Resume question

"bob and john" (bobandjohn)
11/16/2014 at 00:26 • Filed to: None

So I'm applying for an engineering position, and one of the notes in the ad states:
"excellent report writing and communication skills"

I'm usually good at my lab reports with school (lowest was a 85%) so thats going in...

I'm debating whether or not I should add my contributions on oppo to the list as well (the FP'ed motorcycle articles)

thoughts?

EDIT: ok, so a few brought up some good points about HR following posts and potentially getting to a comment they dont like..

What about bringing the articles (printed) to the interview?

motorcycle for your time:

DISCUSSION (28)

Denver Is Stuck In The 90s > bob and john
11/16/2014 at 00:29

Yes, you should do that. Nothing says I can write well like being published by a Legitimate journalistic publication

bob and john > Denver Is Stuck In The 90s
11/16/2014 at 00:35

how would you word it? I'm thinking: Have several articles published by Automotive site

Denver Is Stuck In The 90s > bob and john
11/16/2014 at 00:37

change "automotive site" to "online automotive publication" other than that, I think it sounds good

Textured Soy Protein > bob and john
11/16/2014 at 00:38

Speaking as someone with many years of technical hiring experience, and who now is the director of career services at a tech school:

No, don't do that. Not at all.

Shit in job descriptions like "excellent communication skills," is just totally redundant nonsense that doesn't need to be included in the job description in the first place. Because no company would say, "hey whatever, shitty communication skills are fine for this job." You don't need to devote any more space to it on your resume than a bullet point in your summary that says "excellent communications skills."

You absolutely do not want to provide a link to an online presence of yours on a resume, other than a linkedin profile and maybe your twitter (if you happen to use your twitter for professional stuff) for an HR person to follow down the rabbit hole and stumble upon some random comment you made that they can take offense to.

The only exception to this is if you were applying to be some kind of writer/blogger/etc. But you're not. So don't include it.

yamahog > bob and john
11/16/2014 at 00:41

Hmmmm.

On one hand, being published on Jalopnik is a cool thing, but on the other, I'm super paranoid about giving potential employers access to allllll your posting history because who knows what someone looking through it might not like.

Textured Soy Protein > Denver Is Stuck In The 90s
11/16/2014 at 00:41

Nope. Nope, nope, nope, nope nope. No way.

bob and john > Textured Soy Protein
11/16/2014 at 00:42

hmm.good point.

bob and john > yamahog
11/16/2014 at 00:43

thats why i'm ehh on the topic... maybe just bring the published articles (printed) to the interview?

yamahog > bob and john
11/16/2014 at 00:46

Can't hurt to have if it comes up in conversation, but honestly in my experience recruiting and in my own interviews, "good communication skills" is mainly there to weed out the painful awkward/unsocial.

Denver Is Stuck In The 90s > Textured Soy Protein
11/16/2014 at 00:49

Didn't think of it that way. Good point

PyramidHat > bob and john
11/16/2014 at 00:54

Here's what I"m thinking: I haven't seen all of your posts, but I know that I would not want a future employer knowing what my burner ID was. Not that I'm throwing any racism/sexism/hate/etc..., but I often let my dark sense of humor out and it's hard to explain to someone that doesn't know me fairly well. So, if you can stand behind all of your posts and feel that they do not inadvertently misrepresent you, then go for it!

Good luck on the job, by the way....

ETA: ...and be sure to let us know how it goes!

bob and john > PyramidHat
11/16/2014 at 00:58

Thats what I'm worried about. I do have a bit of a darker/more lenient sense of humor...

what do you think about just bringing the printed articles to the interview?

Zibodiz > Denver Is Stuck In The 90s
11/16/2014 at 01:36

" The leading online automotive publication" — I forget the numbers, but Jalopnik is the #1 car publication in the world, now.

Denver Is Stuck In The 90s > Zibodiz
11/16/2014 at 01:37

I didn't know that

PyramidHat > bob and john
11/16/2014 at 01:37

Caveat: I'm not an engineer, so I'm not aware whether written examples are typically requested for interviews. Unless they are specifically asking for documentation, I would wager that anything of that sort is unnecessary. Of the jobs that I've interviewed for, virtually all of them mentioned having excellent communication skills but did not request a writing sample. All that means is that they don't want some guy who is illiterate and/or cannot capitalize or punctuate properly, or uses "u", "2", and "4" for "you", "to/too" and "for" (unless you're Prince, then you get a pass). In short, being that you're applying for an engineering spot, they probably want someone that can effectively communicate findings, issues and proposed/implemented resolutions. You'll show them your chops while you are speaking with them.

Zibodiz > Denver Is Stuck In The 90s
11/16/2014 at 01:46

http://jalopnik.com/why-do-you-car… lists 7.5M unique visits/month, and somewhere in the comments (or maybe it was a followup article? I don't recall. I know it was one of the editors who said it) it's mentioned as being the highest of any automotive journalism site.

gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee > bob and john
11/16/2014 at 01:50

I'm also on the No wagon. Don't bother with it. If you want to bring in something you've written, bring in a design report, but they'll mostly want to talk about it in terms of your design skills and contributions. Journalistic/artistic writing and technical writing are two completely different things. Read a car review in a car mag or a how-to in Pop Mech and compare it to the the abstract to the final engineering report for the car or a similar product if you don't believe me. As has been said, "good communication skills" is something they just put in there because they're ticking boxes on an HR sheet. Anyone can write a solid lab report, even the arts students taking the same geology class I did for their science elective; all you need to do is write what you expected, what you did, what your results were, and their usefulness, and at undergrad level it'll be in an experiment that was specifically set up by someone else to lead you towards a particular conclusion. An employer is far more interested in your abilities as an engineer, and whether your methods agree with their model.

