Useless Conversation

[Viin]

On a hopefully unrelated note :  CV writing.  I fucking HATE IT.

Yes. I used a resume service once, and it really wasn't helpful. She did a fine job prettying the doc up, but thats about it.

[Chimpy]

Everything about job hunting sucks.

[Soln]

the worst part of CV writing is maybe the cover letter.  I wish that convention would pass.

[Arthur_Parker]

That is a sad fact about human nature. On the other hand there's now the factor of going back and telling his boss he actually had a vacation planned and won't be working that time, though short term bad blood may be better than becoming the supervisor's go-to guy for covering fuck ups.

This was a long time ago, 1995-1996 they kept me on a revolving 3 month contract.  They wouldn't even tell me if they were going to renew the contract until the date was up.  I remember trying to book 2 weeks leave to go to the US 3-4 months in advance.  Woman manager was terrible, rude for no reason, treated people like dirt.  Took great delight in telling me I could have one week but not the second as she threw the leave slip back on my desk, my contract was up for renewal in two days so pointed that out and I asked if they needed me to continue working there next week.  She didn't say another word about the leave, I went on the trip came back and eventually ended up employed full time. 

A week or so after the leave incident she tried to pull me up for being one minute late in front of everyone, I let everything pass generally, not that bothered about minor stuff, I thought she was joking and laughed as I slapped my wrist.  She wasn't joking, I was stunned, she then started going on about how I left ten minutes early one day, a colleague had to point out it was my early finish that day so I'd actually worked an extra 20 minutes.

A new job comes up, I get promoted out, few years later a different manager tells me my personnel file has the leave incident mentioned as a black mark on my permanent record.  Lost count of how many different managers I've had since then, gradually working my way up the ladder she still blanks me in the corridor.  I think human nature just means some people are just plain odd.

[NowhereMan]

Yeah some people seem to have huge complexes about being challenged (or even corrected since that can be taken as a challenge if you're insecure) and they will seek to fuck you over in as public a manner as possible to demonstrate to you, them and everyone else that they are in charge. The point well made by everyone else here is that sort of manager is one that it's just not worth working for since caving results in them walking all over you and not caving results in pointless aggravation and confrontation. People who are very insecure about their position aren't going to be pleasant to work for 9 times out of 10 because they'll have read some shitty management for dummies that told them they need to assert dominance and be aggressive, which they'll interpret as shout at people and publicly berate anyone that doesn't unconditionally agree with you until they do.

[Fraeg]

Um.

Really ?  You hadn't booked that time off in advance and be able to tell him to take a hike ?

Really ?

without going into great details on how grand canyon permits work, basically, you can get a very short notice if someone else cancels their permit which is what happned.

[Minvaren]

As I sit here drinking a Pepsi Throwback(tm), it dawned on me that there's now a generation of people who've never tasted a soda made from sugar instead of corn syrup.   

[schild]

As I sit here drinking a Pepsi Throwback(tm), it dawned on me that there's now a generation of people who've never tasted a soda made from sugar instead of corn syrup.   

Except, you know, they all have now.

[Merusk]

Yeah, it's making a nice come back it seems.  I hope it's not the fad I suspect it to be.  With the exception of Mt. Dew all of the "Throwbacks" taste so much better than the modern version.

The local Meijer started selling "Mexican Coke" in glass bottles for the same price as regular Coke.  I no longer buy regular Coke and it's wonderful.

[MuffinMan]

I certainly love being this close to Mexico in Texas. There is much more Mexican Coke than there ever was back in Michigan.

[WayAbvPar]

I certainly love being this close to Mexico in Texas. There is much more Mexican Coke than there ever was back in Michigan.

Do you have a personal drug mule, or just a good dealer?

[Vision]

I certainly love being this close to Mexico in Texas. There is much more Mexican Coke than there ever was back in Michigan.

I have to stop by the downtown circle K for my closest mexican coke connection.

[NowhereMan]

I think it's been about a year since I last had a soda. Though on my visit to the dentist a few weeks ago I was admonished first for having not gone for almost three years and then for drinking far too many sugary drinks (and thus having two cavities). Telling the dentist I'd had less than a dozen cans of the stuff since I'd last seen him was met with some hand waving and him saying, "Maybe it's all the fruit juice then." Which I also hardly touch (water, black coffee and almost any alcoholic beverage that isn't sweet). I'm not sure if he was wrong about the cause or if I somehow drink more sugary stuff than I've ever realised.

[SnakeCharmer]

By all means, make sure your speedboost magically lasts about as long as every single test I can find out on the www.

(Up to) 16 Mbps my ass, Comcast...

[Chimpy]

By all means, make sure your speedboost magically lasts about as long as every single test I can find out on the www.

(Up to) 16 Mbps my ass, Comcast...

It is not that their speed boost time is the length of the speed test, it is that their QoS has specific definitions that prioritize the big speed test types of traffic (as most are powered by OOKLA it makes it pretty easy).

Also, most turbo is set to something like 5 minutes of allowable burst time per hour interval.

[Cheddar]

How the hell does a super healthy 2.5 year old get MRSA? 

[Merusk]

Oh shit, Ched.    Anything we can do?

[Nebu]

How the hell does a super healthy 2.5 year old get MRSA? 

Usually by contact.  About 1% of the population carries the bacteria without being infected.  Community acquired strains are also popping up, particularly in high population areas.

Don't panic yet.  There are still several effective antibiotics (albeit with some harsh side-effect profiles).  Caught early, this should be pretty straightforward to treat.

If you have questions, please PM me.

[HaemishM]

The local Meijer started selling "Mexican Coke" in glass bottles for the same price as regular Coke.  I no longer buy regular Coke and it's wonderful.

