Tortured Resumes
I am facing a tremendous
backlog in the pile of work accumulating in my small brain today. But when I
opened this e-mail in one of my self-allowing breaks (that is a new term
invented by me, so if you want to use it do not forget my copyright royalties!
I might make more money that way than sitting here and doing engineering
stuff!) , I was so taken aback that I could not help writing and sharing
this with the rest of world! Here is the original e-mail. But I should explain
for those who might be unfamiliar: Monster.com is a website that you can post
your resume on it, apply for the jobs and in a nutshell is a job seeking
website. Now, having explained the function, see what an Iranian friend who had
posted his/her resume on this web site, has received:
Dear Monster job seeker,
This e-mail is to inform you about important changes to
your My Monster account.
The U.S. Department of Treasury's Office of Foreign
Assets Control, as well as
some states, maintain sanctions which prohibit U.S. companies
from conducting
certain business activities with organizations located
in or residents of the
following countries: Burma/Myanmar, Cuba, Iran, Libya,
North Korea, Sudan or
Syria (the "Sanctioned Countries").
In order for Monster to comply with applicable U.S.
federal and state
regulations, we will be removing the Sanctioned
Countries from the site. Your
resume included one (or more) of the Sanctioned
Countries. Therefore, your
resume will be altered, removing all Sanctioned
Countries from your resume(s).
The removal of the Sanctioned Countries will be the
only information changed on
your resume; no other information will be affected.
Please be assured that the
confidentiality of your resume will remain at your
discretion. Your resume will
still be available in your account, and your current
status will be unchanged.
This change will occur on April 24, 2003. We apologize
for any inconvenience
resulting from this change to your resume. Should you
have any questions
regarding this change, feel free to call the Monster
Seeker Support team at
1-800-MONSTER. Thank you for using Monster!
How does this sound to you? Hah? The fact that for a person like me who touched this golden land some three years ago, half of my glorious education and all the relevant professional skills will vanish into the air like the Ginny of the Aladdin Lamp going back to the lamp! Part of my life is erased and forgotten so fast and simple. It is kind of ridiculous to say what you gained in 9 years in terms of learning and experience only dates back to 3 years ago. One major point is that in terms of technology related subjects, you seem kind of stupid to go and spend your life in 2001 on what has been a fashionable domain of expertise in 1996! And if you do not mention you might not seem that qualified so you will be stupid again not to mention them! And I wonder who might seek a stupid employee especially with this job market!
A good friend who also arrived in US some three years ago, mentioned a brilliant point that I want to share here:
“Still, if one cuts out the lines of my resume which
contain Iran, I must have been born two years ago (probably at LAX first aid
booth or something) and have completed my MS in the first two years of my life!
A great WHITE lie for the WHITE people making rules in their own country and
liberating NON-WHITE countries.
By the way, I believe this is the first official
listing of the so-called SANCTIONED countries, which does NOT include Iraq!
Another side effect of liberation!”
It goes without saying how I feel so I leave any conclusion on your judgment. I have got to go back and stick to my backlog before I am forced to post my “ tortured” resume on Monster.com!
Kathy Hadizadeh
Los Angeles
04/18/03