Just Google Me

On average I see two or three job postings online each week.  Many of these come to me via some electronic mailing list I'm a member of, while others are sent to me directly via some professional headhunter or other similar service.  While I'm quite happy with my current job and am not actively looking to go elsewhere, I do take the time to at least look through the postings.  You never know when the perfect opportunity might drop into your lap.

I'm often amazed at some of the archaic requirements necessary for applying to modern jobs.  I'm a technology professional, being sought out to work in a technical field.  Logic would dictate that the application and vetting process for these jobs might be the most modern, cutting-edge processes available.  After all, if I'm being hired to steer a company or school system into the technological future, I should be a future-oriented person being interviewed and hired by future-oriented people.

Why, oh why then should I be expected to print out a PDF, write on it with a ball-point and fax it back to the personnel office? 

Fax?  Really?  Do people still fax?

Ok, so maybe I'm being a bit harsh there.  Maybe these people are looking to hire me because they're mired in the past and they need someone to show them the road to the future, by at the very least, bringing them into the present.  Maybe I'm being a techno-bigot.  So, we'll move past the methodology involved in applying for the job and talk about the information they want from me.

I understand the basic resumé and cover-letter requirements. 

The resumé provides the vital statistics- the name, rank and serial number, if you will of the prospective employee.  Where did he get his education?  Where has he worked?  Is he the sort of man who hops from job to job, or is he the kind of man you can build your organization's future on?  Is he a well-rounded person with community ties, or a workaholic who's likely to burn himself out within a couple of years?  These are all things that can be gleaned from a resumé.

The cover letter is where you get a sense of the employee's personality.  Does your job description include the phrase "Must have excellent verbal and written communication skills?" Well, the cover letter will tell half of that story, at least.  Does he display attention to detail in his grammar, punctuation and even the very format of the letter? 

But why, oh why do I need to provide a college transcript?   A copy of my diploma, I could understand.  It shows that I really did attend the institution I claimed to, and that I really did graduate.  But, a transcript?  Seriously?

I'm thirty-eight years old at the time of this writing.  I graduated almost fifteen years ago.  If you're looking to hire me, you'd better hope that I'm not the same person that transcript represents. 

It'll tell you how many hours I completed and what my GPA was upon graduation, but how can that compare to the decade and a half of on-the-job experience I've had since then?  Maybe I had the minimum GPA required to graduate.  Maybe I won every academic honor possible.  So, what?  What does that tell you about who I am today?

What my transcript will tell you is that it took me six years to get my four-year degree.  It'll tell you that I took classes, dropped them, took them again, dropped them again, took them again and passed.  It'll tell you that I took a lot of physics classes, then a lot of Spanish classes, then a lot of psychology classes. What does that tell you? 

Maybe I was a slacker who goofed off on my parents money for six years.  Maybe I was a hard-drinking frat boy who didn't go to class.  Maybe I took a couple of semesters off to backpack around Europe and "find myself."  The transcript won't tell you any of  that.  You'll still have to ask me in an interview.

Let me tell you the story of my college life succinctly.  I was dirt poor and worked as many as four jobs at a time to be able to pay my rent, buy food, pay tuition and buy text books.  I had to maintain a minimum of twelve hours of classes to be considered a full-time student and remain eligible for financial aide.  There simply weren't enough hours in the week to work that much and attend that many classes.  So, I didn't go to class.  There's one particular Political Science class that I took four times and literally never even knew where the class was located three of those times.  The fourth time I made an A. 

I struggled to keep a roof over my head and was completely homeless for a while- relying on the kindness of my friends to provide me shelter.  In spite of all that I made the Dean's List.  A transcript can't tell you that.  But, again I ask, does it matter? 

Yes, who I was when I was eighteen laid the foundation of who I am at thirty-eight, but when was the last time you paid attention to a foundation? 

When it broke, right?

If my foundation were that weak, the cracks in the facade would be huge by now.  You're not hiring who I was.  You're hiring who I am.  So, how might you find out who I am?

Google me.

You'll find this blog.  You'll find my family Web site.  You'll find my Twitter feed.  You'll find postings I've made to newsgroups over the years.  Maybe you'll find my weekly podcast.  These things will tell you far more about the man you're considering hiring than any fifteen-year-old document that the registrar had to dig up out of their permanent archives.

From my blog you'll find that I'm a man with a quirky sense of humor, strong opinions and deep faith.  You'll find that I love my family, though I struggle with how to be the man they need.

From my Twitter feed you'll know some of the minute-by-minute, and oftentimes completely useless minutiae of my life.  You'll know what restaurants I like, how my Fantasy Football team is doing, and that I'm a sucker for a sunrise.

From my podcast you'll learn that I have a passion for the education process, though I sometimes think that school systems stand in the way of it more than further it.  You'll learn that I really am a seventh-level uber-geek who can talk for hours about server virtualizaton.

From my blog you'll learn that I can write.  From my podcast you'll learn that I can speak.  From my Twitter feed you'll learn that I live every moment.  How can a transcript compare to that?

You want to learn about the man represented by that job application?  Google me.