O.K., I've listened long enough.  The path to a job for each of us is
going to be slightly different.  I, too, used to think that the "blanket"
resume approach was useless.  However, I know through anecdote and actual
experience at my job that sometimes they do work.  The person who said
that she would "not pass on the resume of someone I didn't know" is con-
fused.  All she would be doing is giving some other hiring official an
opportunity to decide if the person is suitable for THEIR job.  It is
not necessarily a personal recommendation.  Several times in the last
couple of years, we have called someone who sent us a resume cold.  Usually,
the person was no longer available, but if they had been, they would have
been ahead of those who did not send out resumes.  I also appreciate any
institution that responds to the resume I have carefully crafted and sent.
I have said this before, and I guess I'm saying it again--when you don't
have a job, time stands still.  You live for the mail.  A simple letter
wouldn't kill you and would not take much time.  Acknowledge anything
that comes across your desk from a job seeker, please!

On a related topic:  can those of you posting jobs on this list PLEASE
include a salary range?  It is surely a waste of everybody's time to
apply for jobs with salaries that are not in their price range.  And a
note to AAM:  Hey, Andy, can't AVISO require classified ads for jobs to
include a salary range?  I don't believe for a minute that hiring
institutions don't have a clue about salary when they send in the ad.

For all those of you seeking jobs out there:  don't give up and don't
despair--the job for you is out there and sometimes you have to wait a
little while for it to come along.  If this is what you really want to do
with the rest of your life, you'll find a way to keep afloat while you
search.  Good luck, all.

Claudia Nicholson
Curator of Collections
South Dakota State Historical Society, Pierre

[log in to unmask]