Project 02

One of the most important things that I have learned throughout my life and especially the job search process is the importance of first impressions. It is important to note that not all first impressions are made when you meet someone face to face for the first time; recruiters or those reviewing your job application will immediately cross you off their list if your resume does not satisfy what they are looking for. While it is obviously important that your skill set and other requirements such as GPA and experience to match, I would argue that the layout and presentation of the information on your resume is more important. One career advisor once told me that, during her role as a talent recruiter, if she was reviewing resumes and she came to one that was not easily readable and was hard to follow, she wouldn’t even bother to look at the applicant’s name, she would place the resume directly in the “NO” pile. Continuing with the conversation I had with that same advisor, she also stressed the importance and lack of importance of a cover letter. She told me that, oftentimes, cover letters are simply there to “check a box.” If an applicant fills out a required cover letter and they do not make any errors within it, such as addressing it to the wrong company, they simply satisfy a requirement, it will not put them ahead of any other applicants. However, if you neglect to submit a cover letter, it will not come across well and you will leave a bad first impression. These points I have made seem very simple, and are often overlooked and for that reason I thought they were the most important within our Job Search Guide.
           I do not necessarily think that colleges should change their curriculum to adjust to the job search process. To me, this seems like taking an easy way out. In school, there are essentially two types of teachers, those who teach for the test and those who teach so that students learn. I believe that those who teach so students learn are much more effective. I view college as an overall learning experience and I believe that employers know that and are looking for well-rounded individuals, not just those who are masters of the interview/application process. I cannot speak to whether or not the Notre Dame CSE program should change as I am an Arts and Letters student majoring in Economics with a minor in Computing and Digital Technologies. That being said, I am not applying for the same technically based jobs as CSE students. Therefore, I have never, and probably never will experience a technical interview. Every interview I have gone through, for internships and jobs, have been entirely behavioral. In those interviews, I do speak to my technical experiences in my Computing and Digital Technologies, but I have never had to prepare for or preform a technical task for an interviewer. I believe that recruiters are often looking for a well-rounded individual who is willing to learn on the job and that will be easy to work with. As long as someone is looking for in the same fields as me, if they have those qualities, they are a good candidate.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Reading 01

I believe that there are two distinct definitions of the word hacker, one that applies to those within the computer science community and one used by those who are not. While, as mentioned in the article “The Word ‘Hacker',” individuals in the programming community generally have a positive outlook on the word “hacker,” while members of the general public have a more sinister understanding of the word. Those not familiar with computer science and with the role programmers or hackers play typically view hackers as only being those who are committing crimes, violating privacy, lack ethics, and are harming our world in the end. While it is certainly true that there are many programmers who use their skills in a detrimental and adverse way, many of those within the technology community aspire to use their hacking to enable our world to be more efficient, secure, and productive. It is often over-looked by the general public that in order to stop a criminal hacker, often times someone m...
Read more

Reading 07

Online advertising is always something that has creeped me out a little bit but at the same time I am thankful for it. One cannot deny the convenience of going to your favorite website, such as ESPN, and checking the scores of last night’s games and at the same time seeing advertisements for the running shows you have been looking for the past few weeks scroll along the side and bottom of your screen. That being said, however, it is definitely troubling how our what we think is private may not actually be and that these companies are able to track what we have been searching for every day. The Privacy and Surveillance in America Article states that “people in America complain about eroding privacy, but have taken only “modest steps” to curb data collection. In a study last year, Pew found that some Americans responded to concerns about surveillance by changing their privacy settings on social media (17 percent); using social media less often (15 percent); avoiding certain apps (15 pe...
Read more

Reading 04

While I do believe that codes of conduct are important for companies, organizations, or communities to have, I think that their importance is often overstated. In his article The Code of Conduct , Jesse Noller defines a code of conduct as a set of rules outlining the responsibilities of or proper practices for an individual, party, or organization. A code of conduct does not illustrate what one can do or must be, but what is not acceptable. The author goes on to discuss how a code of conduct is similar to a set of laws due to the manner in which they discourage harmful behavior. I would argue that a code of conduct is not much different that the codes of ethics we discussed in previous classes.   However, codes of conduct are, I believe, enforceable whereas codes of ethics are merely a behavioral guide. Codes ethics and codes of conduct both are less impactful than laws. Codes of conduct and ethics, to me, seem to be more a mission statement or public relations act saying, “This i...
Read more