h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

They don't have anything to do with each other, just two topic on the brain.

My co-worker was hired as a temp 6 weeks or so after I was. He is in the same boat as far as long-term employment prospects but doesn't have the benefit of having a spouse with medical insurance. Did I mention they just found out they're expecting? The out of pocket cost at the office will be less than what the premium is on a non-corporate sponsored insurance policy. How scary is that? Anyway - there were some job openings that were circulated with a meeting notice for an organization we're loosely affiliated with and I asked if he had applied for any of them because he said at one point that he was going to. He hasn't yet because he hasn't had his resume updated. He paid some firm in Tulsa $375 dollars to put together his resume for him and has to pay another $25 to have it updated and $2 per copy. Are resumes really that difficult? Or did I get some really good advice/instruction when I was in my college years?

There is a pair of Canada geese that call the pond at the south end of town their home. They're here pretty much year-round. I can't help but think they are incredibly lazy. Granted it's warmer here than, say, North Dakota in winter time but still. Our summers can be pretty wretched. I would think they would join up with a flock passing by on their way back north, but no. They stay here and poop all over everything instead.

He got robbed. That $400 plus paid for nothing that a good "Resumes For Dummies" type book and a decent ink jet printer couldn't have done as well or better. I went to a placement agency once. They assured me they could find a job paying at least $40k/year (this was in the early '90s) as long as I gave them $300 up front... "there's an ATM right across the street".

Most legitimate placement agencies get paid by the employers. All they were actually offering to do was to give me access to some glorified help wanted lists and to help me write my resume. I already had written a good resume (with help from a $6 book).



Oh, and tell those geese that we have a great pond in the quad here at JSC. The ducks have had it to themselves long enough.

I never would have thought that a resume place would be able to find enough business to stay open or I would have started one myself. Of course, I wouldn't have charged $400 either. Funny thing is, he has computer at home and probably a printer too. And most word processing software has templates for resumes. It boggles the mind.

There are a couple of legit placement places that a friend has used. I'll try them out after the baby is here. One got her a job in Bartlesville for an obscene amount of money.

The geese appear to be nesting now so I'll evict them at the end of the summer & send them your way.

When I was teaching in Astoria I was on a couple of different interview committees for English teachers. You would not believe the resumes we had to look at. Out of a stack of over 50 we had a hard time finding enough to conduct a decent set of interviews. These were English teachers we're talking about!

BWC may have been tiny, but I really feel pleased with my education. My principal had me teaching other teachers how to write lesson plan. I may have thought Mary Manness was boring but that woman sure did prepare me for the real world of teaching.

I had Laura for tech writing and she made us do resumes and performance evaluations with measurable objectives. And I worked with Dorothy who taught me huge amounts about page layout/design.

And you're right about MM - she knows her stuff. I had her for children's lit - 3 hours on Monday nights for 16 weeks. One of the best lit classes they offered.

I just find that so incredible about English teachers. Those are the people who are supposed to know their stuff when it comes to writing. How on earth did they expect to get a job when any decent word processing program will at least give you hints on spelling & punctuation? A friend has had similar issues when looking at accounting/finance people and has said more than once that when you have a million resumes to go through, you start getting really picky and throw out the ones with even minor errors. I work with a former co-student. He's not as pleased with his education, but his major was com sci or something. They had the teaching & liberal arts side figured out, but I don't think they had as well-rounded a math/science/business side.