Fashionistas you have arrived 3-25-03 - 10-3-03

Originally posted by ThrashersFan
My unwritten rule is to never socialize with co-workers and I don't. Some chitchat about sports or such is fine, but I came here to work not to develop a hang-out group of friends for out-of-office activities

Words to live by. For me, I would not risk being friendly with people that one must kill before climbing over their dead bodies on the way to the top.

[Replaced_Texan]

Originally posted by NotFromHere
Unfortunately yes, because the morons in Career Services at some law schools tell you to put that shit in there because it could distinguish you from other applicants.
"Well I see by your resume that you are interested in cats. Me too. Forget about that Yale guy, we're going to hire you instead."

I think it's a holdover also from that period of time when there wasn't much to put on the resume. If all you really have is a bunch of summer jobs that probably would hurt more than they help and your education, you end up with a lot of white space. So the career people tell you to put in the stuff you did in college that got you into law school and other stuff that makes you sound interesting or skillful. I used to have a joke resume that said "can parallel park Suburban." Hey, it's a skill.

I had an "other interest" sort of come back to haunt me last year. One of the bigwigs at my company was sending a report on the activities of my and other offices to the bigger bigwigs, and he pulled out my resume from HR so he could put in a paragraph about why I'm the best person for my job and aren't we lucky we have me. The final sentence of the paragraph, in an effort to show the bigger bigwigs that I was a varied and interesting individual, highlighted my rugby playing days.

[c2ed]

Originally posted by Atticus Grinch
Merely one generation ago, people chose to practice law together based on a shared set of principles. I guess we've created a profession in which everyone has the same, single principle. And thereby earned the opprobrium heaped upon us by laypeople.

I don't see how putting "mountain biking" as an interest necessarily means you share the same principles with someone that would be relevant to the practice of law and potentially running a firm together. Someone else can share exactly my interests and still be the biggest wench with whom I wouldn't even want to share lunch.

Having a personality and having interests other than the practice of law is laudable (if you can juggle all that, congrats to you). But it just often looks damn stupid on a resume when people make their interests completely generic. I want to know sort of what they've done, where they've worked, perhaps some good activities.

Most resumes I see remind me of match.com personals that list really generic interests and still give me no sense of what the person is about, so I'd rather they just drop it and we'll discuss it in the interview.

C(apparently every guy in the Bay Area loves hiking, wine and good food)deuced

[Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)]

Originally posted by robustpuppy
Tying together threads: I have never found Will & Grace to be funny, but last night, after half a bottle of champagne, it was. I laughed and laughed.

I agree that is was funny to me for the first time every. Although I found it funny on beer.

[ThrashersFan]

Originally posted by Atticus Grinch
I sometimes can't tell when he's being ironic, but if he isn't, I'm with PLF.

The whole lot of you who just claimed you shitcanned the resumes of every applicant who had the temerity to volunteer his/her personal interests just forever forfeited the right to complain that your colleagues and bosses are asshats.

Merely one generation ago, people chose to practice law together based on a shared set of principles. I guess we've created a profession in which everyone has the same, single principle. And thereby earned the opprobrium heaped upon us by laypeople.

Whatever. I guess I am an asshat because I think personality matters should be left to the interview and it is unprofessional to place them on a resume. I look at a resume to find the people who I think, based on their work history, can do the job and then I use the interview process to find out which one of those qualified people has a personality that will mesh with the office. I know that everyone whose resume I review has interests but they don't matter to me until I know that they are qualified for the job. Furthermore, from an asshatish legal perspective, certain interests or hobbies or clubs can "volunteer" information about a person that I shouldn't be considering as part of my decision to interview (ex Gay Pride, Tri Lamda, etc) and although I believe I would be able to not consider those things I can certainly see a candidate raising the issue if an interview is not granted ("your honor, TF hates gays and would not interview me because I was in Gay Pride").

edited to say that the Gay Pride thing is just an example and that I do not hate gays. I hate people in general and would never waste the energy to distinguish.

[Atticus Grinch]

Originally posted by Replaced_Texan
The final sentence of the paragraph, in an effort to show the bigger bigwigs that I was a varied and interesting individual, highlighted my rugby playing days.

