[Rant] Resumes

[dm_gsxr]

1. Don't say you have 30 years of experience and leave a 27 year gap on your resume.

1b. Make sure you clearly delineate between each position you've held. Bolding the years worked, company, and title for two positions and not doing it for two others makes it look like there's a 27 year gap when in fact, it was just poor typesetting (see 7 below too).

2. Don't say you have 18 years experience as a Unix Administrator when you mean your home computer. (We interviewed this guy. He might have been at Junior Admin skill level except of course that his interview skills, attitude particularly, need lots of work. Hand waving away our technical questions as unimportant is the best way to not get the job. If they weren't important, we wouldn't be asking them.)

3. Include training, awards, and a goal with your 1 1/2 page resume.

4. Expand a little on the work you did at your other jobs. Providing a bullet listing of products and hardware without details doesn't impress me with your ability to summarize.

5. Don't fill out your work history with incomprehensible industry acronyms and jargon. If I have to look up what work you did more than a few times, I'm likely to move on to the next resume.

6. Write your resume with an eye towards the job you want. I assume when you fill out your resume with information on large multi-million dollar projects you've managed to completion and large teams that you've managed, that you're interested in similar work. So my lowly mid-level Unix Admin position probably isn't going to be a good fit.

6b. If your resume has several references to Microsoft Windows products in relation to your work history and two words (UNIX and Linux) but no details, I'm going to assume the resume is from a recruiter and that you're not really interested in working as a Unix Admin.

6c. If your resume has several references to security processes with a distant (10 years back) history of Unix Administration, I'm again likely to think this is from a recruiter and that you're not seriously looking for a Unix Position.

7. Have someone proofread your resume. Reading your work history and seeing the same four lines repeated is just funny. That the four lines reference Microsoft Gold disk and Microsoft MSAT makes it that much more humorous when applying for a Unix Admin position.

8. If you used to work here and left on bad terms, please don't reapply. We do remember and we'll just file your resume in the circular file after much reminiscing and laughter.


Just so folks know. By the time resumes get into our hands for review (we do the technical interviews), it's been through two or three groups. Someone thinks it's worth our time to review and decide. So I don't hold typos and things like multiple duplicated lines against the person applying for the job. I make every effort to look at the resume to see if the skills listed match the position we're offering.

Thanks for listening...

Carl

[spdu4ia]

OH YEA?!? Dont get me started... interviewed a girl yesterday that wore flip flops to the interview. What the $%#

[dm_gsxr]

On the interview side, we perform the technical interviews. We're extremely happy to hand you the shovel so you can dig as deep a hole as you like. If you don't know, please just say you don't know and perhaps how you might discover the answer.

No one knows everything. Guessing at the answers just makes you look foolish.

And know when to stop answering the question. Telling me soft links are dangerous in the interview had the teams collective jaws dropping. Coming back with "oh, I think that was the wrong answer, can I change it?" is just hilarious and no, we won't let you change the answer.

Carl

[Devaclis]

I have dismissed an interviewee after the initial handshake.

[madvlad]

It's okay our newest employee wore a dress shirt, skater shoes, colored high socks and skater shorts to the interview and he has a better paying job than I do and I showed up in a suit.

[dm_gsxr]

I have dismissed an interviewee after the initial handshake.

I haven't had to do that, but by the time he's gotten to us, like the resume he's (or she's) gone through a phone interview (or two; I had three phone interviews before even getting here), an in person interview with HR, and likely one with my supervisor and/or manager.

We're just checking the actual technical level and personality fit.

We do enjoy the technical interview and we do a pretty good job since other departments have grabbed us to interview potential folks for their groups.

Carl

[Devaclis]

Damir, Sounds like you need better negoation skillz

[rforsythe]

"Can I change the answer"? It's not a multiple choice question.

I do tech interviews as well, and they're just funny sometimes. 8 page resumes, made up terms, whiteboard doodles that resemble spaghetti, it never ends. I also have no problem letting someone bury themselves; if they list a skill, they will get quizzed on it to whatever level they claim they can do it. That's usually their fatal error. Well, that and showing up 20 minutes late and smelling like gym socks -- there is no better way to tell an employer "you don't want to sit next to me every day".

[Devaclis]

When a person shows up with open poison ivy wounds, shakes your hand without warning, then says "Oh, we need to wash our hands, I have poison ivy" I have issues lol.

[dm_gsxr]

One of the things we ask for is that the candidate complete a well known port to app and whether it's a tcp and/or udp app.

We've had quite a few interesting port listings. ftp listens on port 143. https listens on port 81. http listens on port 8080 (well known ports; to the world, not well known to _you_).

And sometimes we've learned things. dns has one port (53) but uses tcp for zone transfers and udp for lookups _unless the lookup is large when it uses tcp_.

Learn new things all the time.

