Jobs

A tip on applying for jobs

April 7, 2010

One of the things I do on an ongoing basis is help maintain the job applicant system at the office. A couple of trends continue to amaze me. First of all if you're submitting a file giving it the name "resume.doc" is a sure-fire way to make sure your resume will get lost, messed up and never make it to where it needs to be. A second great way to cause problems is to put special characters in the file name. Calling it "Joe's Resume.doc" or "resume/web-2010.pdf" won't help you win friends either.

So here is a simple idea. Keep the name of your files descriptive and use only letters, numbers, dashes and underscores in the file name. The newspaper says there are a few folks out there looking for jobs these days. You don't want to miss out on the interview just because the folks trying to read your resume can't find it amongst the piles of submissions.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night...

December 24, 2008

christmas_tree.JPG With a rapidity that defies comprehension a new holiday season is not only upon us but wheeling by and will soon be gone again. No doubt about it this is a tough year for celebrating. Personally we have so much to be thankful for. Professionally it would be hard to figure out how one could be on a better track. At the same time it is hard to ignore the collective concern and the grave economic and environmental situations we face as a country, a people, and a planet.

Personal responsibility

One of the refrains I see from time to time about the current economic mess we are slogging through is that it comes down to personal responsibility. I am of two minds on this. Sure everything is personal responsibility. Am I in a better position because I've made good decisions, dare I say better decisions than some others? You bet. All and all we've been and so far continue to be in a better position than most in this day.

Eight web developer warning signs

December 12, 2008

Most of us have been there. You talk to someone who has had a bad experience with a site built on a popular web framework and then once you look at the code you suddenly understand why. So I decided it could be useful to create a little cheat sheet. If you find yourself thinking I've done that as you read along, it might be time to get back to bagging groceries, building beautiful houses, practicing law or whatever else you're good at so you don't harm more folks out there who are just trying to make a living.

So here's the list:

What's Next? Acquia and Drupal social publishing

September 2, 2008

A year ago we were about to set out on our family version of Travels with Charlie. At the time our thinking was that we would be looking to move out of Southern Nevada in a couple of years. On our return to Southern Nevada we talked and chewed on the options. Finding no great reason to wait we packed up and moved north. Along with the move came a change in my focus. I made a great move from the world of running an information technology department to running a small Drupal shop. Along the way I've had many great experiences. From traveling to Drupal camps to having visited Boston for the first time for Drupalcon last spring.

Job hunting is in the online network

October 22, 2007

Marketplace Money had a story this week on the importance of online networks in looking for jobs.

Mark Gentry, a recruiter interviewed in the story notably said:

Right now, if you sent me a resume in a envelope, there's little chance that I'll even open it. And the first thing I'm going to do when I get it is I'm gonna look online to see where you are. And if you're not online, then I'm going to think, well, why aren't you online? Are you even current to the market? Do you even understand what's going on in the world?

This discussion comes after a recent discussion at the office over whether to require applicants to use an online system for recruiting to a high-level position. Of course I'm biased because the story on Marketplace Money reaches the same conclusion that I do in believing that Linked In is the premiere place for professional networking. Although I recently added a My Space profile, for example, I doubt much professional traffic will come from it.

IT Jobs in education

February 21, 2007

Yesterday I started tagging interesting jobs in the information technology realm of higher education as I see them. There will likely be a heavy emphasis on the western states but it will not be exclusive.

The first post is the Director of Information Technology for Computing and Communication Systems at Northern Arizona University. NAU is an institution I have no connection to but Flagstaff is a beautiful place if you like desert mountains.

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