Oh my. ..

resume that is.

Yes, I'm starting the job search again. Why? My finances are in such a state of collapse that I can't play at being all artsy anymore. If I'm so uncertain of being able to do freelance as a "full time" thing then I need to get over my pride and get a job that pays the bills.

After sending out about 5 or so resumes I came across this job site called job-hunt.org. And they've got some good tips and information. I decided to take it from step one of their getting started menu on the left-hand side. And, of course, one of the things they recommend in making an ASCII version of your resume for posting to job sites and when you e-mail your resume to potential employers.

I'm awfully embarrassed, but I got lazy and was uploading .doc and sending my resume as an attachment in e-mails. I really should have known better. But something in my head said "it's ok. People have great anti-virus programs now and sending an attachment isn't going to be a problem." I got cocky. And I'm sure it's affected some of the jobs I've applied for.

Tonight I sat down to make an ASCII version of my resume. What I found waiting in that hallowed personal document was far more frightening that I thought it was going to be. A lack of active verbs. Poor punctuation. Misspelled words. Hyphens where there shouldn't be any. Incomplete information.

Only a steady stream of animal crackers popped into my mouth have kept me from biting through my tongue from pure shame. Translating this document has been one of the most helpful things I've done so far. Not only have I fixed the problems, I feel like I've tightened up my resume into a far more reasonable time line of the things I've done.

I'm still wary of showing dates of hire, though I'm not sure how to get around it. I've done a lot of job flipping in trying to find out where I fit and it doesn't look good on paper.

So now I've got to take the work I've done for the ASCII version and move it back into the .doc version so when I actually have to PRINT this darn thing I've got something decent to give to a potential employer.

It's my personal shame. Being a writer with a craptastic resume.

Oh, but I did write something else for genus coffea. Check it out if you want.