Should Your Resume Have Two Pages? Or Just One?

I've been asked so many times what would be the ideal length for a resume. This article from Monster.com answers this question nicely by enumerating the pros of each one



Pro: One-Page Resume

“Ideally, your resume should be one page, because recruiters and managers have short attention spans,” says Jennifer Brooks, senior associate director of the MBA Career Management Center at UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. “It’s your ad; it doesn’t have to be comprehensive. If you feel the need to write down everything you’ve done in your entire career, you’re not thinking about the buyer, who just needs to know what’s relevant.”

Her tip for keeping your resume short and easy for the “buyer”: Use a summary statement. “It’s better than a career objective,” she says. “It’s what you want me to know about you in a nutshell. That makes it easy for recruiters to know your focus and your skills.”

Dani Johnson, author of Grooming the Next Generation for Success, agrees. “If you have a long work history, know that most people don’t read what you did 10 years ago,” she explains. “Put the focus on your most recent accomplishments, and if you have skills that repeat from one company or job to the next, state ‘same as above as well as these’ to save room.”

Pro: Two-Page Resume

While everyone agrees shorter is better, it’s a fact that some of us will need longer resumes. If you’ve got a lot of varied experience or a long career, you may well need more space to tell your story.

“Two pages may be OK,” says Paul C. Green, a former hiring manager and the author of Get Hired. But three or more pages is too much. The best way to present your career information is through a chronological resume format with bulleted skills listed below each position.” One exception: Any skills that are relevant to a particular employer or are in demand in today’s workplace, like critical-care nursing, nanotechnology or eliminating environmental hazards, for example. For maximum impact, list these skills in your resume's career summary.

Kim Isaacs, Monster's Resume Expert and director of ResumePower.com in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, says even if you’re going long, stay focused on what’s most relevant to prospective employers. “Let go of information that doesn’t help win job interviews,” she says. That includes positions held long ago, outdated accomplishments, old training and hobbies. She also suggests putting effort in your presentation. “Design is equally as important as resume length and content. A one-page resume that’s crammed with information is less desirable than a well-organized two-page resume that is easy to read and digest.”

Compromise on Resume Length

Like any good argument, there is a middle ground solution, according to Chris Laggini, vice president of HR for DLT Solutions, an IT reseller and service provider in Herndon, Virginia. “Recruiters read for speed," he says. "They are on a minute-long word hunt for certain titles, skills and years of experience. Hiring managers read for detail. So, we recommend that you have both a one-page resume for the recruiter and an in-depth resume format to be shared with the hiring manager. In your short version, make certain to highlight keywords and titles referenced in the ad for the position. In the long version, provide the hiring manager with enough detail for them to get an accurate picture of you, what you are capable of accomplishing and what you want from the career path.”

The Final Word on Resume Format

All our experts agree that the key to writing an effective resume of any length is to choose elements carefully. “A good way to filter your experiences is to survey your network on the needs of employers, and sample business articles for common themes of discontent in the workplace” Green explains. “List 10 ways employers are hurting today [and] describe 10 of your skills that you can deliver to deal with them. Use your resume to convert what you have done in the past to what you can do in the future -- then your phone will ring.”

Winsource Looking for 600 Outbound Call Center Agents

Here's an ad from Winsource solutions
They're looking for 600 outbound call center agents
If you'd like to work in Mandaluyong City, you can contact them from the info in the pic above
Ideally you should have

• 6 months experience or more since they pay premium for agents with more experience
• Preferably with Sales & Credit Card extraction experience
• Excellent English communication and comprehension skills
• Computer literate
• Fresh graduates welcome
  

Top 10 Resume Mistakes

Here's a cool article I found on Monster.com on 10 resume mistakes you should avoid.

1. Typos and Grammatical Errors

Your resume needs to be grammatically perfect. If it isn't, employers will read between the lines and draw not-so-flattering conclusions about you, like: "This person can't write," or "This person obviously doesn't care."

2. Lack of Specifics

Employers need to understand what you've done and accomplished. For example:

A. Worked with employees in a restaurant setting.
B. Recruited, hired, trained and supervised more than 20 employees in a restaurant with $2 million in annual sales.

