as synonyms for the non-keyword
descriptions I already have? To save you the trouble of looking through
my dozen resumes, here's the complete list currently:
1620
360/370
6502
68000
8080
acia
algol
altair 8800a
anti-spam
applet
archie
arpanet
assembler
awt
bachelor of science degree
balanced binary trees
bitmapped image of graph to parameterized lineaments
bitnet
blockade puzzles for 3-yr-olds or dan quayle
bnf-driven type-checking
c
c++
cai
calculus
canonical representations
card input
cgi
class-assignment
client/server telecommunications
clustering
cmucl
cobol
college graduate
combinatorics
computer-assisted instruction
console typewriter
consumerism
cross-reference
data compression
ddt
dec pdp-10
destructuring
device interfaces
diablo disks
diet optimization
differential algebra
differential polynomials
dm2500 emulator
docindex
dom
eqd
expert system
file maintenance and indexing
finger
flashcard drill
forth
fortran
four-phase iv/70
fractals
frontpanel
ftp
gcd
generalized computer dating
graph hockey
gui
hashing
heapsort
help-net
hermes
high-level languages
html
hypercard
hypertalk
i/o device interrupt handlers
ibm 1130
ibm 1620
ibm 360/370
image processing
imsss
indexing
info-nets
information retrieval and indexing
intel 8080
interval arithmetic
interval refinement stochastic mapping
inventions
its
j2ee
j2se
java
javadoc
javascript
jdbc
jsax
jsp
jsys
kermit
large prime numbers
lattice manipulation
laying out text
linux
lisp
listserv
maasinfo
machine language
macintosh
macintosh allegro common lisp
macl
maclisp
macsyma
mail
mainsail
mathematical research
mathematical-formula printer
mathematics
mathprinter
mensa
meta-index
microsoft windows
mos 6502
ms-windows
natural language understanding
net-relaxation
netnews
netscout
nmr relaxation
note
nuclear magnetic resonance relaxation
numrel
nutritional diets.
odbc
opacs
os traps
packet-based data communication
packet-based telecommunications
pacs-l
payroll
pcnet
pdp-10
perl
permutations
php
pnews
pocket forth
portable standard lisp
porting
pre-registration
prettyprinter
principal differential ideals
processing and rendering remote-sensing multi-spectral images
programmer/analyst
proofreading
proximity-hashing
pseudo-random numbers
psl
putnam contest
pvm
rdrlist
redhat linux
reduce
rlisp
rmail
rmi
rn
rsa cryptosystem
rscs
s-expressions
sail
save/restore environment
sax
segmat
servlets
sesame c
shortanswertests
single-step debugger
sl
software engineer
sokoban puzzles for 3-yr-olds or dan quayle
sort/merge
space exploration
sprouts
standard lisp
stanford
stipple
sunos
svc202 commands
swing
syntax&semantics checking
syscalls
telecommunications
telnet
tenex
terminal emulation
text compression
toolbox traps
topindex
toplevel meta-index
tops-10
uci-lisp
university payroll
university pre-registration
unix
us citizen
usenet
uuo
vb
versaterm
virus detection and removal
visual basic
visual c/c++
vm/cms
waits
wilbur
word problems
wordprob
writing & public info
www
xml
zmodem
zterm

So which of those are so grossly obsolete that there's no chance anyone
will ever want somebody with such experience, so I should permanently
delete them from my keywords list? Which new keywords did I overlook?

> All of that could have been summarised as something like x years
> assembler programming.

Which is better keyword for that: assembler or assembly-language?
Or should both be included in case the junior staff member is looking
for the other one and doesn't realize they mean the same thing?

(Splitting my reply here, in case anyone stopped reading at that list
of keywords and wouldn't see the rest of the topics I'm discussing
later in the second part of this reply.)

java-programmer >> SeekJob keywords (was: How much should I charge for fixed-price...) "Robert Maas, see http://tinyurl.com/uh3t" wrote:
>
... snip ...
>
> Given my experience, which keywords from my various resumes should
> I keep, which should I flush, and which keywords do I not yet have
> but based on my experience I should include as synonyms for the
> non-keyword descriptions I already have? To save you the trouble
> of looking through my dozen resumes, here's the complete list
> currently:

I have deleted all those that should be ignored IMO.

> 68000
> applet
> assembler
> bachelor of science degree
> balanced binary trees
> bnf-driven type-checking
> c
> c++
> calculus
> canonical representations
> cgi
> client/server telecommunications
> cobol
> cross-reference
> data compression
> device interfaces
> expert system
> file maintenance and indexing
> forth
> fortran
> fractals
> ftp
> gui
> hashing
> heapsort
> high-level languages
> html
> i/o device interrupt handlers
> image processing
> information retrieval and indexing
> java
> javadoc
> javascript
> linux
> lisp
> machine language
> macintosh
> mail
> mathematics
> microsoft windows
> ms-windows
> nuclear magnetic resonance relaxation
> packet-based telecommunications
> payroll
> perl
> php
> prettyprinter
> programmer/analyst
> proofreading
> redhat linux
> rsa cryptosystem
> software engineer
> sort/merge
> standard lisp
> sunos
> swing
> telecommunications
> telnet
> text compression
> unix
> usenet
> visual basic
> visual c/c++

Some deleted because they are meaningless to me. I probably should
have deleted even more.

