school applications and mind-reading

[cellio]

One of the things I have to submit with my application for the para-rabbinic program is a resume. Obviously I should insert a section for "religious experience" and drastically trim down the "professional experience" (like rabbis care about programming languages and software design?), but I'm not really sure what they're looking for and guidance has not been forthcoming so far. I should provide some description of each position (not just a list of job titles and dates, in other words), and there are aspects of my professional experience that (ought to) transcend domains, like team leadership and management and stuff like that. I wonder how much is appropriate. One short paragraph per job?

Should I mention activities at the Conservative synagogue where I've led services (and received an award from their president)? Does that show breadth, or insufficient commitment to the Reform movement?

My standard resume includes a "key qualifications" section at the top, where I draw together the common, important themes. I wonder if that's appropriate here too. I hope so; I think it would help.


The following is the assignment for the essay. It sounds challenging to cover those topics in that space when they use words like "detail":

Submit a brief essay (2-4 pages, double spaced) addressing the following:

a. An introduction of yourself (include your personal and professional history)
b. A description of any training or experience that you've had which will help you in your work with your synagogue. Please detail the successes and challenges you faced in that training or experience.
c. A description of your strengths and weaknesses.
d. What skills you hope to develop and information you hope to learn in your training.
e. How you hope to serve your congregation.

Some of this might plausibly go on the resume (b, in particular), so I guess I should do that and then just summarize/redirect in the essay.

I'll be ok; I'm sure I can produce a fine, perhaps even supurb, application. And I think I'm a pretty solid candidate and that it's likely I'll be accepted. But I want everything to be as close to perfect as I can make it. :-)

Comments

[sdavido.livejournal.com]

Never forget or mistake the value of a good "Community Service" or "Religious Service" section to your CV.

[cellio]

Thanks. I'm never really sure how to handle "extracurricular" activities. Until recently most such involvement was hobby-related, and I left it off. Religion is a touchy subject, and HR folks seem to prefer that you not bring it up, but if the service is significant enough it's worth mentioning anyway. But that just begs the question of how much is significant. My positions of responsibility within my congregation have been (mostly) since my last job change, so I haven't had to address this one yet.

[siderea]

Believe it or not, my current employer happily draws heavily on my SCA background, for such things as project management and playing politics. Folks here have gotten used to my making analogies to things in the SCA.

For instance, today I explained something to my boss about a possible way out of a political impasse in this company, based on something which happened in the SCA rendance community several years ago. For another instance, I've been getting increasing managerial responsibility, because, well, the stuff I got an Order of the Daystar for is the closest thing my boss has to "project management experience" on staff (something which still hasn't ceased to freak me out).

We're I in your situation, instead of trying to convert it to something which could fit in a standard resume, I would write up a statement in blocktext (not bullet items) discussing what I had done for various organizations which showed my responsibility and leadership.

I did something similar to that when I was applying to colleges, may years ago. Most applications had separate spaces to list "extra-curricular activities" and "non-school-related activities", but there were only a couple of lines for "non-school-related". So I wrote "see attached" in both slots, and typed up a statement explaining that I, as a matter of policy, did not generally participate in school-affiliated non-curricular activities, but these were the non-school affiliated things I had done with myself (list). This also allowed me room to explain the relevance of what I had done. Apparently, this really impressed several admissions offices; not just that I had all this interesting non-school experience, but that I was willing to color outside the lines in a reasonable fashion to present it.

[siderea]

^We're^Were

*sigh*

[cellio]

The SCA has taught me a lot about organizational behavior, management, delegation, planning, and so on. With the exception of one time when I put specific SCA experience on my resume (my term as kingdom chronicler, when I was applying for an editing job), I hadn't thought to include it. But you're right; if I can just figure out how to present it, the skills that led to my peerage are worth capturing.

[nsingman.livejournal.com]

Many people change denominations, or degrees of observance, through their lives (as I well know from observation). I don't think that having substantial experience in a Conservative synagogue impugns your commitment to the Reform movement. You should include that experience.

[cellio]

Good point. I left out an important piece of information, though: I was doing those things at the Conservative synagogue while a member, and trustee, of my Reform congregation. (My rabbi was perfectly ok with this, and I didn't figure it was anyone else's business.) If they match up the dates they might wonder -- or might not care.

[goljerp]

I wonder if this is something you should address in your essay - that you were doing stuff for the C shul because they needed help and there wasn't a comparable opportunity (at the time) to help out with your shul. Of course, if this isn't what was happening...

[cellio]

Good idea. And that is what was happening -- nothing nefarious or anything. I go there on weekdays, they noticed I could pronounce Hebrew correctly and carry a tune in a bucket, they were without a cantor, and they asked me to help out. (Along with half a dozen others, in rotation.) They hired a cantor this summer, at about the time that I became worship chair, and more opportunities have now opened up for me "at home", especially with Shabbat-morning torah reading. So everyone wins. :-)

[jducoeur]

Besides echoing the advice to put in your SCA experience (which is definitely relevant: it involves both management and interpersonal relations), I'd also say that some of your current job background is probably directly relevant, as well.

I mean, consider what you're doing for a living: you're being paid to analyze someone else's work, consider it in great detail, understand the ramifications, and write clearly for less-experienced users how it should be applied to their lives. If that isn't rabbinic in nature, I'm not sure what is.

In all seriousness: it demonstrates attention to detail, and the ability to clarify complex material. That *does* seem to have some bearing on the topic. Explaining that might well be appropriate...

[cellio]

I definitely agree that my professional background is relevant. I think I once made a comment to my rabbi, on the subject of talmud study, along the lines of "hey, I pick apart precise technical specifications for a living; this is nothing new". :-) I'm starting to think that I need to include a bit on the resume that describes tech writing (or rather, the flavor I do), and then just list the jobs after that. They probably don't care so much about what I did where; they want to know what I can do and why I think they should care.

My standard professional resume has a sizable section (several paragraphs) outlining key qualifications, and then launches into the job-by-job listing. It's unconventional, and when I started to assemble the resume for this application I ditched that, but now I'm thinking that I should return to that format.

In addition, if I take that approach I can weave in some of the SCA experience, rather than just having an "other organizations" section that comes out of nowhere.

I'm not exactly sure where the line between the essay and the resume should fall. I'm viewing the essay as a cover letter, which I suspect isn't wrong. (Also, she notes sneakily, the essay has a page limit; the resume and reference letters do not. Not that I would abuse this with the resume, but it's worth noting. I have no control over the letters of reference; I don't even get to read them.)