I really don't know what, if anything, I should say to that...

@gunr2171 You're correct that resume review is not appropriate for the main site, but you always ask for input on chat yes.

Chat's a bit more active than it used to be but it's fine to repost your resume a few times throughout the day/week if you want feedback and the chat's moving quickly.

Keep in mind that if it's about a graphic design portfolio your best bet would be to ask on one of our other SE sites, not many have experience with that here I think.

@Lilienthal o.O I think your best option is... not to answer that.

@bilbo_pingouin Yeah, that's becoming more and more a policy of mine on SE. :)

Saves a lot of pointless arguing. :)

Hey

@Lilienthal wtf

@Lilienthal I answered that "One month off" Q because the other answer is ... somewhat lacking

Yeah, good answer @Magisch. That would be pretty much my advice for the OP.

Hm, I have been wondering if it made sense to have a feature to anonymize posts but still have them connected to your account

@Lilienthal thanks. I always want to make sure I'm not stepping on toes in chat.

If anyone could take a look at my resume and website (it's a quick one-pager) for feedback, I would be greatful.

(also, the website doesn't look as good in IE)

@gunr2171 A few points: be careful about linking your real name to your SO account and making it publicly available.

hum. OK

Please ensure that you have an up-to-date resume in a Word/RTF document that you can submit/mail instead of a link/pdf of that SO profile/resume.

A website that doesn't render properly on IE (at all? or just old versions?) is dangerous to submit as a proof of work.

The example section showing how the site was built is a nice demo and overview.

For programmers I'm not (personally!) a fan of portfolios but yours looks well done.

If you have high contributions to SO on a technical level then it's fine to include that. Moderation is hit-or-miss, not many people will know how involving it can be or care that much.

thanks. I'm still making changes to the website, like making it work better in IE.

Either way I wouldn't make it one of the main elements of your portfolio site.

For now I'd add a note if you can detect IE that "this site is constantly being improved blablabla"

For now I'd add a note if you can detect IE that "this site is constantly being improved blablabla"

Hmm, chat is acting up.

Yep, I can detect IE

Anyhow. Your portfolio doesn't mention much about your work history. That can be a conscious decision but if you want to use it to woo hiring managers and such then you probably want some actual work listed there

@Lilienthal So is there something wrong with the SO resume format?

Not as on a resume (with company names and dates) but with responsibilities, past positions and the like.

The SO resume doesn't scan and it's a non-word format that will wreak havoc with online submission tools.

Hiring managers want a word doc or printable PDF, preferably word (or RTF ofc).

Sometimes you'll have to cut and paste stuff into a submission tool

Sometimes an HR guy will do it

But a resume has a classic structure and content and you deviate from it at your peril.

Man, and I thought I was almost done with this process :(

thanks a lot for all of this advice

Checking your SO profile I mostly see answers from 13/14 so I'd have to question why you want to include it.

='13/'14

Have a look in the web for sample resumes and the like.

And yeah, it can be a bit of work. The upside is that once you've got a good resume in a word processor it takes little effort to keep it up to date.

at least recruiters don't seem to give much about the details as long as your score is high enough...

In the US especially a large part of the application process is the cover letter which will also take quite a bit of your time

<- never did write any application letter and soon probably has to, quite a weird position

Indeed.

@gunr2171 Point of order: work history should indeed use bullets mainly, but you always want a consistent style. Your most recent position uses bullets and looks good, but the one before that is full sentences in first person which is atypical.

ok, makes sense

A summary of your education, in my opinion, isn't required once you've got a few years experience unless including it adds to your resume.

Keep in mind that a resume should probably be one page long at your point in your career.

Finding someone to write such a letter to seems to be the harder part though ^^

Two pages is fine once you've got a few positions.

@PlasmaHH Cover letter?

Thanks so much. I'll take this conversation and make a list of tasks for myself.

@Lilienthal yeah, or the whole application for that matter

@PlasmaHH Keep in mind that the cover letter is where you can have the most impact in the application process. Great cover letters get people jobs.

And you're welcome @gunr2171. Consider asking for input from others in chat later as well. And have a read through some of the resume questions.

One thing I noted: if you're specifically looking for short-term positions (sub-1/2 years) where you essentially come in and revamp an IT/dev department with GIT and other procedures, then you need to make that more explicit.

And think about taking up contracting if that's something you enjoy and are good at.

@Lilienthal so far it was my abilities that got me jobs, and I like that idea more than being judged by a cover letter ... "hm, we need someone who can do 4d math in his head, but your cover leter is very well layed out, lets talk about the salary..."

@PlasmaHH You misunderstand. The cover letter gets you in.

And that's difficult in today's job market.

A good cover letter can distinguish you from the dozens or hundreds of other applicants.

Ofc, if you're in a high-demand, low-supply sectory then you don't really need to.

Lord knows I couldn't be bothered. ;)

But then they're not typically used where I am.

@Lilienthal usually there are not much people to compete against and rarely an application is filtered by HR. And then again I would likely not fit into a company where HR does the filtering, so that would probably be fine ;)

@PlasmaHH What makes you think a hiring manager won't filter from a cover letter?

@Lilienthal doing a bit of hiring process on my own in the industry ever since, it works usually by giving all the applications (usually not many) to whatever the manager of the deparment of that position is, and they then skip the cover letter (unless it is handwritten) and roughly try to match up the necessary skills, and only as a second step skim through the cover letter.

which leads to dialogues like "here, look at this application of a forklift driver, what could he possibly want to do here" ... "oh, did you read the cover letter, it gets even better there <reading some quotes>"

That works as long as you don't have too many qualified candidates. When you've done your skill matching and you're left with a 100 potentials you start going through cover letters and well-written ones stand out there.

Yeah, luckily that can't happen for the positions I would apply to

Ugh.

Exclamation marks.

Bold AND underline.

Who are these people.

At least they haven't resorted to fancy colours.

...yet.

marquee tags...

God help us all.

Good edits @Magisch, that deserves to be higher now.

Duty-of-care is a good point to raise.