<p>I’ve been at home for the last seven years, and have found two jobs for which I would like to apply.</p>
<p>Both are at a local college, one is an administrative assistant position and the other is a research assistant position.</p>
<p>My question – should I send a full blown resume of my (substantial) professional experience up to the time of my decision to stay home? (this is two pages long)</p>
<p>– or should I send the condensed version, which lists functions and companies, but not in detail? (this is one page long)</p>
<p>Also, what should I include in a cover letter? Should I keep it short and enthusiastic, or provide more detail between past (and rather distant past, at this point) experience and how it relates to the posted jobs?</p>
<p>Finally, I do have someone who will be able to provide me with contact names for follow up, once I have sent in the resume. How should I use these contact names? Should I call? When? What should I say, etc.?</p>
<p>Send the longer version. If the shorter one mentions, for instance, that you worked for a project at company X, it may not list the computer skills or people skills you have which might be very useful for the position you seek. </p>
<p>The cover letter should be fairly short and should refer to your resume. For example, it can say “as can be seen from my resume, I would bring to the position, x years of working with… on …” If, over the last seven years, you engaged in activities that may be helpful in your new job, such as volunteering at school, you might want to mention such activities in your cover letter. It should be no more than a page and a half.</p>
<p>I’m not sure about your last question. Who are the contact names? departmental administrators? HR staff? Profs?</p>
<p>Thanks, Marite, here is a little more information.</p>
<p>The shorter resume states that I have had “experience in a variety of marketing, market research, sales support and technical writing positions” and then lists the companies and dates. The shorter resume also explicitly lists skills appropriate to an admin assistant position, such as Excel, PowerPoint and Internet searching.</p>
<p>The longer resume states specific job titles, such as Product Marketing Manager and Lead Business Systems Analyst.</p>
<p>I do mention “ad hoc” volunteer and part-time positions I have had in the past seven years.</p>
<p>I guess I feel the shorter resume is a softer sell, and detracts the focus away from my move from product manager type positions in the software industry to seeking work as a part-time admin assistant.</p>
<p>If one were permitted to speak frankly, it’s pretty obvious why I would make such a move (children, family logistics, etc) but on a professional level, my sense is that this type of lack-of-career-focus-in-the-past-seven-years would be frowned upon.</p>
<p>Also, I have not been a big volunteer, head of the PTA type SAHM. I have spent my time reading (including works of sociology which would be of interest for the research assistant job), doing computer intensive projects (for example, preparing video audition for my daughter) and other types of less mainstream things (cooking, baking, etc).</p>
<p>The contact names actually work in the offices which have the jobs for which I am applying.</p>
<p>thanks for the clarification. I’m pretty sure that people would understand not only taking time off from full-time work to wanting part time work because of children. I have the feeling that colleges’ administrative offices are full of people in your situation. The more important concern might be that you would be over-qualified for many of the administrative positions available part-time. So perhaps the one page resume might work better in this context.</p>
<p>About contact names: Call them and let them know that you are applying for the job, ask if it’s okay to list their names on your cover letter if more information is needed.
In the cover letter, you can mention the contact names. Let them know first that you w</p>
<p>Yes, I just noticed the Thursday sentence massacre! </p>
<p>Okay, sentence was meant to read Let them know that you will be sending an application and ask if they would be willing for you to list their names either for possible references or as sources of your knowledge about the job. This will convey that you have some understanding of the set up and job.</p>
<p>I’ve been on CC for over 5 years and have read a lot of funny stuff, but post #5 made me spit iced tea on my keyboard! Thanks for the laugh ellemenope.</p>
<p>Fendrock, I went back to work after 12 years as a SAHM, and the advice I got from friends was to “color my gray.” Good luck with the job search.</p>
<p>In my never-ending quest for a full time job, I have been especially disappointed in the interviewers who want to know my experience with a particular system … you know, one that DIDN’T EXIST 20 years ago when I worked in the professional arena. I explain my experience with computers, with other systems, cite instances in which I learned difficult systems in a short period of time, etc. They seem stuck on the fact that I don’t know THIS system. Never mind the fact that systems change quickly, and the key is to hire employees who know how to work effectively in a changing environment. Of course, given the fact that I live in the state with the highest unemployment rate, I suppose there probably are enough people available who really do have exactly the experience the hiring managers want. </p>
<p>The other thing I have run into is managers who consider me overqualified. Can’t win!</p>
<p>You haven’t been away all that long. With a good resume, you should probably be successful relatively quickly (as long as you don’t live in my state!).</p>
<p>For me, it’s financial aid systems & student databases. The FAFSA was not automated back in the dark ages, and student loans were done by hand. Everything is automated now. A hiring manager asked me about my experience with NELNET, and I told her that I don’t have any. It didn’t exist 19 years ago. I explained how I had been thrown into the financial aid director position with no experience in the area & was able to learn (this was before any online tutorials, mind you). I tried to convince her that I could easily learn the NELNET system. The whole time, I could tell she had made a decision as soon as I answered no.</p>
<p>I have also looked for jobs in quality, since I have experience in manufacturing/production management. Quality is an area notorious for new buzzwords & new systems on a regular basis. When I wrote my thesis (investigating automated quality systems to monitor weld quality), a consultant I worked with exposed my to Deming’s SPC work. I couldn’t get my managers to buy into it … they wanted 100% monitoring. A short time later, SPC was all the rage. Now, only us old folks even know what that means! I understand the basics of the field, I am intelligent, I can learn, and I am not exactly looking for a high level job.</p>
<p>kelsmom, a stupid person cannot understand that a bright person is able to learn quickly. A person who is afraid of technology doesn’t understand that other people can plunge in and teach themselves. Take it from whence it comes.</p>
<p>How many times have you heard technologically-challenged individuals repeat the stupid truism that “kids these days know all about computers, unlike the rest of us”? In actual fact, most kids these days know how to use word processing and how to play games and surf the web. They don’t know how to use database management, programming languages or development packages or any other tools and they have the shakiest–if any–notion of computer architecture.</p>
<p>I used to be a technical writer, eventually manager of technical pubs at a large software company, etc. I am constantly astounded at advertisements for tech writers that specify which word processing packages the candidate should know. If the tech writer is too dumb to learn a new word processing package, they are definitely too dumb to learn your software.</p>
<p>kelsmom:<br>
I think you should go for more high level positions where being a quick learner, being able to manage, to make decisions, is more prized. In my limited experience, when people hire lower-level staff, they want that staff to have the skills required for the job right away.</p>
<p>LOL! Sometimes, it’s the reaches that come through! A friend of mine raved that the company he joined a few years ago took six weeks to train new hires. Obviously, he meant new hires at a particular level. For entry-level staff, the training probably consist of being told where the photocopy machine is. In other words, the company does not expect higher level staff to be ready to work from the first, but it does expect lower level staff to have all the skills necessary to begin work pronto.</p>