I found some on sale at the local Fresh Market a few weeks back and bought some for me and my wife. I rarely drink any soda, especially Coke and I've gotten her off of soda because the combo of massive sweetness and caffeine makes her panic attacks so much worse. Normally, Cokes make my colon do really irritating things, but the Mexican Coke did nothing to either of us besides give us a good drink to have with a meal. High Fructose corn syrup sweeteners are the fucking devil and they make me want to punch the corn lobby in the throat.

[WayAbvPar]

If you drink it instead of spraying it up your ass that should solve it. 

I can definitely tell the difference in the taste of the cane sugar sodas and the HFCS sodas. I am assuming the human body processes the former better too, correct?

[HaemishM]

If you drink it instead of spraying it up your ass that should solve it. 

Trust me, the enema method would be LESS effective. 

[Yegolev]

I can definitely tell the difference in the taste of the cane sugar sodas and the HFCS sodas. I am assuming the human body processes the former better too, correct?

The theory I have heard is that HFCS does not trigger the same responses in the body that sugar would, specifically I have heard the "I'm full" response isn't activated with HFCS.  Seems illogical to me but I'm no doctor.

[Bunk]

the worst part of CV writing is maybe the cover letter.  I wish that convention would pass.

I've reviewed about 15 resumes in the last three months, and I've never read a cover letter. If there were any, they never got past the HR callout person.

I want to know your previous job duties/skills that might relate to this job. I want to know what you went to school for. I don't want to see any major gaps in your employment history. And the whole fucking thing better not be more than two pages long, and better not be in six different fonts (3 of those 15 were).

[Cyrrex]

And the whole fucking thing better not be more than two pages long....

Motherfucking this.  I'm looking at you, India.

[Lantyssa]

I want to know your previous job duties/skills that might relate to this job. I want to know what you went to school for. I don't want to see any major gaps in your employment history. And the whole fucking thing better not be more than two pages long, and better not be in six different fonts (3 of those 15 were).

So keep it short, simple, and a consistent font.  Got it.

LAN Administrator - 15 years
 -- If it involved computers, I've probably done it



How's that?  (I made the color change on that icon, btw.  So a sample of my work was included.)

[bhodi]

I have 2 Pages of job experience and 1 with "Skills" which is essentially the search catcher with all of the appropriate acronyms for different hardware and software I've worked with.

There's no way I can condense into 2 pages - as much as I'd like to, having that extra page of job experience and accomplishments outweighs the risk, though I haven't updated it in a year so there will be some pruning next go-around. Sun hardware & Solaris, I'm looking at you.

[Ironwood]

Yeah, I'm the exact same.

If I only put my last position on there, I could maybe make it two pages.

[Viin]

The cover letter is to help all those HR Job Profiling systems to flag your resume as one that might be a good match. Use it to hold all the catch phrases and key words from the job posting and put some in the body of your Resume.

[Nebu]

I thought CV's were strictly an academic thing.  I learn so much from you lot.

[Ironwood]

The cover letter is to help all those HR Job Profiling systems to flag your resume as one that might be a good match. Use it to hold all the catch phrases and key words from the job posting and put some in the body of your Resume.

We don't do that over here.  I've been hiring people for 10 years and I've yet to see a cover letter beyond the ones that the agencies send with salaries and some cover details.

[Cyrrex]

I think cover letters are on the way out, as recruiting practices change.  Many of the people we hire these days are found on the big web sites...fewer and fewer of them are actually applying to a specific company anymore, which is a where a cover letter truly has had value.

And you really do need to chop that CV down to two pages or less.  While it might not be strictly true, I always view any CV more than that length to be written by a pontificating asshole who cannot figure out how to trim out the necessary information.  Or worse, a liar.  I don't care what you did in your job 14 years ago, I am only interested that you had one...so the PROTIP there is to cut that shit to a minimum, especially if it isn't directly related to the field you are looking to work in.

In short, a CV more than two pages long is an automatic strike against you.  Unless you work in India, apparently.  I'm not the only one who thinks this.

[Chimpy]

I thought CV's were strictly an academic thing.  I learn so much from you lot.

In most of the rest of the world CV = resume in the US.

In the US a CV is still an academic thing.

I still go by the old rule of a resume should not be more than a page....probably why I can't find a new job. I do submit a cover letter to each job and try and tailor the resume to each though.

But I guess a big part of my problem is that the industry my degree is in (which I no longer am a part of) a resume was a list of things you worked on to catch people's eye, then you brought your portfolio to the interview with you which was really what they wanted to see.

[Soln]

1 page please.  List where you worked, what you ACTUALLY did and maybe an ACTUAL list of skills.  Stop with the verbiage.

all these novels in resume form are very boring -- they all end the same way:  "I M UBER", but you are looking for werk, k?

[Nebu]

In most of the rest of the world CV = resume in the US.

In the US a CV is still an academic thing.

I still go by the old rule of a resume should not be more than a page....probably why I can't find a new job. I do submit a cover letter to each job and try and tailor the resume to each though.

But I guess a big part of my problem is that the industry my degree is in (which I no longer am a part of) a resume was a list of things you worked on to catch people's eye, then you brought your portfolio to the interview with you which was really what they wanted to see.

Good thing.  My CV is a small novel.  My resume, however, is 2 pages.  Perhaps I should just make one with that says "[contact info] is UBER" in large font. 

[DraconianOne]

1 page please.  List where you worked, what you ACTUALLY did and maybe an ACTUAL list of skills.  Stop with the verbiage.

If people with even 10 years supposed experience presented a one page CV, I'd wonder what the hell they'd been doing in that time.