Résumé revision time again

While wandering through the Job Fair today (where I didn't hand out a single résumé, none of the booths I stopped at were set up for that) I came across a company where a large number of people who used to work at my former company now work. (This is not entirely a coincidence; the two businesses are in no way similar, but the "buddy system" plays a lot bigger role in getting a job than most people realize.) One of the people working the booth recognized me and said, "So, are you still involved in Continuous Improvement?"

I was a little taken aback by this. He quickly pointed out that he was in the Statistical Process Control course that I designed and taught, the one that caused me to revise my résumé yesterday. (It wasn't until much later in the conversation that I checked his I.D. tag and recognized his name.) Apparently the course left quite an impression on him - "I still have that book!" he said, the book being Understanding Statistical Process Control by Donald J. Wheeler and David S. Chambers, which my partner and I used as the textbook for our three-day course.

I tend to think of Statistical Process Control and my days as SPC Coordinator as a thing in itself. But in fact this was just one element in the Continuous Improvement continuum. And Continuous Improvement is not just another management fad: it is something that is still embraced and pursued by thriving, dynamic companies. So why the hell don't I have it explicitly mentioned on my résumé?

So it's back to the drawing board - or, in this case, the Word document. Continuous Improvement, baby! Statistical Process Control! Designing and teaching courses! Come on, you know you want me!

A note on the weather: It snowed. Not much in Nanticoke, really just a dusting, but a mile or so out of town there was a decent layer everywhere. It was coming down pretty steadily when I met a friend in the parking lot at the Job Fair, which was about 12 miles from my house. As we left the Job Fair after two final stops at a booth for a casket distribution b2b company (dude, that's totally a growth market as the baby boomers start to snuff it) and what we hoped might be a pharmaceutical distribution firm but turned out to actually be a place that pays for blood ("We have several employment opportunities, or if you're looking to make some quick cash while you're between jobs..."), the snow was several inches deep and coming down hard in flakes the size or quarters. "This isn't happening, this isn't happening, this isn't happening..." I intoned as we shuffled back to our cars.

Could be worse. Could be New York City. Seven and a half inches of rain in Central Park yesterday? That is seriously messed up.