ajcjobs > BlogBreak > Archives > 2007 > August > 01
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
Avoid a document disaster!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In this age of electronic information, where credit card companies are actually launching ad campaigns that portray cash transactions as slowing down business, paper may very well seem old fashioned, even the green kind!
Your resume itself may only find its way onto paper once you’ve snagged an interview and are finally able to ‘hand out’ that watermarked parchment that so eloquently chronicles your career story.
Unquestionably, the benefits of the electronic age are enormous. In addition to saving trees, it is saving lots of cash for organizations as they begin storing all their formerly paper documents on mega-servers in the sky, instead of high-rent office buildings.
We’ve have been lulled into believing there’s no need to keep paper copies of almost anything? We take for granted that the information we need is being safely kept in someone’s massive data warehouse, awaiting our retrieval on demand. However, the bad news is that databases crash, and paper copies can get lost or destroyed.
Imagine being that candidate who gave notice to his old employer, eager to start his new job, only to find out that the copy of his degree was no longer on file at their college.
Whether it’s a flood, fire or the latest internet virus, even twenty years later you may have to prove you earned that degree, got that promotion, or won that top producer award. Career-influencing documents are some of the most important ones you’ll ever have.
You, not anyone else, is responsible for keeping copies of them, both paper and electronic; to make sure you avoid document disaster. Important documents like these often define who you are and legitimize your professional life. Having them handy can mean the difference between getting that job or not, which may mean having your rent money or not.
