I am a big government nerd (not a fan of ginormous government, but a big fan of government). Very fascinated by the government, the political aspects of it. Love the logic and reasoning that in a perfect world prevails. I have the Constitution on my phone and reference it more often that you might think, especially during our crazy current political climate.

Legislative branch- For several years now I have been honored to offer my voice on Capitol Hill. Offering my views and influence on STEM education, technology policy and more. I have met with staffers, council, policy writers and sitting Senators and Congressmen (and one Congresswoman).

Executive branch- I have also been invited to The White House to do the same with the science and technology policy folks. I met my first sitting president in 1992 during George HW Bush’s re-election bid. I have shaken hands with President Obama in 2012 and got to personally grill him with my questions at a town hall in 2009.

Judicial branch- Next week after spending a day on The Hill hoping to be heard, I plan to stop by The Supreme Court to hear oral arguments. I intend to attend the consolidated argument taking on criminalization of refusal to consent to warrantless field sobriety tests. Three cases have been combined based on their similarities to one another. Thanks to the ACLU for providing this quick summary:

Whether states may criminalize a driver’s refusal to consent to a warrantless blood, breath or urine test for alcohol after a drunk driving arrest.

In 2013, the Supreme Court held in Missouri v. McNeely that the Fourth Amendment bars warrantless blood tests in drunk driving cases absent exigent circumstances beyond the normal dissipation of alcohol in the blood. The issue in this case is whether a state can criminally prosecute a driver for exercising his Fourth Amendment right to refuse consent. The ACLU argues in an amicus brief that the assertion of a constitutional right can never be a crime, and that the government cannot avoid this basic rule by treating the issuance of a driver’s license as a blanket consent to all future blood, breath, or urine testing without a warrant.

Watch for a follow-up after my visit.

I get a fair number of resumes emailed to me.  From friends and professional peers, from recruiters, from random people that find me online.  Today brought a resume that had far too many issues, and it came from a recruiter.  It smelled of recruiter.  It smelled bad.

The resume came to me with no name attached.  I don’t know the location.  I know they want to work remote and they are a he because the email tells me he’s ready to start right away.

So I will start by saying this person is probably a decent resource.  But, if I’m picking apart the resume (which I am because I’m blogging about it), I’d be curious why someone with such extensive experience is going through a recruiter to get his next project.

First problem, they claim 15 years of .NET experience.  15 YEARS!  Problem.  .NET was released in 2002.  Math.

Then there’s the 20 years of SQL experience, but only 18 years as an end user.  So, dude was working on a database, but didn’t know how to use software?

Certifications come next.  I have a love/hate relationship with certifications.  The resume shows certifications in CRM 4.0 and 2011.  Problem here, most recent certs are 5 years old.  That’s like 10 technology generations old.  Don’t brag about that!

There are more, older certifications.  If your most recent certifications are that old, then either remove from your resume or get newer ones to add to the list.  If you know me enough to send me a resume, then you know we only work on new stuff.  Version now and version next.  I’m not impressed that you are certified in SQL 2008 R2.

This final critique takes the prize.  Going to copy and paste here from the resume.

“This is a terrifically well-rounded candidate with a wealth of CRM experience, including 10+ years of Dynamics CRM experience (he was given a free copy of version 3 to test by Microsoft). “

Maybe the resume was intended for someone that doesn’t read them?

I cannot stress enough how important it is to stand up to these folks.  They mean well.  They represent YOU.  They sell YOU.  But, they often don’t know enough to make you look good on paper and paper is all I have when I’m emailed a resume.  Don’t let a recruiter make you sound ridiculous.  Please.  There’s loads of work to be had.  But this will likely cost you some good opportunities. 

(I am happy to review just about anyone’s resume and offer feedback, so if you are out in the CRM jungle and looking for work, drop me an email.  Even if we’re not hiring, I’m happy to help so that you don’t suffer the same fate.  And if by some chance this is YOU that the recruiter is selling, email me.  I’ll get you your money back.)