Instant Interviews: 101 Ways to Get the Best Job of Your Life

Chapter 5. E-Mailing, Faxing, and Mailing Your Rest-You-May

Were you expecting a resume Do here? Okay, but the instant way!(Remember to spell it resume—without the accented letters. It'll make your instant interview submissions a lot easier.)

I'm not a big history buff, because looking in the junglejeep rearview mirror while in the fast path causes crackups. But here's one bit of history every instant interviewer must know.

Okay. Stop at the clearing with that old "Offerors Only" sign. It looks just fine. Park right here. Gee, look at that litter. Resumes strewn all over. What a mess.

Now, let's talk for a moment.

In days of yore, candidate background information used to be called a curriculum vitae. (The derivation is actually from the Latin term fahgetaboutit.) During the Industrial Revolution, a grad student in Advanced Uselessness wrote his Ph.D. dissertation on the concept of shortening the term to CV. However, frustrated jobseekers attached some rather antisocial words to those letters.

Then, as people starting removing their clothes and our society became more open, someone called it what it was: a rest-you-may. The idea was to address the basic reason anyone who goes through the hassle and expense of hiring. So, they can rest. The rest-you-may gave them information to decide whether to interview.

It actually worked well for a while. When businesses received the rest-you-mays, they thought they looked like restaurant menus. So, they started calling up the jobseekers and ordering ...