What's new
What's new

Adding pictures to resume?

PlasmaOnTheBrain

Cast Iron
Joined
Oct 22, 2012
Location
Albany Ny USA
Hi all,
I'm looking for advise from you shop owner types, Would you look at pictures included with a resume?
I want to leave the shop I'm currently in because its pretty much heading down the drain. I don't feel like words on paper really describes what I can actually do and pictures of work I've done would do it much better but I don't know if that's good form or not...
I'm a welder and I've been at my current job for about 11 years, never went to any school past a 6 month trade school and have self taught most of my welding skills/knowledge.
Thank you all for your time
Clif
 
Hell no to pictures. Back when working for the man as a supervisor without the title anytime I got a resume with pictures I passed them around for a laugh. I once got a resume from a guy who had his picture taken by every machine he claimed to know how to operate, down to a belt sander. After we all had a good laugh his resume hit the round file.
 
I would agree on hell no. However, I could see maybe adding a link to a web page with pictures of what you've done. But, a professional looking web page. No pictures of your dog or your kids eating birthday cake.
 
I am not an owner. I do, however, do interviews for candidates for my team. I recently got a resume with a headshot. I have never seen such a thing, and it baffled me. According to my German teammate, that's the norm over there, every resume has a professional headshot. Here in America, I would say definitely no, do not do that. Perhaps bring some pictures of your work with you if you land an interview, but definitely not on the resume. The resume should be short, sweet, and limited to relevant work experience (If you're applying for a job as a fabricator, don't include your time working at McDonald's 4 years ago).
 
Also leave out any hobbies or activities unrelated to work or job skills. If you donate time at a museum restoring antique machinery that can be included, but no one needs to know your golf handicap.
 
Can't say that I have ever gotten a resume' with pics, nor doo I get many resume's to begin with, but I for one see nothing wrong with it.
Now a cheesy shot beside every machine - maybe not.
But it sounds like he's thinking about posting pics of jobs that he has done, and maybe one of himself.
Not that anyone would ever discriminate against a guy that's 400#, or a pencil neck geek - looking for a job as a maint man, but maybe he thinks that he may "look the part" better than some other candidates?

I guess if you was sending it to me - I'd say that I see nothing wrong with it.
But so far - it seems that the "No's" have it.

???


------------------------------

Think Snow Eh!
Ox
 
The resume should be short, sweet, and limited to relevant work experience (If you're applying for a job as a fabricator, don't include your time working at McDonald's 4 years ago).

I disagree on not listing a McDonald's job from 4 years ago, that is pretty recent. If left out that leaves a recent gap in employment. Most interviewers will ask about the what a person did during that time.
 
I think it depends on what the pictures are of. I wouldn't be interested at all in photos of machines you ran, tools you have or places you've been, your dog or your kids.

I would at least take a look at pictures of your work. Interesting and quality examples of your work does speak to your abilities. If I see something that I wasn't expecting, or is really, really nice work it might spark a conversation we would not otherwise have talked about.

I also might want to easily tell if what you think is a nice weld aligns with what I think is a good looking weld. That may or may not work to your benefit depending on how good you are.

However, I do know that you're going to cherry pick the best photos and obviously won't include the pictures of "regular welds" or things that didn't turn out very photogenic, so it will only get the conversation going. Showing me the beautiful aluminum fuel cell you made for a racecar shows some fabricating ability, but just pictures of weld beads only shows me you got a nice one and snapped a picture.

I would focus more on the abilities and relevant experience on the resume. I own a weld and machine shop. As such, I would be very interested in knowing what metals and processes you can weld with, if you've passed any prior certification tests, what machine tools you can run competently, use CAD/CAM, stuff like that. I don't really care about your time spent driving truck or fixing cars, so I wouldn't expect you to list them as references or try to use that as past experience. (I understand you're not a truck driver, it was just an example).

For me, a welder shows his true colors when he has to work in strange positions or circumstances. Most welders can get some good looking beads with easy bench or positioner work. But can you do it in the field, in an awkward position, in the rain, with a machine or department down and they're waiting on us to start back up? Obviously not everyone does that kind of work, but you get what I mean. A weld test in my shop is not always typical. Just being able to weld a test plate isn't that useful to me. Can you weld the parts that WE do? That's my way of saying study what kind of work a potential employer does and be ready to test in that. If a shop does a lot of sanitary stainless tubing, they're probably not going to administer a standard D1.1 structural plate test.

