Re: Certification or College degrees? Was: RE: list problems?

[Jim Hickstein <jxh () jxh com>]

I once dared to require candidates to submit written answers to three essay 
questions (200 to 300 words), along with their applications.  The questions 
were about the technical subject, but the purpose in asking was to see if 
they could spell, and write in complete sentences.

We did a formal analysis of the job beforehand, and decided that the 
ability to _write English_ was foremost, even ahead of the specific 
technical skills the job also required.  This person dealt with a large 
community of people via email.  (DNS top-level hostmaster for a large 
company.)

We got a good guy.  He's still there.

When I see a resume with more degrees than a thermometer, but even minor 
spelling, punctuation, or other such errors, I throw it out.  Meticulous 
attention to detail matters a lot in this business.