In my previous job, we interviewed a lot of candidates who used the term "we", to take credit for work that they didn't do. If you pressed them for details of their particular contribution - they had none.
I appreciate and understand collaboration, and I make good use of it myself. Yet, somehow, I can still say "I co-designed X, wrote half of Y, did Z for the team".
True, but that can get awfully wordy for a resume. And for a junior engineer, in particular, separating the contributions can be tough without running into eye-glazing verbiage (which will cost different points with some people).
Anyway, matter of taste. I don't rule "we" out as a resume item, but it's the kind of thing that I will probe into early in the interview process -- maybe as early as the phone screen, certainly in the first interview. If they can't defend their contribution, they go poing at that point...
no subject
Date: 2008-01-28 06:34 pm (UTC)In my previous job, we interviewed a lot of candidates who used the term "we", to take credit for work that they didn't do. If you pressed them for details of their particular contribution - they had none.
I appreciate and understand collaboration, and I make good use of it myself. Yet, somehow, I can still say "I co-designed X, wrote half of Y, did Z for the team".
no subject
Date: 2008-01-29 12:02 am (UTC)Anyway, matter of taste. I don't rule "we" out as a resume item, but it's the kind of thing that I will probe into early in the interview process -- maybe as early as the phone screen, certainly in the first interview. If they can't defend their contribution, they go poing at that point...