Both of these phrases could describe the same person, but the details and specifics in example B will more likely grab an employer's attention.

3. Attempting One Size Fits All

Whenever you try to develop a one-size-fits-all resume to send to all employers, you almost always end up with something employers will toss in the recycle bin. Employers want you to write a resume specifically for them. They expect you to clearly show how and why you fit the position in a specific organization.

4. Highlighting Duties Instead of Accomplishments

It's easy to slip into a mode where you simply start listing job duties on your resume. For example:

* Attended group meetings and recorded minutes.

* Worked with children in a day-care setting.

* Updated departmental files.

Employers, however, don't care so much about what you've done as what you've accomplished in your various activities. They're looking for statements more like these:

* Used laptop computer to record weekly meeting minutes and compiled them in a Microsoft Word-based file for future organizational reference.

* Developed three daily activities for preschool-age children and prepared them for a 10-minute holiday program performance.

* Reorganized 10 years worth of unwieldy files, making them easily accessible to department members.

5. Going on Too Long or Cutting Things Too Short

Despite what you may read or hear, there are no real rules governing the length of your resume. Why? Because human beings, who have different preferences and expectations where resumes are concerned, will be reading it.

That doesn't mean you should start sending out five-page resumes, of course. Generally speaking, you usually need to limit yourself to a maximum of two pages. But don't feel you have to use two pages if one will do. Conversely, don't cut the meat out of your resume simply to make it conform to an arbitrary one-page standard.

6. A Bad Objective

Employers do read your resume's objective statement, but too often they plow through vague pufferies like, "Seeking a challenging position that offers professional growth." Give employers something specific and, more importantly, something that focuses on their needs as well as your own. Example: "A challenging entry-level marketing position that allows me to contribute my skills and experience in fund-raising for nonprofits."

7. No Action Verbs

Avoid using phrases like "responsible for." Instead, use action verbs: "Resolved user questions as part of an IT help desk serving 4,000 students and staff."

8. Leaving Off Important Information

You may be tempted, for example, to eliminate mention of the jobs you've taken to earn extra money for school. Typically, however, the soft skills you've gained from these experiences (e.g., work ethic, time management) are more important to employers than you might think.

9. Visually Too Busy

If your resume is wall-to-wall text featuring five different fonts, it will most likely give the employer a headache. So show your resume to several other people before sending it out. Do they find it visually attractive? If what you have is hard on the eyes, revise.

10. Incorrect Contact Information

I once worked with a student whose resume seemed incredibly strong, but he wasn't getting any bites from employers. So one day, I jokingly asked him if the phone number he'd listed on his resume was correct. It wasn't. Once he changed it, he started getting the calls he'd been expecting. Moral of the story: Double-check even the most minute, taken-for-granted details -- sooner rather than later.

Cebu City Still #1 in Tholon's Top 50 Emerging BPO Destinations Worldwide

Lifted from Inquirer posted last October 20, 2009

We should be proud and we should live up to that name. Surely more job opportunities in line with BPO (high-paying nonetheless) will come our way thanks to this accolade.

Cebu City once again clinched the top spot in the latest Global Services and Tholons survey on the top 50 “emerging global outsourcing destinations” worldwide.

The 2009 survey listed Cebu as No. 1 based on scale and quality of workforce, infrastructure, business catalyst, risk profile, cost and quality of life.

This is the second time Cebu City ranked first in the survey, which has been running since 2007. Cebu ranked fourth in the first survey and later climbed to the first spot in 2008.

However, in the big picture of top global outsourcing sites, Indian cities occupy the top three slots - Bangalore, Delhi and Mumbai - followed by Manila or NCR (National Capital Region).

Tourism Secretary Joseph “Ace” Durano, in an interview, said this victory is another positive development for tourism as it creates a multiplier effect.

“More BPOs opening in the Philippines will mean more young people will be employed. This, in turn, will boost domestic travel as the young people of the country today are the ones exploring the (different places in the) country,” he told Cebu Daily News in a text message.

Tourism Undersecretary Phineas Alburo said the result “greatly enhances the image of Cebu as an island of talented and hardworking people.” this positive image, he said, will encourage tourists to continue visiting the city.