Carl

[madvlad]

Damir, Sounds like you need better negoation skillz

perhaps but well in this country it's about who you know and not what you know. This kid is as dumb as a bag of potatoes but my boss knows his dad so of course he gets a good position lol... I'm just a pawn in this game no matter how hard I work or try since its not my lack of trying that holds my success but instead it relies on mediocre people's say wether I'm going to be somebody or not.

[dm_gsxr]

if they list a skill, they will get quizzed on it to whatever level they claim they can do it.

The funny thing is our first question is "tell me which unixes you're familiar with and assign a skill level from 1-10". Getting someone (like number 2 above with 18 years experience managing their personal home system) listing Linux at an 8 usually gets us raising our eyebrows a little. It generally sets the tone for the rest of the interview as we dig deep into their skillset to see how they justify being at level 8.

Even better is when we ask about "Unix" and they don't list "Red Hat" because it's "Linux" O_o

Carl

[rforsythe]

And sometimes we've learned things. dns has one port (53) but uses tcp for zone transfers and udp for lookups _unless the lookup is large when it uses tcp_.

Learn new things all the time.

Carl

Yep, actually people break their DNS all the time by not knowing that.

We got one guy that when asked what ran on port 25, responded with "oh, that's teleport!". That one made it to our interview hall of fame quotes page.

[grim]

I don't interview people i have them interview me!

If they can ask me questions that are pertaining to what they will do within the company it shows me that they show a general interest in the job they are doing and they will get a feel for what is expected. I also let them feel free to say what they want and what they do or don't like about the company after a walk through of the shop.

If said person can tell me they saw a safety violation and how they would change it

Our company is all about efficiency, safety, reliability, and delivery.

I have had someone actually tell me "oh well if the job needs to get done fast so we make money i would do everything i could to cut corners and make sure the job gets out the door faster!" I just stand up and say interview is over nice meeting you!

(damire hint hint)

[rforsythe]

The funny thing is our first question is "tell me which unixes you're familiar with and assign a skill level from 1-10". Getting someone (like number 2 above with 18 years experience managing their personal home system) listing Linux at an 8 usually gets us raising our eyebrows a little. It generally sets the tone for the rest of the interview as we dig deep into their skillset to see how they justify being at level 8.

Carl

There are also the people with 10 years of experience, where it's the same year 10 times. Vast difference to a true subject matter expert, which we can usually root out in the first 5 minutes. If they embellished a bit, we usually at least continue to get a feel for whether they'd at least work out for a less senior role and be able to learn, but usually we end up disappointed. For what we do, it takes months to onboard someone.

[grim]

It also would appear that my job and the job you guys are talking about are completely different worlds!

[dirkterrell]

We got one guy that when asked what ran on port 25, responded with "oh, that's teleport!".

That's a good one.

[dm_gsxr]

We do interview folks but at the end, we also ask them if they have any questions they'd like to ask us. Most of the time no one does, but we've had a few folks who actually had interesting questions.

And a couple of our questions are situational type questions, to see what the person thinks.

We have one that asks what one book would you want with you in case your environment was solely supported by Unix systems. Mostly we get "The Purple Book" with occasional references to others. A couple have said things like "A book I haven't read before" or listed actual non-computer books. When asked, most say that the Unix Man pages are sufficient

Carl

[rforsythe]

A few other good ones from the archives:

Manager: What port number(s) does DNS use?
Applicant: Let's see, I know port 80 is email, so...
Manager: Describe your level of unix skills.
Applicant: Put me in front of a unix box and I can handle just about anything.
Manager: How would you assign an IP address to an interface on a unix system?
Applicant:- HCDP sic already has it, assuming you have all your forests and trees set up correctly... continued down that path for several minutes
Manager: What would you do if your system had a full disk?
Applicant: What do you mean a full disk?
Applicant: Mumble mumble something about bootp, something about compression, waving hands vigorously

Manager: Please explain what is ARP?
Candidate: Do you mean modern arp?

[grim]

I would fail miserably in an interview with you guys i know nothing about anything in that field!

[dm_gsxr]

A few other good ones from the archives:

Manager: How would you assign an IP address to an interface on a unix system?
Applicant:- HCDP sic already has it, assuming you have all your forests and trees set up correctly... continued down that path for several minutes

Yea, that's funny. Although we are using Centrify on a few of our Unix boxes with lots of users so we don't have to deal with password management.

Carl

[dm_gsxr]

I would fail miserably in an interview with you guys i know nothing about anything in that field!

Based on some of the interviews, you'd do just as well as they did


Carl

[grim]

Based on some of the interviews, you'd do just as well as they did


Carl

Id just sit there with a look on my face. Would i get the job?

[rforsythe]

Id just sit there with a look on my face. Would i get the job?

We'd probably just refer you to IT. That seems to be their most defining feature.