Skills list - too many buzzwords
-
I'm currently looking through CVs and I keep coming across the same pattern. The candidate says they have 3-5 years experience, and then goes on to list their skills and the list will include pretty much every major language and tool. One example, this current one I'm reading has been in development for 5 years since uni and claims to know: C#, VB.net, VB6, C, Java, ASP.net, PHP, Perl, JavaScript, HTML, CSS, XML, XSLT, SQL server, T-SQL, mySql (And I'm missing out all the tools and more minor script languages he's got listed) I'm sorry, but "C#, VB.net, VB6, C, Java, ASP.net and PHP", I don't believe in 5 years you can learn all of them to an expert level. Yeah you can can have a basic understanding of each, but not to a high level. I've been a developer 3.5 years now, and I would consider myself very experienced with C#, and I know a varying amount of the others (expect PHP X| ) but not to the same standard I know C#. It actually puts me off these kind of guys because I have to make the assumption they only know 1 or 2 from their list to a high level, and the others are just CV padding, but without knowing which are padding I can't recommend we proceed with a guy who could be a PHP developer with just a bit of C# knowledge when what we want is a C# developer. I don't know who you are I only have a candidate number, but if your reading this and your CV is like I'm describing take a hint here, It's putting me off. I'm interested to know what other people think about this?
Simon
Unfortunately, HR and Recruiters toss resumes that are not buzzword laden. In fact, if a position requires 3 years of Web Development experience stating you are an expert in Windows Forms and Web Forms with 6 years experience using C# and Sql Server will not get you in the door. You specifically have to say the words, Web Development. If hiring managers were the ones to look at resumes first, my resume would be much cleaner. If I had a dollar for every time I have been asked if I had Visual Studio experience and the subsequently been asked that I put Visual Studio on my resume I would be retired right now.
Need custom software developed? I do C# development and consulting all over the United States. A man said to the universe: "Sir I exist!" "However," replied the universe, "The fact has not created in me A sense of obligation." --Stephen Crane
-
Unfortunately, HR and Recruiters toss resumes that are not buzzword laden. In fact, if a position requires 3 years of Web Development experience stating you are an expert in Windows Forms and Web Forms with 6 years experience using C# and Sql Server will not get you in the door. You specifically have to say the words, Web Development. If hiring managers were the ones to look at resumes first, my resume would be much cleaner. If I had a dollar for every time I have been asked if I had Visual Studio experience and the subsequently been asked that I put Visual Studio on my resume I would be retired right now.
Need custom software developed? I do C# development and consulting all over the United States. A man said to the universe: "Sir I exist!" "However," replied the universe, "The fact has not created in me A sense of obligation." --Stephen Crane
Ennis Ray Lynch, Jr. wrote:
You specifically have to say the words, Web Development
I know what you mean, I hate recruiters and everything they do. For some reason ours are even worse. I've got about 20 CVs today. over half of them start with the words "Web developer" in the title, when I've specifically told them we are doing windows based client development, not web developement. The words I want to use to describe them are not just totally un-KSS, I have a strong suspicion that they would set of all my companies security software and lock down my PC if I even started to type them.
Simon
-
I'm currently looking through CVs and I keep coming across the same pattern. The candidate says they have 3-5 years experience, and then goes on to list their skills and the list will include pretty much every major language and tool. One example, this current one I'm reading has been in development for 5 years since uni and claims to know: C#, VB.net, VB6, C, Java, ASP.net, PHP, Perl, JavaScript, HTML, CSS, XML, XSLT, SQL server, T-SQL, mySql (And I'm missing out all the tools and more minor script languages he's got listed) I'm sorry, but "C#, VB.net, VB6, C, Java, ASP.net and PHP", I don't believe in 5 years you can learn all of them to an expert level. Yeah you can can have a basic understanding of each, but not to a high level. I've been a developer 3.5 years now, and I would consider myself very experienced with C#, and I know a varying amount of the others (expect PHP X| ) but not to the same standard I know C#. It actually puts me off these kind of guys because I have to make the assumption they only know 1 or 2 from their list to a high level, and the others are just CV padding, but without knowing which are padding I can't recommend we proceed with a guy who could be a PHP developer with just a bit of C# knowledge when what we want is a C# developer. I don't know who you are I only have a candidate number, but if your reading this and your CV is like I'm describing take a hint here, It's putting me off. I'm interested to know what other people think about this?
Simon
Life can be like that sometimes - that's one reason I like the job I've got. In the last 24 hours, I've herded XML, XSLT, C++, Java, Ada, shell script and Python - variety's cool!
Java, Basic, who cares - it's all a bunch of tree-hugging hippy cr*p
-
I'm currently looking through CVs and I keep coming across the same pattern. The candidate says they have 3-5 years experience, and then goes on to list their skills and the list will include pretty much every major language and tool. One example, this current one I'm reading has been in development for 5 years since uni and claims to know: C#, VB.net, VB6, C, Java, ASP.net, PHP, Perl, JavaScript, HTML, CSS, XML, XSLT, SQL server, T-SQL, mySql (And I'm missing out all the tools and more minor script languages he's got listed) I'm sorry, but "C#, VB.net, VB6, C, Java, ASP.net and PHP", I don't believe in 5 years you can learn all of them to an expert level. Yeah you can can have a basic understanding of each, but not to a high level. I've been a developer 3.5 years now, and I would consider myself very experienced with C#, and I know a varying amount of the others (expect PHP X| ) but not to the same standard I know C#. It actually puts me off these kind of guys because I have to make the assumption they only know 1 or 2 from their list to a high level, and the others are just CV padding, but without knowing which are padding I can't recommend we proceed with a guy who could be a PHP developer with just a bit of C# knowledge when what we want is a C# developer. I don't know who you are I only have a candidate number, but if your reading this and your CV is like I'm describing take a hint here, It's putting me off. I'm interested to know what other people think about this?
Simon
I feel your pain, which is why I've starting grouping my buzz words into competency groups on my CV; Expert, Proficient, and Familiar. I don't feel it's safe to leave anything out, because many recruiters still use templates for job descriptions that include out of date technologies. I was just laughing yesterday at a Craigslist posting from a recruiter looking for someone with at least 5 years' experience with "developing social networking sites using C#". And it's not the first time I've seen one like that (think I even posted it here).
-
I'm currently looking through CVs and I keep coming across the same pattern. The candidate says they have 3-5 years experience, and then goes on to list their skills and the list will include pretty much every major language and tool. One example, this current one I'm reading has been in development for 5 years since uni and claims to know: C#, VB.net, VB6, C, Java, ASP.net, PHP, Perl, JavaScript, HTML, CSS, XML, XSLT, SQL server, T-SQL, mySql (And I'm missing out all the tools and more minor script languages he's got listed) I'm sorry, but "C#, VB.net, VB6, C, Java, ASP.net and PHP", I don't believe in 5 years you can learn all of them to an expert level. Yeah you can can have a basic understanding of each, but not to a high level. I've been a developer 3.5 years now, and I would consider myself very experienced with C#, and I know a varying amount of the others (expect PHP X| ) but not to the same standard I know C#. It actually puts me off these kind of guys because I have to make the assumption they only know 1 or 2 from their list to a high level, and the others are just CV padding, but without knowing which are padding I can't recommend we proceed with a guy who could be a PHP developer with just a bit of C# knowledge when what we want is a C# developer. I don't know who you are I only have a candidate number, but if your reading this and your CV is like I'm describing take a hint here, It's putting me off. I'm interested to know what other people think about this?
Simon