--
"If you want to post a followup via groups.google.com, don't use
the broken "Reply" link at the bottom of the article. Click on
"show options" at the top of the article, then click on the
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java-programmer >> SeekJob keywords (was: How much should I charge for fixed-price...) On Wed, 24 Aug 2005, Robert Maas, see http://tinyurl.com/uh3t wrote:

> > From: Tim X <email***@***.com>
> > in larger organisations, the initial culling of applications is
> > usually done by some junior staff member from the HR department - they
> > know nothing about programming, computer or IT. They have a list of key
> > words or criteria which they look for - those that have it get to the
> > next stage, those that don't get filed in the round filing cabinet
> > under the desk!
>
> So would you recommend the keywords be listed in logical sections, such
> as programming languages in one list, platforms in another list,
> application areas in another list, etc., or should I just mix all the
> unrelated keywords together in one huge alphabetical list to make it
> easy for the junior staff member to find the keywords he/she is looking
> for?

Robert,

I, personally, write my resume so the company knows who I am and what I
can do for them. If they list requirements I will make it INCREDIBLY easy
for them to see that I meet or exceed their requirements. If the company
uses someone who just scans the resume for keywords then most likely they
are scanning the resume for keywords relating to the requirements for the
position.

If they are just looking for a list of unrelated keywords then why would
you want to work for them.

For example, if you apply for a job at IBM they have you do an online
application. The application will quiz you on your skill set and level of
experience. You will notice that all the technologies they quiz you about
are also listed in the job ad requirements.

> > All of that could have been summarised as something like x years
> > assembler programming.
>
> Which is better keyword for that: assembler or assembly-language?
> Or should both be included in case the junior staff member is looking
> for the other one and doesn't realize they mean the same thing?

I never worry about this sort of thing. If the company is not going to put
forth the effort to know assembler and assembly-language are the same
thing then why would I want to work for them. I'm willing to put a great
deal of effort into applying for a job but I expect the employer to put
some effort into it as well.

--
Send e-mail to: darrell dot grainger at utoronto dot ca

java-programmer >> SeekJob keywords (was: How much should I charge for fixed-price...) > From: email***@***.com (".")
> I, personally, write my resume so the company knows who I am

That phrase makes no sense to me. Who you are is you, exactly you, and
nothing else except you. To say that you are somebody other than
yourself is nonsense. It makes no sense to tell somebody who you are
because you are you and they already know you are you.

> and what I can do for them.

This part makes more sense. Part of what you can do is just generally
the sorts of things you can do for anyone. Part of what you can do is
more specifically what you can do for that one company that would be
impossible to do for any other company, such as add features to a
product only this one company makes. Do I seem to understand that you
are referring to?

> If they list requirements I will make it INCREDIBLY easy for them to
> see that I meet or exceed their requirements. If the company uses
> someone who just scans the resume for keywords then most likely they
> are scanning the resume for keywords relating to the requirements for
> the position.

You are obviously talking about writing custom resumes, a different
resume for each job you see advertised such that you respond to it. It
has been recommended that I apply for ten jobs per day, despite the
fact that I haven't seen even one job I qualify for in the past ten
years, and it takes a full workday of scanning job sites such as
CraigsList just to find one or two jobs where I only half qualify.

It takes weeks or months to compose a brand new resume from scratch
without any base resume as a starting point. At present I have a half
dozen general resumes and a half dozen specific-area resumes, any one
of which might serve as a starting point for editing to yield a custom
resume for a single job ad. Unfortunately general concensus is that
every last one of my existing resumes is total crap and not suitable
for using as a base for any custom resume. I don't believe adding a
bunch of custom keywords to a crap resume would get me an interview, do
you?

> For example, if you apply for a job at IBM they have you do an online
> application. The application will quiz you on your skill set and level of
> experience. You will notice that all the technologies they quiz you about
> are also listed in the job ad requirements.

IBM actively discriminates against disabled people such as myself in
their advertising of jobs available, so I'd just as soon not discuss
them any further here.

> If the company is not going to put forth the effort to know assembler
> and assembly-language are the same thing then why would I want to work
> for them. I'm willing to put a great deal of effort into applying for a
> job but I expect the employer to put some effort into it as well.

I'm desperate for a job. If it's a company such as IBM that makes it
impossible for disabled people to even see their job ads, then I
dismiss them as fucking shitheads who deserve to be bombed by the
military by "friendly fire" or boycotted by all organizations that help
disabled people or all their employee's cars being attacked with 2-by-4
sticks of wood to break windows and dent bodies by vigilantees who are
fed up with their anti-disabled-people attitude. But if the company's
only problem is that they didn't happen to think of all the synomyms
when configuring their resume-filtering software, I'd be glad to
include both synonyms just to make sure their little oversight doesn't
deprive me of a job. I would consider their Web being accessible to
disabled people, so we can at least see their job ads, to be sufficient
effort by the employer.

java-programmer >> SeekJob keywords (was: How much should I charge for fixed-price...) On Sat, 03 Sep 2005 13:29:49 -0700, email***@***.com (Robert Maas,
see http://tinyurl.com/uh3t) wrote:

>
>That phrase makes no sense to me. Who you are is you, exactly you, and
>nothing else except you. To say that you are somebody other than
>yourself is nonsense. It makes no sense to tell somebody who you are
>because you are you and they already know you are you.

<sigh> I've finally had enough. This newsgroup is not appropriate for
thousands of lines relating to the ongoing tale of one man's effort to
find employment. You have the honor of joining a very select group. I
have filtered only two others from this newsgroup.
--
Al Balmer
Balmer Consulting
email***@***.com