Resume Critique
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Let's abstract it a different way. Here is what I think you are trying to say in super general terms:
"Many people are idiots, and many companies do foolish things. There was one specific possibility of a really idiotic thing at my last job. But it didn't actually happen. Therefore I'm less of an idiot than I might have been."
That's all that comes across and I think that that is actually what you are trying to say is a success. Nothing I never called the CV writer an idiot, just less of an idiot than might have been if they didn't avoid that one simple, obvious failure. We don't know how good they are, nothing tells us what they did right, only what they didn't do wrong. And that it is only because some companies and some people are so incredible idiotic that we need to point this out because otherwise, the assumption might be that the CV writing is one of those people.
Correct?
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Or another way to look at it: "I worked for idiots, but I prevented some of their idiocy this one time. But it was a near thing, because they are idiots."
Using "I work for idiots but am not as idiotic as some of them" as a way to promote oneself just doesn't come across well. Imagine bragging about this at the bar..........
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We do this all fo the time in IT. We are having drinks and we talk about how dumb things are at work. But it isn't bragging, it is relieving frustration. We talk about how they lack common sense or just do stupid things. It's not to make ourselves look good, because we can't in that context. We don't look smart by being smarter than idiots, we just deserve pity for having to put up with them.
When you are at the bar bragging to your mates about some amazing accomplishment, it is totally different. You have to beat the minimal industry baseline to sound impressive. Putting up with idiots in management or coworkers is just part of putting up with people that we do every day.
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Example. I recently cut a company's development time in half. Saving them a fortune on employee costs and getting them to market way faster. Do I brag about it? No, because I didn't do anything impressive. I just showed them that fundamental good decision making was better than picking random gibberish out of their butts. I didn't fail, but I certainly can't brag about the decisions that I made. Sure, I'm better than the people who were making the decisions before. But their decisions were failures. They aren't to be used as a serious measurement for success on my part. For me to call that a success means I have to lower my own value to a level of being totally pathetic in order for that to be impressive - that's a big price to pay, lowering my own level so that one avoidance of failure looks like "a success by my personal standards."
That's what will happen with the CV. It drags down the person in order to make one small decision warrant being considered a success. Overall, it's a huge loss for one small win. It's like totally scrapping the war in order to win one tiny battle.
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@scottalanmiller said in Resume Critique:
@jimmy9008 said in Resume Critique:
Saying that's not good as is should never have been wrong is just bollocks. Things go wrong, showing you can make them go the correct way is important.
This doesn't make any logical sense. It doesn't show that at all. It shows that disaster was avoided. It doesn't show why or by whom. Only that the CV writer wasn't a cause of the disaster. We don't know who proposed the consolidation, why the failure was considered, who made the decision or based on what criteria. It shows nothing positive about the CV writer at all, only that they didn't sabotage the project themselves by refusing to consolidate.
No. The fact that they are saying they consolidated using hyper-v, and if they why they did it, does show that the CV writer did it. Entirely.
And yes on your other points. Saying you stopped an idiot doing something idiotic by doing the great thing you did and Ankit that idiotic thing turn in to a successful thing... Is what should be shown. Saying goodbye Hyper-V tells me nothing...
Why is Hyper-V on the CV. The why makes you go to the yes pile. The word on its own sends out to the no pile.
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@jimmy9008 said in Resume Critique:
@scottalanmiller said in Resume Critique:
@jimmy9008 said in Resume Critique:
Saying that's not good as is should never have been wrong is just bollocks. Things go wrong, showing you can make them go the correct way is important.
This doesn't make any logical sense. It doesn't show that at all. It shows that disaster was avoided. It doesn't show why or by whom. Only that the CV writer wasn't a cause of the disaster. We don't know who proposed the consolidation, why the failure was considered, who made the decision or based on what criteria. It shows nothing positive about the CV writer at all, only that they didn't sabotage the project themselves by refusing to consolidate.
No. The fact that they are saying they consolidated using hyper-v, and if they why they did it, does show that the CV writer did it. Entirely.
It doesn't even mention or suggest that. It shows that they did the work, not that they made or influenced the decision.
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@scottalanmiller said in Resume Critique:
Example. I recently cut a company's development time in half. Saving them a fortune on employee costs and getting them to market way faster. Do I brag about it? No, because I didn't do anything impressive. I just showed them that fundamental good decision making was better than picking random gibberish out of their butts. I didn't fail, but I certainly can't brag about the decisions that I made. Sure, I'm better than the people who were making the decisions before. But their decisions were failures. They aren't to be used as a serious measurement for success on my part. For me to call that a success means I have to lower my own value to a level of being totally pathetic in order for that to be impressive - that's a big price to pay, lowering my own level so that one avoidance of failure looks like "a success by my personal standards."
That's what will happen with the CV. It drags down the person in order to make one small decision warrant being considered a success. Overall, it's a huge loss for one small win. It's like totally scrapping the war in order to win one tiny battle.
No. Showing you changed that failure to a success saving so much cash an time is a success, and is something you should brag about.
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@jimmy9008 said in Resume Critique:
Why is Hyper-V on the CV.
