[geeks] Bad monster. No donut.

[velociraptor]

On 11/9/06, Phil Stracchino <phil.stracchino at speakeasy.net> wrote:
> However, I *also* simply don't have several thousand dollars lying
> around spare that I can give to a "get me hired" professional and say
> "Here, this is what I know, write me a resume and find me a job doing
> what I know or can learn."

Professional resume writers shouldn't cost thousands (that sounds more
like career coach/job hunter)--you should be able to get it done for a
couple of hundred or less.  There are plenty of writers who operate
through the internet, email and the phone, the key is finding a good
one.

If that's out of the question, go down to the local workforce
investment program--their budgets are devoted to assisting displaced
workers--and see what resources they have.  Most  have classes on
writing resumes, counselors who will give you one-on-one feedback
about your resume, and advice on job search strategies.  They often
have retraining resources as well.

I would also suggest that anyone who has a disability of any
type--which includes Aspergers afaik--get advice about how to job hunt
in this situation.  Employers legally cannot discriminate based on
disabilities, but if you give them some other opportunity to
disqualify you from consideration, they'll take it.

The approach to take with "conflicting advice" is to try each tactic
for a few weeks and see what works.  Or post one version on Monster
and one on Dice or some other site.  This is no different from the
"test" promotions that e-commerce sites or marketing firms do.

Get a blog/website and post technical stuff in addition to your
resumes.  Include your site URL in your resume.  Google yourself and
find out if there's any bad stuff out there that might hamper your job
hunt.  (I'm lucky, there's a famous Nadine Miller out there that masks
my stuff for the most part. :-)  John Smith will be lost in the noise
of the intarweb; Phil Stracchino might not be.

A tactic for relocation: don't put an address on your resume (you
shouldn't if you are posting to the internet anyway--it's a lever for
identity theft), or just put the target city as your location,
assuming you can relocate quickly.

Feel free to find my resume on Monster (or my profile on LinkedIn --
they aren't that different) and crib ideas.  I am willing to read and
give comments (and re-read).  After getting a host of co-workers
basically asking me to re-write their resumes for them, I refuse to
actually do the writing anymore.  I don't really *like* writing
resumes any more than anyone else does.

=Nadine=