January 26th, 2004

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Technology
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Resumes in the Tech Industry

Via Slashdot, we find this rant from software pundit Joel Spolsky, on writing and submitting resumes for tech jobs. It turns out that it’s not just technical writers who are grammarians (though, in truth, his requirements are pretty basic):

OK, this one really bugs me. Learn where spaces go in relation to other punctuation. Attention, the entire population of India: whenever you have a comma, there is always exactly one space and it’s always after the comma and never before it. Thank you.

Punctuation: the final barrier to tech jobs outsourcing.

Comments: 3 Responses so far

Rob
January 28th, 2004
8:01 am

I think what I found so important in his article was his process for selecting candidates to review.

He separates the 100-200 resumes he gets for every position into 3 categories, has his partner do the same thing, and then they essentially go through the Good pile and do interviews. While not “strict” all the time about the punctuation, it definitely can land people in the second or third pile, and then it’s just simply game over.

I do the same thing when reviewing resumes - spelling and grammar is a reason to just say No.

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Todd
March 20th, 2004
4:57 am

Joel usually hits the mark when it comes to software, but I find his draconian approach to minor errors in resumes to miss the point of substance for a minor misstep in presentation. Would he fire a programmer for one bug? I doubt it. I’ve reviewed plenty of resumes and admit that I am put out by minor errors that a spell-check or decent proofread would have fixed, but I also allow some slack for a person obviously struggling with the language. I can’t imagine how many geeks are going to feel justified in snidely dismissing a candidate for punctuation just because Joel does it, too.

[Reply]

Todd
March 20th, 2004
4:59 am

I should have read Rob’s comment before posting. Would we say then that a new employee should be a snappy dresser? Eat the salad with the right fork? Bow at precisely the correct depth for the status of the person he is meeting? Comletely discounting a candidate for minor spelling and grammar, especially when their job is not about spelling and grammar, is a fool’s method of hiring.

[Reply]

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