To show experience that is likely of value to the employer reading the CV.
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@jimmy9008 said in Resume Critique:
No. Showing you changed that failure to a success saving so much cash an time is a success, and is something you should brag about.
I didn't make it a success. I just avoided failure. There is nothing worth bragging about there, I just followed industry baseline. It would be totally embarassing for me if I bragged about and people pointed out that all I did was the "normal starting point" for a project of that nature.
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@scottalanmiller said in Resume Critique:
@jimmy9008 said in Resume Critique:
@scottalanmiller said in Resume Critique:
@jimmy9008 said in Resume Critique:
Saying that's not good as is should never have been wrong is just bollocks. Things go wrong, showing you can make them go the correct way is important.
This doesn't make any logical sense. It doesn't show that at all. It shows that disaster was avoided. It doesn't show why or by whom. Only that the CV writer wasn't a cause of the disaster. We don't know who proposed the consolidation, why the failure was considered, who made the decision or based on what criteria. It shows nothing positive about the CV writer at all, only that they didn't sabotage the project themselves by refusing to consolidate.
No. The fact that they are saying they consolidated using hyper-v, and if they why they did it, does show that the CV writer did it. Entirely.
It doesn't even mention or suggest that. It shows that they did the work, not that they made or influenced the decision.
That's why I'm saying 'consolidated saving X per year'. That to me says you did it. Other it's not be written.
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If I bragged about that, I could brag about just anything.
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@jimmy9008 said in Resume Critique:
@scottalanmiller said in Resume Critique:
@jimmy9008 said in Resume Critique:
@scottalanmiller said in Resume Critique:
@jimmy9008 said in Resume Critique:
Saying that's not good as is should never have been wrong is just bollocks. Things go wrong, showing you can make them go the correct way is important.
This doesn't make any logical sense. It doesn't show that at all. It shows that disaster was avoided. It doesn't show why or by whom. Only that the CV writer wasn't a cause of the disaster. We don't know who proposed the consolidation, why the failure was considered, who made the decision or based on what criteria. It shows nothing positive about the CV writer at all, only that they didn't sabotage the project themselves by refusing to consolidate.
No. The fact that they are saying they consolidated using hyper-v, and if they why they did it, does show that the CV writer did it. Entirely.
It doesn't even mention or suggest that. It shows that they did the work, not that they made or influenced the decision.
That's why I'm saying 'consolidated saving X per year'. That to me says you did it. Other it's not be written.
Still says nothing. It says that Hyper-V was used, that consolidation happened. It doesn't say why or who made decisions and the cost savigns, as we pointed out, is fake because it is against an arbitrary level of failure.
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@scottalanmiller said in Resume Critique:
@jimmy9008 said in Resume Critique:
Why is Hyper-V on the CV.
To show experience that is likely of value to the employer reading the CV.
That does not show experience. It's a word. Saying why you used HyperV. What is did. How it improved or solved something good... That shows the experience.
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You can't get away from the arbitrary failure component. That is the critical piece here. Along with not knowing if the disaster avoidance was the employee or a manager.
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@scottalanmiller said in Resume Critique:
If I bragged about that, I could brag about just anything.
If it's released to the job, you probably should.Its better than bragging get about nothing and listing a word.
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@jimmy9008 said in Resume Critique:
@scottalanmiller said in Resume Critique:
@jimmy9008 said in Resume Critique:
Why is Hyper-V on the CV.
To show experience that is likely of value to the employer reading the CV.
That does not show experience. It's a word. Saying why you used HyperV. What is did. How it improved or solved something good... That shows the experience.
A word is experience on a CV. The CV is a list of experience. Hyper-V is the thing with which there is experience. It's the only piece of your description that related to experience. The rest talks about the business' needs or other people's decisions and their experience, but not the CV writers and is just filler.
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@jimmy9008 said in Resume Critique:
@scottalanmiller said in Resume Critique:
If I bragged about that, I could brag about just anything.
If it's released to the job, you probably should.Its better than bragging get about nothing and listing a word.
As a hiring manager, I don't agree. I want to know what is useful to me and factual, not opinion and only useful to someone else.
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@scottalanmiller said in Resume Critique:
You can't get away from the arbitrary failure component. That is the critical piece here. Along with not knowing if the disaster avoidance was the employee or a manager.
Then put that information in the CV. On that one line. Putting on your CV means you did it. Otherwise it should not be on the CV. I want to know what you did. Not what soembody else did.
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Examples:
- Implemented Hyper-V, no GUI, on four physical hosts, version 2016 - factual experience
- Implemented Hyper-V saving 100,000 semolians - opinion, not factual
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@scottalanmiller said in Resume Critique:
@jimmy9008 said in Resume Critique:
@scottalanmiller said in Resume Critique:
If I bragged about that, I could brag about just anything.
If it's released to the job, you probably should.Its better than bragging get about nothing and listing a word.
As a hiring manager, I don't agree. I want to know what is useful to me and factual, not opinion and only useful to someone else.
Knowing a prospect is able to stop failure is surely useful. If rather hire somebody that can show an history of preventing failure over one that never has.
