Retrenchment blogging, day 7
Day 2 was mostly resume updating and tracking down references.
Days 3 and 4 were a long planned trip away.
Day 5 was gathering info on a specific field in which I have no experience or contacts.
Day 6 was talking to a guy at a largish gold company about resumes, corporate mindsets, and how to professionalize general field mayhem.
Day 7 was mostly catching up on actual work.
Resumes give me the shits. As they are cultural artifacts, doing them in another country gives me the shits even more. My secret day six contact was very pleasant at pointing out that what I thought was my long format, Australian style CV was several pages too terse, and completely devoid of the catch phrases and buzz words required to woo the eyes of management and HR.
I’ve always been of the opinion that buzz words are a key indicator that the user has no idea what he it talking about. But what I took away from that meeting was that, in large organizations, the people with the power to hire don’t have any idea either. This these catch phrases serve as a shared delusion- a cult of murky grammar- to facilitate a shared mindset and outlook. So if I want employment at such an organization, I need to pinch my nose, drink the kool-aid, and develop an understanding of opportunities and needs of stakeholders relevant to the actionable efficiencies and outcomes.
Why keep up with the Jonses when you can name your town after them?
2 comments:
I hate it when it's HR or management that wants to look at my resume, and not a geo. I'll be updating mine soon - although as a consultant, I suppose I should update more often, then it wouldn't be such a hassle when I need to do it. Sounds like the Long Form is no fun.
Um, how do you "professionalize general field mayhyem?" Might need tips on that.
"Stakeholder" has got to be just about the lamest word making its way into science. I never know what exactly it means in any specific situation. Even "actionable" is better, IMO.
Good luck with the resume lengthening.
Post a Comment