Stuff like this still opens doors. I can think of one tough-to-break-into firm where one's softball playing ability makes the difference for summer associate positions.

There's one entry on my resume that is a little oddball. People who've known me for casually years are generally surprised to hear it. I put it in my resume because it rarely fails to provoke a question in which I can eloquently (I must say) show off the depth of my interest in a matter over which there's a bit of curiosity, but little actual knowledge, nowadays. More than once, these conversations end with "I'd really like to talk with you further about that sometime." I don't know whether it's ever actually gotten me a paying job, but from a networking standpoint, it's golden.

[purse junkie]

Originally posted by ThrashersFan
My unwritten rule is to never socialize with co-workers and I don't.

Absolutely. I work with great people and don't mind going out for a drink or lunch to celebrate an office triumph or a birthday, but I already see my coworkers far more during the week than I get to see my family or friends. And I have interests I like to pursue on my own as well.

Outside-of-work hours are mine. This whole "work is a big family" thing is fucking unhealthy.

[robustpuppy]

Originally posted by infinitytrack
Don't tell me. Your pants fell down?

Rock climbing.

Where's ABBA? She would appreciate a groan-worthy pun, um, no pun intended.

[Replaced_Texan]

The Only Adult Rated Jonny Quest Drawing Page (spree: The only adult rated Jonny Quest drawing page. The page itself is just links and descriptions, but the links are, er, adult rated.)

[Gattigap]

Originally posted by infinitytrack
Words to live by. For me, I would not risk being friendly with people that one must kill before climbing over their dead bodies on the way to the top.

Hmm. I imagine that has interesting implications for dealing with you during the interview process.

On second thought, please burn my resume now, and tell Recruiting that I won't be in on Tuesday, okay?

Gatti(Interests: Tattoos, piercings, Phish, and quiet walks on the beach)gap

[robustpuppy]

Thurgreed, Halle needs you, she broke her arm!

http://entertainment.msn.com/news/ar...px?news=122750

[Atticus Grinch]

Originally posted by c2ed
apparently every guy in the Bay Area loves hiking, wine and good food

Not so. Hiking sux.

Originally posted by purse junkie
Outside-of-work hours are mine. This whole "work is a big family" thing is fucking unhealthy.

It probably would be unhealthy if you were fucking them.

On the other hand, who needs a work family when we have this Great Big Community of Caring(tm) known as the Fashion Board?

Originally posted by robustpuppy
Rock climbing.

Where's ABBA? She would appreciate a groan-worthy pun, um, no pun intended.

Will & Grace never gets me in that kind of mood unfortunately. Maybe next time I should watch it with Taxwonk, a gallon of champagne and a defibrillator.

[Bad_Rich_Chic]

I agree with those saying this personal stuff has no place on a CV, whether one's employer is interested in having something more than fungible billing units or not, but probably for different reasons. To me, the implied invasion of privacy is horribly offensive. What might make for a pleasant co-worker, with a compatible (work) personality and enjoyable banter, is very different from what I want of an actual friend I would invite into my personal, private life and with whom I would share my interests. Why the hell should my employer feel they have the right to know (or even ask) anything at all about me personally? Why the hell should someone feel the right to force such knowledge on me? It's an imposition, an intrusion into my private life, that actually makes me feel an almost physical revulsion. While that's something of an overreaction, it's not hyperbole. The loss of the distinction between one's public and one's private life (particularly without the corresponding total synthesis of the two) is responsible, I think, for most of the problems that make people so unhappy in their jobs, so I consider it an issue worth taking seriously.

On the "other businesses & industries do the goal/interests" thing, I've had friends tell me to add those to my CV, too. When asked "why, what possible relevant or legitimate information would it add?" they always say something to the effect of "those sections just go there, you just have to have them just because." Every time this happens I conclude that, after hanging around with lawyers for so long, I've fogotten how extraordinarily weak most people are in the critical thinking department, and it reinforces for me something of my old sense of superiority to the rest of humanity, most of which was beaten out of me during my first 2 years of servile humiliation in the name of the law.