Corrections or additions?
These articles by Melinda Sherwood were published in U.S. 1
Newspaper on October 27, 1999. All rights reserved.
Resumes Online: Words, Not Looks
A beautifully designed resume on heavy-stock paper is
becoming an anachronism today because of E-mail, but Sree
Yedavalli,
a young biologist and Internet expert, says that electronic media
are dictating more than just style points — it’s changing the
content of resumes as well. “It used to be a person was judged
by how nice it looked, how professional it was, but now it is the
details of that person’s history.”
The kind of details that would overburden a paper resume are currency
in today’s electronic environment, explains Yedavalli, because human
resource managers convert print resumes to a database and then search
on key words. “It’s become a play on words, rather than a play
on visual cues,” says Yedavalli, who leads “Job Search on
the Internet,” a seminar on Friday, October 29, at 5 p.m., offered
by Business Express Inc. at 660 Plainsboro Road. Offered every other
Friday, the course costs $50. Call 609-799-3580.
The seminar covers the efficacy of job searching the traditional way
versus job searching on the Net. Yedavalli helps attendees revise
their resume for online use. “They can look at their resume and
see where the faults are for an Internet setting, and it could be
reformatted and streamlined,” he says.
Yedavalli, who received his BS in biology from Knox College, Class
of 1993, is teaching computer courses while waiting for the next job
to appear. “Since I’ve been out of school I’ve been using the
Internet to get jobs — there’s nothing permanent about molecular
biology — and I have an interview next week based strictly on
the Internet,” he says.
The turnaround time for resumes received online is quicker because
it makes the job of human resource reps easier. “Usually the human
resource rep has to take the physical resume and put it into a
database,”
says Yedavalli. “They have to scan the paper into a digital
format,
edit out all the text, and apply it to the database. Through E-Mail,
the rep has much of the work done.”
Among Yedavalli’s favorite job sites: Careerpath.com and Monster.com.
Both offer the ability to modify the resume and cover letter online
to fit the job. “By fax or hand you would have to retype it every
time,” he says. “It makes your search a lot more
adaptable.”
The sites also offer privacy protection, so if an employer is scanning
resumes online, he or she can’t see a resume of someone in the same
office. When conducting a job search using the Internet, Yedavalli
stresses the following:
Develop a separate resume for online use. “The onlineresume is actually pretty text oriented,” says Yedavalli.”There’sno changes in font or style. It’s content you’re looking for.”Use buzz words. Use the kind of jargon appropriate tothe job so when the company searches on a particular skill your resumerises to the top. “Details about what you do are good — years,company names. You’re writing so that the database can find you onlinefast.Continue to follow leads. “I never advocate doingyour job search solely online,” Yedavalli says. “Then you’veshot yourself in the foot. The advantages of online job searchingis that you may direct your search and you may actually get peopleto help you out in your endeavors.”At Monster.com, a “virtual agent” searches the websiteeach day for ads that fit the parameters of jobseekers. “Theseare electronic recruiters in essence,” says Yedavalli. “Yougive the location, your position and what you seek, and they E-mailyou every day saying there’s X number of jobs. It’s very proactivein that all of the looking part is given to you.”That naturally increases the volume of resumes sent in on any givenjob, but Yedavalli insists that the heightened competition doesn’tdilute the impact of a resume sent online. “You are puttingyourselfin the same pool as everyone else, yes, but that’s why what you putin the resume makes a difference,” he says. Besides, he adds,you may get some pleasant surprises. “The Internet makes the jobsearch fun because, wow, you get hits that you never knew you mighthave skills for! All of a sudden you get a chance to reexamine whatyou really know and what you can do.”Top Of PageBad Thing: SmallpoxCould the smallpox virus be alive and well and waitingto attack innocent citizens in Princeton? According to RichardPreston, author of “The Hot Zone” and “The CobraEvent,”there is a growing suspicion that the smallpox virus may live inclandestinelaboratories in a number of countries around the world. The U.S.Governmentmaintains a classified list of nations and groups with unauthorizedinterests in smallpox. The list is said to include governments andsuspected extremist organizations in Russia, China, India, Pakistan,Israel, North Korea, Iran, Iraq, Cuba, and Serbia.Preston is a featured speaker in a free seminar sponsored by theMedicalCenter at Princeton on Wednesday, October 27, at 7:30 p.m. atRichardsonAuditorium. Call 609-497-4190 for information.The seminar, entitled “Bad Things Come in Small Packages:Bioterrorand Public Health at the New Millennium,” also features DonaldA. Henderson, a professor at Johns Hopkins University and directorCenter for Civilian Biodefense Studies; Christine M. Grant,commissioner, New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services;and Michael Lemonick, Time Magazine, who will moderate.Henderson and Preston are standard-bearers in a growing nationalconcernabout the real possibilities of a bioterrorist attack. The seminarmarks the 80th anniversary of the Medical Center at Princeton, whichwas conceived in 1918 during the great “flu” epidemic thatkilled 20 million people worldwide.Smallpox was eliminated from the human species in 1979 following a12-year effort by a World Health Organization team led by Henderson.At the present time, smallpox lives officially in only two securerepositories on the planet — at the Centers for Disease Controland Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia, and at the State ResearchInstituteof Virology and Biotechnology — also known as Vector — inNovosibirsk, Siberia.In an article in the July 12 New Yorker, “The Demon in theFreezer,”Preston points out that smallpox is a perfect bioterror agent. Duringthe 10-day incubation period following exposure, the victim feelscompletely normal but is transmitting the disease through the airto anyone nearby. It is explosively contagious, and some smallpoxoutbreaks have been more than 50 percent fatal. People, even thosevaccinated during the final eradication effort 25 years ago, retainno immunity to the disease. There is very little smallpox vaccineon hand in the U.S. or anywhere else in the world, and that whichis available may have lost its effectiveness.Previous StoryNext StoryCorrections or additions?This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