Pictures only start the conversation, you need to be able to impress me out in the shop.
 
I would agree on hell no. However, I could see maybe adding a link to a web page with pictures of what you've done. But, a professional looking web page. No pictures of your dog or your kids eating birthday cake.

It doesn't seem to have a huge user base for machining/fabrication (meaning people that actually do machining and fabrication - it's full to the brim with plant managers, owners, engineers, etc), but LinkedIn makes it super easy to lay out relevant skills, plus post pictures related to different shops or jobs that you've had. Simple to create one and throw a link down on a cover letter or resume.
 
I disagree on not listing a McDonald's job from 4 years ago, that is pretty recent. If left out that leaves a recent gap in employment. Most interviewers will ask about the what a person did during that time.

Fair, I suppose... I could go either way on that one, I think. The "relevant to the job you're applying for" is something I was taught in high school when they were teaching us how to make resumes... May not be right, just what I was taught. :D
 
Aaah, You you guys should see Asian resumes. Since there is no discrimination laws here the resumes have full on bio's. For instance, my Secretary/Translators resume not only had a picture of her, It had her marital status, number of children, age, and gender. Just another norm for Asia.

I have to admit my PA is quite hot....
 
I disagree on not listing a McDonald's job from 4 years ago, that is pretty recent. If left out that leaves a recent gap in employment. Most interviewers will ask about the what a person did during that time.

Unfortunately your not allowed to ask anymore, so the interviewer will just assume you were locked up.
 
You can't ask about a gap?

This whole thing is just ridiculous!

I might ask, but then I'm not a professional H/R person.
Actually, I'm not sure if I'm a professional anything! :scratchchin:


I guess if you are too touchy feely to talk about a gap in your history, my shop may not be the best place for you anyhow.



-------------------------

Think Snow Eh!
Ox
 
Aaah, You you guys should see Asian resumes. Since there is no discrimination laws here the resumes have full on bio's. For instance, my Secretary/Translators resume not only had a picture of her, It had her marital status, number of children, age, and gender. Just another norm for Asia.

I have to admit my PA is quite hot....


No thanks. I'm half Korean... Every Asian woman reminds me of my mother.
 
Fair, I suppose... I could go either way on that one, I think. The "relevant to the job you're applying for" is something I was taught in high school when they were teaching us how to make resumes... May not be right, just what I was taught. :D

Unfortunately your not allowed to ask anymore, so the interviewer will just assume you were locked up.

Is that a federal law or something Cali adds on top of federal law? I remember decades ago working for the man in Cali in a large plant. I was constantly running afoul of HR with their rules. They were always afraid of getting reported or sued. I was once told to stop giving math tests to applicants applying for machine shop positions. Even though I allowed use of a calculator and a book of formulas, I was told they could be deemed discriminatory.
Give me a break!
 
Is that a federal law or something Cali adds on top of federal law? I remember decades ago working for the man in Cali in a large plant. I was constantly running afoul of HR with their rules. They were always afraid of getting reported or sued. I was once told to stop giving math tests to applicants applying for machine shop positions. Even though I allowed use of a calculator and a book of formulas, I was told they could be deemed discriminatory.
Give me a break!


So - what value does a resume', or an interview s'posed to hold?

Isn't the point of such action - to discern which of these morons would best fit the job?
And - like it or not - "fitting in with the group" needs to carry some amount of weight as well.
Hiring someone that you know is not going to fit socially is NOT productive - for anyone.


---------------------------

Think Snow Eh!
Ox
 
seems everybody had different opinions. its amazing at times all the reasons resumes are thrown in trash without looking at. or they read something they dont like and its thrown away or resume is too long and thrown away
.
or go to job interview and at interview they finally read your resume and say you are not what they are looking for. like why bother with resume if they are not going to read it ahead of time.
.
literally sometimes its best to change resume for job you are applying for. its almost a necessity to edit out stuff that aint going to help and only maybe hurt chance at a job. for example saying you made $30./hr aint going to help get new job that starts at $20./hr if anything they wont even give you a chance figuring you would not be happy.
 








 
Back
Top