                              Chip's World
                              By Chip Cox
                      Internet : chip@classic.com

    Looking for a new job can be fun. Yes, I have gotten too many
rejection letters but they haven't driven me completely looney. The
trick is to remember who is on the other side of the table from you. If
you have every done any interviewing you know that most interviewers are
as nervous trying to figure out how much a prospective employee knows in
one hour, as the prospective employee is. When thinking about the fact
that the person you will hire, based on one to three hours of discussion
and a brief refe ce check that only verifies that the person worked
somewhere and left there breathing, may play a vital role in the most
important project of your career. It's enough to make even the most
hardened executive sweat a little.
    I remember a guy graduating from college who must have had the worst
resume of all times. I never actually saw the resume. But, during his
senior year in Electrical Engineering with a better than average GPA, he
sent out 200 resumes to perspective employers. He got back 210 rejection
notices. He went down to Huntsville AL to a job fair and the first
company that talked to him before reading his resume hired him.
    Someone once told me that a one page resume is the maximum size for
someone fresh out of college. Someone with many years of experience can
go up to two pages but no more. You should be Albert Einstein, have been
in charge of the space shuttle redesign, have been a primary developer
on Microsoft Windows and UNIX to go over two pages. After reading
resumes for the latest job we advertised for at work, I realized that
the ones that got moved into the keep stack were the ones that impressed
me in about 10 15 seconds. They had to be well laid out with headings I
could easily see. I didn't really care about the work experience at
first glance. I wanted to know what skills they had that would benefit
me. Cover letters are great but I used them and the work experience
sections to limit the keeper stack.
    How do you get the salary thing out in the open?  My boss set up an
interview with someone for a tech. support position in our company. I
asked my boss what salary range the applicant was looking in. He said he
didn't ask. When the guy came in the first question I asked was "what
salary range are you looking for". My boss's mouth dropped as if to say
how dare you get so personal with this guy right off. When the applicant
said 60K I thought my boss would faint. We were looking for someone in
the 20K ran So, is it Ok to ask a perspective employer what salary range
they are looking in. I think so. It keeps you and the employer from
potentially wasting time. I am not saying that you should start trying
to negotiate salary at the first interview. Wait till they have decided
they want you before you start negotiating. Your negotiating hand will
be stronger then.
    Considering the interview. I think I have had all types now. I had
one where I walked in to visit a friend for lunch and his boss asked me
if I knew more about computers than my friend did. I jokingly told him
yes. He told me to come back tomorrow. The interview if you can call it
that took about 15 minutes. I worked there for 5 years as a network
administrator. I had another interview where the two interviews were
separated by 6 months. I couldn't remember the people who had
interviewed me previously o hat job they were looking for. I walked into
another interview one day after work. I was wearing jeans and a leather
jacket. The manager who interviewed me said that anyone confident enough
in themselves to come to an interview dressed that informally was Ok in
his book. He hired me on the spot. I arrived 10 minutes early for
another interview. Instead of the receptionist calling down to the
office of the person I was to meet. She escorted me down there. He was
interviewing a fri end of mine at the time. Tal k about embarrassing.
The receptionist got the interviewer so mad that neither my friend nor I
were considered for the job. By far though the interview type I like the
most, I have had twice. It's the panel interview. A group of people sat
across a table from me and asked me canned questions. It was funny
watching them try to write down every word I said. I found my self
pausing to let them catch up sometimes. I actually found that it helped
to pause briefly w hile answering the questions. I was able to form
ulate my responses and choose my words more carefully.
    If you are looking for a job, just remember that your resume gets
the door opened or slammed shut in about 15 seconds. Any job
announcement gets at least 50 resumes. Make the important stuff stand
out and be easily identified. If it isn't I don't bother looking for it.
If you get an interview, remember the person on the other side has a lot
riding on their decision. They need to get a sense of confidence in
their decision to hire you. They can't get that confidence in you if you
don't have it in yoursel I love to scuba dive. My scuba teacher taught
us to do the following  4 things when in a stressful situation. I think
interviewing qualifies. Stop whatever you are doing, it got you into
this situation so stop it. Breathe, most important underwater, but even
on land you pass out if you don't do it. Think, you can't get out of a
situation unless you can think clearly about what got you there and what
you need to do to get out. Once you have done the preceding 3 items, and
only then, ACT. You have gotten your self under control and decided what
to do. So now just do it.
    Just some side notes for those of you looking for jobs. There are
news groups available on the Internet for job hunters. Some I have found
useful for contract and permanent openings are misc.jobs.contract,
misc.jobs.offered, misc.jobs.offered.entry and several other newsgroups.
Many national headhunters advertise in these news groups and will accept
resumes either by mail, fax or e-mail. Remember you will always come
across as more confident in yourself when you are enjoying yourself. So
good luck, relax and enjoy yourself.
