[8/17/12] Because I pretty much want to bang my head against a wall. Really. I do.

Although I probably won't.

But I just might.

I've been helping John out at the office this week (yes, I un-retired again). He's been looking for a new administrative assistant for awhile, but hasn't found the right person. And being out of town so much lately kind of hindered the process. A bit. 

Yesterday was awesome. I went into work with John at 6 a.m. after we dropped Kailen off at seminary because he has a project he really needs to get completed and it's a big project. I spent 11 hours yesterday and 6 hours Wednesday mapping 300+ sites on a mapping program and then transferring those map points into inspection schedules in Excel. Not just a monthly inspection schedule with a list of buildings to be seen that month. No. That would've been easy. I've been working on a schedule of daily visits which incorporates both monthly and quarterly visits. So I also spent a bit of time on Mapquest to see how long it takes to drive from Point A to Point B so I'd know how many sites to schedule in a day.

I have Canada and 2 more states left to finish (Florida and Virginia) today. I finally went into his office a little bit before 6 p.m. last night and told him I was done for the day. D-O-N-E. Because I was getting to the point of not really caring if an Inspector would have to drive from Jacksonville to Orlando to Miami in one day inspecting 6 buildings. I knew it was time to go home.

John was very obliging and even offered to cook dinner.

He's pretty awesome. Or maybe he doesn't want me to suddenly retire again before this project and the other one I've been working on are finished. :o)

I've also been screening the applicants for his admin. position, because he really doesn't have time to read a bajillion resumes and cover letters. Okay. Not a bajillion. I've only probably gone through about 80ish since Tuesday afternoon. And four have been interview-worthy so far, with seven maybes.

And this little task is the reason I'm contemplating the whole banging my head against a wall thing. But not really. But it has been a very frustrating process.

The ad was very specific as to what he's looking for. Strong Excel skills. Financial/accounting experience. Must be analytical/good with numbers. Here are some examples of what I've been receiving:

-Works in the drive-thru at Chick-Fil-A. Looking to move from the food service business to more of an office atmosphere (this was the one-and-only job listed).

-Worked a cash register at about six jobs (and I'm not kidding one bit about the number).

-Food preparer at current job. Cafeteria caterer at previous job.  Some daycare experience.

-I'd like to be a law clerk.

-Veterinarian's Assistant.

-Able to coordinate calendars.

-My goal is to be a nurse.

-Photographer at a popular children's photography studio.

-Welder's assistant.

-I'm looking for an entry level position.

I'm really not meaning to be snarky, but really. Really?! 

I'm sure these are all very nice people, but did they actually read the ad?

I've also received a couple of cover letters where the sender forgot to change the title of the job they were applying for. I didn't know that we are running a medical office. Hmmmm.

And the typos.

Find me a wall. Make it brick, please.

Here's my thinking on typos on a resume:

Yes, no one is perfect. 

But pretty-please-with-cherries-on-top carefully edit your resume. And then do it again. And possibly again.

Maybe even have someone else read it.

And then read it again.

And please don't highlight your bullet points with bright blue font. And if you're going to use bullet points, please remember to change #7 on your list to a bullet point.

Ser-i-ous-ly.

Because if you can't take the time to make sure you're submitting a typo-free resume, which is the first impression a future employer has of you (although with typos that future is probably not looking so bright), how does the possible future employer know that you'll take the time to do the small daily-that-might-seem-unimportant-but-really-are-important things correctly?

John interviewed three applicants yesterday and my favorite one (at least from the resume) comes in later this morning.

Fingers crossed.

Because I'm really ready to retire again.

*Image courtesy of Microsoft Clipart Gallery