Think before you write
I love going back and reading emails from like 3 years ago. It's funny to see what I thought was so uber-important back then and how trivial it all seems now.
My then-coworker asked me to help her peruse resumes for an assistant. Here are some of my comments that I gave her:
- On resume, states that she has excellent writing and editing ability - but there are several grammar and punctuation errors in the email...
- May be used to doing things her way (she's a teacher, after all, and teachers usually are in command of the classroom).
- Low GPA (probably shouldn't have listed it on the resume).
- Her interests include browsing the internet and chatting on AIM? (I don't think I'd list that on my resume).**
- probably would be more interested in teaching Spanish.
- no college coursework, too liberal
- too liberal. "IM" is not a skill.
- only average writing skills.
- tree-hugger type. Would be more interested in research than in clerical work.
- A bit arrogant.
Obviously, you can't tell what a person is like from paper but I think you can tell a lot about what a person writes/includes.
** This candidate was the one that my coworker decided to hire... and eventually fire (after a couple of months). See what I mean?
