Response to Reading 2

I enjoyed and agreed with the first article in our readings this week. I love the thought of creating a way for potential employers to see many sides of a person and making it easy for them to figure out who you are. The only thing I would worry about would be whether my links are professional enough or not. For example, my myspace page has been in existence since middle school, but hasn't been updated much since I began high school. Although I have nothing to hide on that site, I wonder if the content therein is appropriate for employers to look at when considering me for work eight years after I wrote that information. On the other hand, as an employer, I would like to know as much as I can about someone applying to work for me.

I also liked the resume advice found on the Wikihow site. I remember when I was applying for college, my mom helped me write a resume. We wrote down every award I'd ever won and started eliminating the ones that had little importance, such as "Science Fair Runner-up" from elementary school. From what I know about journalism, simplification is key to being successful, and I think this rule applies in writing resumes as well. Whether you are typing interests, designing a layout or listing awards, a simple resume that is easy to follow will appeal to employers more than a complex one.

I think it's funny that the next link leads us to a site full of links that contradict each other. There are some on how to write an effective cover letter and others that say not to include a cover letter. There are some that say what looks professional and others that encourage the individual to be creative with the resume design. I think that journalists individually have to decide how they want to appear when applying for certain jobs and pick and choose which advice to follow.