Jun Saa, vice president for operations of Robinland Inc., said the challenge for Cebu is to continuously improve itself to attract more investments.

The company’s Robinland Information Technology/Business Process Outsourcing (IT/BPO) is located at the Mandaue Reclamation Area

With a booming infrastructure base, Saa said the best asset to improve on is the workforce quality and quantity. He also cited the readiness of middle managers in carrying out more complicated roles, which poses a challenge for most BPO companies based in the city.

“We lack talents in this area. Since this is a (relatively) young industry, we lack experienced people to handle the jobs of middle managers,” said Saa.

He said the shortfall can be addressed through further training and education, and more strategic industry-academe linkage.

He said a concrete example is the recent initiative of the Cebu Educational Development Foundation for Information Technology (Cedf-IT) in bringing to Cebu training modules from Harvard University to facilitate online learning of managers from BPO companies.

He said the latest survey will hopefully encourage more investments to pour into Cebu.

Wilson Ng, Ng Khai chief executive officer, said it was good for Cebu to have maintained the top rank for two years in a row.

“For sure that will be a boost to Cebu's reputation as the place to be,” Ng said in a text message to CDN.

Ng said that Cebu is strong in customer service orientation, and adaptability to English languages, primarily in the ability to speak “American” English .

“We also have an attitude that endears us to customers.”

Ng, however, said that Cebuanos need to improve in basic education, quality of English and information technology instructions.

“The take up rate of applicants still can be improved,” he said.

“I believe what some BPOs are saying, that we are weak in middle management. This is due mainly to the brain drain, where people who have more than 5 years experience can, and usually migrate abroad, leaving us with a weak middle management layer,” he added.

Ng also suggested that entrepreneurs can continue training programs and continue to market Cebu properly as well as continue to boost s skills, attitudes and confidence to help maintain Cebu's reputation as the best emerging city for BPOs.

Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Sam Chioson said that the organization is glad that combined efforts of the private and government sector are paying off in putting Cebu at the forefront of the BPO industry.

“As our vibrant BPO industry has cushioned us from the effects of the global economic crisis, we expect that this accolade will further help boost the Cebu economy as more IT players take a second look at Cebu as an ideal location for their businesses.”

He said more locators mean more jobs and new opportunities for related businesses.

This is the third year that industry publication, Global Services and strategic investment advisory firm, Tholons published detailed analysis on the world’s top 50 emerging outsourcing destinations.

In its website, Tholons said an 80-page detailed report on the 2009 results will be published by the end of October.

Following Cebu in second and third places are the cities of Shanghai and Beijing of the People’s Republic of China, which also retained the same ranking as last year’s.

The cities of Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam and Krakow in Poland also remained in fourth and fifth places.

Interview Tips from Jobstreet

Here are some tips on how to leave a great impression on your potential employer (by Jobstreet)




Confidence

Nervousness or being jittery are common feelings experienced by a candidate during interview. Avoid feeling inadequate for the position you are applying to. The fact that you were requested for an interview means that you were pre-qualified by the recruiter based on your resume alone. It also means you have bested some of the other candidates for the position.

Another way to gain confidence is to research information about the company before your interview. Gaining knowledge about the company would give you the confidence when you are asked what you know about the company.

Learning opportunity and Improvement

Treat every interview as a learning experience and a way to improve. If you have not been successful from your previous interviews, do not let it frustrate you. Try to remember what questions you had difficulty answering, and learn how to come up with a better answer. When similar questions are again asked, you will be prepared to come up with a better answer.

Interviews can also be a way an opportunity to learn something about the company, other people and even your self. If you are given the chance to ask, do not be afraid to ask about the company or the position you are applying for. This will give the interviewer the impression that you are interested to learn more about their company.

Showing up for a confirmed interview

Being late for an appointment or failure to show up for an interview on an agreed time will create a negative impression against you. As a candidate, it is your responsibility to show up to an agreed schedule. If for some unforeseen reason, you will not be able to attend the interview, you must inform your interviewer 24 hours before the appointment. But make sure that you have a valid reason in resetting the appointment.

*The article is from Jobstreet
*The cartoon is not, but it's funny