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My bona fides: I am old and have done it all. I will now tell you how it worked out. Like you, I am a person who can do pretty much anything. I had nothing but
by tqwhite 2y ago
My bona fides: I am old and have done it all. I will now tell you how it worked out.
Like you, I am a person who can do pretty much anything. I had nothing but success. Jobs came to me. Then, at around 45, the company I worked for went down and I found myself unemployed.
Like you, my resume was unusual. I broke it into skill groups. It was obvious that I had a lot of accomplishments and, if hired, could help with almost any need. Nobody hired me.
I did freelance work, started a company that didn’t work. Eventually needed a job again. Kept looking.
Finally, I ran into a headhunter who told me the magic: Decide what you want to do and remove everything from your resume that does not apply to that specific topic. Do not allow even a hint of general-purpose skill to appear.
She made me understand that nobody had a requisition for a ‘jack of all trades’. They have a requisition for a sales agent, bookkeeper, programmer, database guy. Specific stuff.
I was broke and did what she said.
In my case, my education and fundamental skill was programming. Gone were all of my proud accomplishments in favor of all the things I knew about PHP, MYSQL, LAMP of all sorts (this was in the ought). Also some things where I had helped a project team. It made me sad because I have done some very cool stuff that went by the wayside. But it was the resume of a professional programmer, dedicated to the craft.
I have never been unemployed since.
- baxtr 2y agoI used to work for a consultancy. Usual practice there was: adjusting your team's individual CVs for a specific client. This is not about lying. It is about highlighting relevant skills and experiences for a project and not listing those which are irrelevant. There is no way you can "tune" a CV that is completely off-topic, but in many cases (since generalist have so broad experiences) there is a way.
- bambax 2y agoI think you're right, and I find this extremely sad. Recruiters are like toddlers trying to fit square pegs toys or a key to a lock. If shown a master key they won't accept it. This is not just sad but incredibly inefficient, because it's better to hire a clever person than can get things done, who can learn anything, than to hire an "expert" in some stupid tech that will be obsolete in six months, and who will probably have a hard time learning anything else.
- sokoloff 2y agoAll else being equal, sure. A common line of thinking though is “I don’t want someone who will quickly tire of whatever boring mostly-CRUD thing we do; I don’t need clever; I need willing to do boring things…” That might not ever be said aloud, but I think it underlies some hiring decision-making (and, for a lot of places, probably should underly their thinking). We might love software for its challenges and changes; most places just see it as a cost that must be paid to make their business function. They no more love it than they do their electricity utility.
- rozenmd 2y agoIt's like tuning signal:noise ratio - as a person looking for help you're inundated with CVs, if you see one with "I know literally every web technology and have been using them for decades" it isn't as easy to parse as "I know literally the technology you use, and can help you from day one".
- codegeek 2y ago"Decide what you want to do and remove everything from your resume that does not apply to that specific topic" The only correct answer to finding a job as a generalist/veteran. You need to focus on 1 specific thing and go hard at it. It is extremely difficult to read a Resume which has a bit of everything.
- eggy 2y agoGreat advice! I will try trimming my CV/resume. The only rub is people ask, "What did you do those 6 years in between listed jobs?" I realize this can go both good and bad. Thanks!
- Freak_NL 2y agoAnswer truthfully I guess. Tell them about the things you did then, and why you left them out (not relevant for this position). If you're at the stage where you are answering questions about your CV you have your foot in the door at least.
- eggy 2y agoYes, of course. Most of the jobs I have taken were by word of mouth due to my history in the business, so I had not updated my CV for years. Even then, it was an HR formality. It is only when I reach out to new sectors that I go through the typical job hunting process.