My resume, experience

Editor:

Most of us have competed for a job at one time or another.  We put our best foot forward, anticipated some tough questions, and tried to stand out from the others.

We show our willingness to work hard, ask questions and learn the ropes. As an applicant, my interviews were conducted with a panel of people. Each panelist had prepared questions based on my resume, and I was able to expand upon my background and experiences.

In my lifetime, I’ve had multiple unpaid jobs. For my most recent job application for Los Lunas Board of Education designee, I chose to highlight my union steward work showing working with others and my writing experiences showing people in their best light.

In my paid career, and as an “other duties as assigned,” I wrote citations for awards, I helped create manuals and reports, and I crafted correspondence between management and labor. At the same time, I also wrote and sent in pieces to the News-Bulletin that were published as feature articles, complete with headshot. I actually got a job as a technical editor after retirement from Kirtland, in part because I was able to show them my published articles and other examples of my skill set.

I have no control over News-Bulletin editors’ decisions about my unpaid submission printed as a feature or as a letter to the editor. Through the years, I have been asked to shorten a piece here and there, and just about all my submissions have been printed eventually.

I will be grateful if this letter to the editor gets printed in a timely manner, to help shine the light on the shade thrown directly at me.  I understand deadlines and spin, but cannot get behind an effort to diminish or reduce anyone who is trying to put their best foot forward.

 

Michelle Tafoya

Los Lunas

(Editor’s Note: Michelle Tafoya was one of about two dozen people who applied for a seat on the Los Lunas Board of Education. In her resume, under “Additional jobs” she listed she was a “feature writer” for the News-Bulletin. She is not. She has written numerous opinion letters and columns, but she is not a paid employee.)

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Makayla Grijalva

Makayla Grijalva was born and raised in Las Cruces. She is a 2020 graduate of The University of New Mexico, where she studied multimedia journalism, political science and history.