I'm still pretty far away from finishing my engineering degree, but after having been the person who doesn't get a get summer job in engineering for a couple years, I've started looking more closely at the people who do. Almost all of them have design experience from outside of class (from student groups or past summer jobs) or else leadership experience, in addition to decent marks. Good grades show you know your material, experience shows you know how to use it, which is arguably more important. One of my coworkers this summer (in a supervisory position in park maintenance) has a masters in structural engineering, but hasn't been able to get a job in engineering despite working really hard to get 90's in school because in his words, he's "over-educated with no real-world engineering experience". He also got his masters from the University of Bangkok (I think) and did a good section of his bachelor's in South America (either Ecuador or Columbia or both) which I suspect als0 may have something to do with it.

bob and john > gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee
11/16/2014 at 01:56

ok. I do ahve a design p[roject I did as a younger kid before uni (that I may actually turn into my uni project) that I take with me to interveiws

gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee > bob and john
11/16/2014 at 03:17

That might be helpful if you don't have anything else, but school projects would still be better. I'm a bit confused by you having an upcoming "uni project". Surely you've done at least some design stuff by now in school?

At my current school (University of Saskatchewan) there's a first year design class with several group theoretical design projects and one that gets prototyped (I skipped this class because I transferred here), a second year design class with a major group project (my class did page turning devices driven for people without use of their arms), a third year machine design classes with several projects that focus more on prototype construction, and then two fourth year classes for individual and group projects. The individual one is a smaller project, one guy I know did a rear ARB for our FSAE car. The fourth-year group projects were massively more involved, proposed and funded by industry or sources outside the college and were presented to (and judged by) industry reps in a formal event. One project was a brake dynamometer rig for the accurate brake testing of our FSAE car's brakes, which I know came with a 500+ page final design report because I watched it being printed.
At the school I transferred from, UOIT (don't know if it's still called that), in my first year design class we made an automaton, i.e. crank-driven toy, and in the second-year design class we used Mechano to design and build a motorized thing that served two functions (my group did a dump truck, it drove and dumped) and then we had to make a spirograph.

bob and john > gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee
11/16/2014 at 03:26

we have ONE design class that I'm taking right now...but we havent started the project yet (and its due in a month)

but other then that, no

gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee > bob and john
11/16/2014 at 05:20

Holy Crap! What school are you at and how do they expect you to come out with proper design experience?! And what are they teaching you if it's not design stuff? And how do you survive doing all this math and science without ever applying it?

Sorry, I'm a little shocked that you'd only have one design class. I would say put a quick write-up of that design thing together, and include it, and possibly other hobby stuff related to engineering, to bring up if they ask about that sort of thing. Effectively any sort of build-up (e.g. vehicle modification) counts as engineering if you planned it out with a problem (my car isn't fast enough, only does an autocross time of X), set out a set of constraints (budget, time, mechanical ability) and objectives (top speed of xxx, cornering G of X.X, 0-60 time of xx, stopping distance of xx, to accomplish autocross time reduction of Y) and found a solution that met the objectives while remaining within the constraints (supercharger package, coilovers, stiff arb, sticky tires, brake package), and then tested it to make sure it solved the problem. (Autocross time of X-Y).

However, the job you're applying for often dictates what you put in your resume/CV. Some employers will want to know about certain things, and not others. If you're going for a job with Ducks Unlimited, then likely you won't want to include something about having built a 10-second drag racer. If you're looking at a drafting job, experience in CAD or drafting is obviously king. If you're going for a project management position, student politics experience will be more important than design. And so on and so forth.

It just occurred to me that all this is outside of the scope of the answer you asked for... I'm kinda rambling and should have gone to bed a long time ago...

bob and john > gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee
11/16/2014 at 08:18

well, the fact that I'm still a first year might have something to do with it :P

tromoly > bob and john
11/16/2014 at 12:34

No, it won't help, and could actually work against you 'cause they may follow everything you write.

Use examples of your engineering skills to get you the job, being able to communicate what they are effectively will be far more useful than mentioning anything you've written on Oppo.

bob and john > tromoly
11/16/2014 at 12:40

yea, we more or less estrablished that at this point. If they bring up the subject of extra curriculars I might mention it, but its not going on the resume

Xyl0c41n3 > Textured Soy Protein
11/16/2014 at 20:29

As someone who has written professionally, I couldn't agree more.

gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee > bob and john
11/16/2014 at 22:50

Oh, well, that's that then. For some reason when you were talking about applying for engineering jobs, I ASSuMEd it meant you were on your last year and looking for stuff for after school...

bob and john > gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee
11/16/2014 at 22:53

nah, applying for a summer position

PyramidHat > bob and john
11/23/2014 at 22:51

Hey - how'd the interview go?