What Should Resumes Include?

Today I stumbled across a very interesting article posted by PR Daily listing things you should not include on your resume if you want to get hired. Some of them made sense, some of them are common sense and others were just nonsense.

The items included references available upon request, overused words, skills in Microsoft Office, objectives, photos, high school information, too much contact information and hobbies and interests.

While I could go on and on about each item, right now just I want to address the "nonsense" bit I mentioned: Hobbies and Interests.

Why shouldn't I include my interests and hobbies on my resume. Obviously I am not going to write out a detailed description of what I do in my free time, but why not give a little insight to what drives me in life?

Isn't that something employers look for? Passion and drive? - Sure I could be killer at my duties for a certain role in a company but if I'm not personable, a key attribute in PR, or have a passion for anything, I think that would hinder my chances a bit.

If I were in the shoes of someone looking to hire an employee I would do my basic checklist of 'can they successfully carryout this role?' Then I would move on to 'how does this person fit in with this company?' 'What motivates them to do a good job?' These are all key things, in my book in hiring an employee.

Sometimes this may not be the case, but in today's society where the work is slim and endless candidates I would want to make sure that its a right fit for everybody and brings value to the company.

I don't run a company and I am not in a position where I hire people, but I am in a position where I was looking for a job recently and I made sure to include some tidbits about me!

Feel it out and don't be afraid to list some things about yourself!

Lifestyle Change

Today, I made a very big decision in my life and for my career. After receiving a job offer from a PR agency here in Portland, I decided that I would take the position. Two weeks from today, I will be at a new office, with new people, working on new projects and learning all that I can.

I am an adventurous person when it comes to trying new things, but somehow, this time around, I feel nervous as this is the beginning of my career. I am have completed college and now I am ending my life as an intern and beginning as a "real" employee.

Sometimes, I feel as though college didn't prepare me for all the obstacles I would face in the career world. This is the same feeling I have that high school didn't prepare me at all for college. How was I to tell my boss, I was offered a position? How do I put in two-weeks notice? It all seemed foreign.

I am so excited to be a part of a wonderful agency here in town, and move on from my "student" and "intern" titles. However, sometime being the new kid, isn't always so fun. I feel sad to be leaving a place where I was able to meet so many interesting and intelligent people, including my manager, whom I look up to and admire, but I also feel excitement to take on new and different things.

I am so hopeful that this opportunity will be a great learning experience. I hope that I will become an asset to the team and before long, I will be in similar shoes to those whom I look up to.

Bottom line?

I am sad, nervous, excited, and pumped.

I will be blogging throughout this transition, so stay tuned.

Dealing with Security - Is Tape Storage Obscure?

Information Week recently published a very interesting article that talked about protecting your very large data archives. The author, George Crump, suggests using tape to back up your very large files at a highly reduced rate to that of disk storage?

After all these years of converting to disk and now the cloud, is tape storage a good idea?

I say, “sure, why not?”

Why not protect yourself and your files at a fraction of the cost? It is important that in today’s society we mind our actions and spending due to the economy. Granted, tape is a bit obscure but it’s still usable. Another benefit of backing up your documents with tape is that you will be the only one with access- no one could hack into your computer and steal the information. It will be locked away in a safe or somewhere no one has access to it. Physically stealing seems a lot more difficult than online hacking these days. Until a better more efficient and cost effective way of backing up your data is figured out- bomb’s away.

To read the original article please see the May 14, 2012 edition.

Stay Tuned!

Tangent – Networking Today

I thought I would diverge from the main theme of IT Security and talk a little bit about networking. The Wall Street Journal recently posted an article about networking and common mistakes people make around networking, and I wanted to address some of the major key points.

The greatest quote that I could use to sum up the most important aspect of networking would be, “Remember that you have two ears and one mouth, use them in proportion.” Networking is all about relationships and genuinely getting to know people. My number one concept for networking is “it’s not about the ‘what can you do for me now’.” We have to find people that we truly want to get to know, who have similar interests or a special personality. By building a relationship, more doors are opened to opportunity.

In today’s society if you don’t know someone, it is much harder to find a job. Face to face interaction is also a key component. I can’t even count how many times I have gone out to lunch or coffee with people in my industry just to get to know them (and secretly hope they will remember my name). While the Internet is important, it’s only a fraction of relationships. Always start out with a face to face, and then stay in contact through the Internet. 

Check out these tips from the WSJ:

• ·         “Don’t misuse the Internet” – Face to face, no sloppy emails, be clean
• ·         “Don’t be vague” – make your goals known but don’t be pushy
• ·         “Don’t Stop” – stay in contact, don’t lose your relationship by not following up, say thank you
• ·         “Don’t be selfish” – try to help your contact and be engaged in their life
• ·         “Don’t misuse your network” – don’t pester your contact constantly for references or information, don’t name drop and be professional

Stay Tuned!

Information Security in the News

 During my adventure into learning all things related to IT and InfoSec, I have been monitoring things going on in the news in the technology industry. While my learning is primarily geared towards business to business information security, I recently stumbled upon this article about security on Facebook.

I believe that information security is important in everything we do. Everything is archived online and people are constantly trying to hack into our private lives through the Internet. Quick access to human information? Facebook! People constantly put information online and access websites through Facebook and each time they do, they put themselves at risk for being exposed.

Recently, Richard Adhikari @rawriter1 posted an article on the TechNewsWorld website, addressing the security dangers and the steps Facebook has taken to prevent them. Facebook has now incorporated URL databases to scan material and links to detect for hackers and malware. Facebook has also made available antivirus packages for users to download for free. These antivirus packages include companies such as Microsoft, McAfee, Symantec and ESET.

While this is great, users are warned against problems that may arise if the computer already has antivirus software loaded into the system. From a Mac user perspective, I am very interested in finding out more about these programs and how to stay protected online.

Stay Tuned!