Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Hypotheses]

Ladies and Gentlemen


I've run into a bit of a pickle at my current job and may be unemployed by week's end.  As such, I've already started the job search.  I'm looking at anything from a cheese factory to janitorial services to life insurance sales at the moment.  I have a GED, a couple semesters of college, and work experience across many sectors.  As things sit, unemployment is at 17.9% in my area of the states and competition, even at McDonald's, is very fierce. 


Now, there is a great deal of information on writing resumes online but none of them have mentioned a mission statement.  Companies have them, why not individuals?  My question for you, the faceless web, is should I include one on a resume and if yes, where?  Here is a rough draft of mine, should it be of interest.


My purpose is to make my employer successful by completing assigned tasks on time and staying alert for the opportunity to fill needs as they arise.


Its not perfect, but I think it gets the point across.  I would especially like to hear back from any one in a managerial or hiring position as to the wisdom or effectiveness of this idea.  Your thoughts?
-Hypotheses

[Bauglir]

I'd recommend working that in to the beginning of a cover letter for a job that requires one, or an interview if an appropriate question comes up. If a job requires only a resume, it's my experience that they want the most concise document you can give them that adequately covers your qualifications, because they are likely to have so many to deal with that efficiency is going to get major points. Fluff like a mission statement is great when you need to sound vague, but for a lot of jobs it's going to be distracting cruft. If you feel the need to include a future goal like that, then I'd recommend listing something much more concrete, and less obviously sycophantic than dedicating yourself to the company (you need to flatter them, but you need to be subtle about it).

I know finding a job is hard, and there's so much pointless BS. What you're really looking for is a paycheck, but no employer wants to hear that. Good luck, and also you should probably lend precedence to anybody else's advice. The only job I've had I got after a 1 paragraph email and a 5 minute interview in which I showed I could do division provided a calculator. Right now, I can only tell you what I've heard from other people, and what I'd look for if I were in the position of hiring.

[Hypotheses]

Good input Bauglir, thanks.  So far, all but one of my jobs has been gotten because I already knew somebody and the paperwork was a technicality.  Your experience lines up pretty close to the other advice I've gotten so far, so it sounds pretty kosher.  Well, on to the next one!


on the side, I'm not a kiss-ass by habit - never would have thought of the sycophantic tone in the OP

[klingon13524]

There's a job boom in North Dakota, the unemployment rate there is a little over 3%, property for sale and rent is cheap, and the cost of living is low. Depending on where you live, move to the magical place with a deserted unemployment office.

[Hypotheses]

Sounds pretty shiny.  I'm kinda stuck in this area til christmas, but I'll keep it in mind.

[Africa]

I dunno, it sounds kinda bland to me. My resume takes the form of (after my name and info at the very top): a paragraph about my valuable personality traits and some of my interesting experiences and skills - stuff I figure would catch their eye. Then a longer list of skills organized by category, in varying order depending what kind of job I'm applying for. Then at the bottom, a list of places I worked, with dates.

I graduated from college 2 years ago and spent one year of that time doing crap jobs saving up to travel, and the other year traveling, so the resume is only one page. Which is pretty much expected for anybody up to their first few years out of college. The work experience list doesn't have job titles because even when I had a job title for summer/workstudy jobs it was just like "Office assistant" "lower level gofer bitch" etc. I organized it by skills first because I thought it would be more convenient for employers.

Does all this work? Damn if I know. I finally got offered a job after 2 months (hell, in this economy, I guess that's practically the blink of an eye) but I got all of one interview. So actually I guess that means my resume is probably terrible, but hey, I have a job at a research lab in my field at an Ivy League university so fuck you, recession.

I found a bunch of good job and resume advice on this side called theladders.com. It's for people who are looking only for jobs that pay $100k a year or more, so sure as hell not me or you, but there's a ton of good resume and interview advice and so on. You just need to be able to figure out which stuff applies to anybody (much of it I'd say) and which only applies to high-powered professionals who look down on lazy peons like us.