that would certainly have cut down on your pool but very likely improved it quite a bit

the majority of the complaints you had seem like they could have easily been avoided with some pre-planning

Patti Martin

I’m so happy we decided to share our process in this manner. We are very new to the whole H.R. process and learning enormously. I can’t tell you how much we appreciate everyone’s comments. It’s kind of wild and unorthodox, but so far so good.

As for the receipt confirmation, you are totally right. Peter is setting up an auto-responder right now. Our email server actually went down for the first few hours after the ad was posted (to our personal horror). We are searching for a new host as a result. By the time we got around to getting everything organized, we found ourselves buried under so many resumes we are treading water. Actually this is the whole reason we need an admin!

I think your business idea is really well timed. Peter & I honestly believe in the contractor model of business. Thanks for the note.

There is an interesting movement starting in the bay area, another word for “telecommuting” but targeted at office managers, personal assistants,legal and real estate assistants. It’s called Virtual Assistants. I started my own business a year ago, but my main focus is working with one company at a time either to clean up messes or start with a start up company creating process and procedures, acting as an HR generalist, Event planner for marketing, sales and training and office manager for day to day operations. After all systems are in place, I then help hire someone who can take over where I left off.

I applied for this position because I love working for software firms. I used to work for Oracle, SAP, Palm Computing before it was purchased by 3Com. I love the energy in the environment and working with diverse people.

I am looking for long term, for one company, as a virtual assistant. My husband surfs in Santa Cruz on a weekly basis, and I love the area, hence, I would drive up on Mondays and Fridays if I worked for your firm.

I wish you and your firm the best of luck finding the right fit. Please think of me for small projects, or to help out with overflow.

Your company sounds fabulous to work for, and I hope to one day have the chance to work for you.

Sincerely,
Ana Lucia Novak
650-771-0777

Yes, we are looking for go-getters who match our culture and personality. We have had hundreds of resumes at this point and are sorting through them carefully. I can’t believe the number of incredibly qualified people. (Our thanks to the mortgage industry)

I know, blogging about the hiring process while in the middle of a hiring round is a touch unorthodox and risky, but we embrace the open communication.

Thank you for your comment.

It’s tough coming from our end to know just how much personality to put into an email when requesting a job. Too much and some people might think your a bit odd – too little and folks might think your stuffy.

With that said, I would appreciate you taking another look at my resume – I have the qualifications – and given the chance to meet, I can show you my true personality!!

Thank you for ‘listening’.

D. L.

Gotta keep an even playing field.

While I don’t know about most companies, I think our team would not mind an HTML email, as long as it remains easy to read. The only caution I would add is the human tendency to complicate things. The goal of using html styling would be to improve the reader’s experience, allowing them to quickly scan more effectively.

As for the format of your resume – PDF is preferable. Then Rich Text (rtf). Then Doc. The reason being that office documents are notorious carriers of viruses.

As for snail mail, with a small company like ours, by the time we get it, the job would probably already be filled.

Well, I live in different culture to apply job as freelancer or fulltime employee, most still snail-mail. I don’t know how to make good resume for native english speaker especially by email.

I hope you could give me an advice. Thank you, Shane.

It’s what we need you for.