As a former recruiter and heavily involved in the resume space, I understand what it takes to make it to the top of the stack. This is just my advice, and my advice alone. Here are the top 3 things that you need to know when writing your resume:

• UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU’RE APPLYING FOR

When you apply for a job, understand that the most recent position is the most important. Hiring Managers want to see what is fresh on your mind and how well you’ll hit the ground running. There are certain key words they are looking for. The only way you could know these key words is if (a) they had a really good job description (b) your previous job is very similar to this one (c) you saw the resumes of people who worked at the company your applying for. I specialize in helping people see those resume examples via RezRedo.com. Take a look for yourself and see if it helps.

• BE HONEST:

Lying is the worst thing you could do on your resume. If you’re that worried about age-ism, then there’s a problem there. Recruiters will see right through your resume and if there’s a gap, a graduation date missing, or inconsistencies – they’ll call those Red-Flags and will suspect something. Be honest and if you’re truly right for the job, you’ll have a better chance. If you’re not right for the job and have to lie…why are you applying in the first place?

• LESS IS MORE

This is not your life story…it’s a 1-2 page explanation of how you’re perfect for the role they are hiring for – why you’re the perfect candidate in 2 pages MAX. You don’t need to show how qualified you are in irrelevant jobs (which related back to the 1st point of “understanding what you’re applying for”). If you were a hiring manager, and you had to go through 500 resumes, how do you think you’ll feel when you get a 3-5 page resume? You’ll probably get annoyed or assume “this guy just doesn’t get it”. Don’t take this too literally…but the point is simple: Less is more!

Good luck getting your dream job. It’s a tough economy and getting to the top of the stack in this economy could mean everything! (*To see my original post, check out GetMeAJobToday wiki.)

I have been chosen to moderate next months Ultra Light Startups event, and after attending last months Ultra Light Web Analytics, I have a feeling this month will have a great turnout.

This Months Topic…

This months topic will be Employment Related Business Models. The topics are as follows:

• What are the most promising niches and technologies for employment-related startups?
• Revenue-generating technology for bloggers and web publishers – job boards, services and related packages. An overview and comparison of platforms available to publishers.
• Efficiency-enhancing technology for recruiters – social networks, requisition-sharing tools, etc. Which tools are essential for recruiters and why?
• Innovative employment-related startups – TheLadders, Indeed, SimplyHired, JobScore, Doostang. Which niches and approaches are the most profitable and fastest growing?
• Job search on social platforms – LinkedIn, Twitter, etc. How are these platforms changing the business of recruiting?

The reason I was picked to moderate this event was because of my background in the employment related online space. I recently co-founded  RezRedo, a vertical search engine for job experiences found in resumes. The first search engine of its kind, RezRedo is opening doors to new methods of resume writing and job related research. Prior to RezRedo, I was a recruiter at AC Lion and headed all online marketing and web related initiatives for the firm including: Blogging, Social Networking, Web Analytics, E-Mail Marketing, SEO, and exploring new advertising options. But most of this experience fails in comparison to that of the panelists:

The Panelists

Allen Ackerman

Allen is founder of A-List Placement, a digital media recruiting firm, and recently launched I Have A Req, a private social network that helps recruiters collaborate on placements and share commissions through a ‘cloud recruiting’ model. Allen is also founder of MAD-G, (aka Mobile Application Development Group) which takes a progressive ‘consortium-based’ approach to providing its clients with cutting edge mobile solutions. Allen honed his skills as a software developer, creating applications for companies such as Goldman Sachs and Sony Music.

Charlie O’Donnell

Charlie is the Co-Founder & CEO of Path 101, a NYC startup that is revolutionizing career guidance though the mining of data from millions of public resumes. After funding VCs at the GM pension fund, and funding startups at Union Square Ventures, Charlie spent a year as Director of Consumer Products at Oddcast before starting Path 101 with Alex Lines. The founder of nextNY, he also teaches entrepreneurship at Fordham University and is the Entrepreneur-in-Residence at ITAC.

Jeff Stewart

Jeff is the founder of Urgent Career, a technology start-up seeking to revolutionize the way companies find, screen and assess sales talent. He is a serial entrepreneur, inventor and investor specializing in technology-enabled growth businesses through his angel fund, Urgent Ventures. Jeff has founded over a half dozen companies which if combined employ over 600 people. Jeff writes about start-ups at his blog, Urgent Speed.

Eric Yoon

Eric is the founder and CEO of JobScout, a daily email digest of great jobs in new york city for business development, product management, marketing and sales professionals. Formerly, he was a founder of JobThread and CEO since 2003. Eric has been in the online recruitment industry for the last 10 years in mainly product management roles (Product Manager at HotJobs, Product Development Manager at Bernard Hodes Group, Product Manager at The New York Times Digital for Job Market).

Event/Ticket Information

The event is going to take place on March 5th, at 6:30-9pm, at For Your Imagination. If you are interested in attending, it’s only $5 to attend and Pizza/Drinks will be served.  This is a great opportunity for recruiters, business owners, and publishers to network and grow their own businesses. The event page can be found on http://ultralightstartups.com/newyork/employment-related-business-models.html. If you are interested in reading more, check out the BusinessWeek.com article featuring Ultra Light Startups.

Due to growing number of attendees, an expectadly large crowd of ultra light entrepreneurs, I am looking forward to this event seeing you there!

I wrote an article back in the end of October on How To Track Online Industry Layoffs! My source was Techcrunch’s layoff tracker. I have updated that last post a few times already and it’s scary watching these numbers grow. TC has been promoting their “CrunchBoard” Job Board which is not bad. I’ll let you know if I find anything good. As of now:

Total Layoffs Since August 27, 2008: 266

Total Employees: 93,119

And these numbers are constantly growing. For an updated & comprehensive list Click Here. There is also another source for tracking jobs in our industry: Web-Strategist.com! Jeremiah Owyang, Sr Analyst at Forrester Research Social Computing, started a post series (see archives) to recognize and congratulate folks who get promoted, move, or accept new exciting positions.

Here as interesting iChart covering day by day tracking of Industry Layoffs:

We are in the final days of October, a month that will be remembered as “the time in which the credit crunch came to a head not only for the economy as a whole but for the tech community in particular.” (TechCrunch) Everybody in my office has been either asking or answering a very important question: “How does the current economic situation specifically effect the online sector?” And now we have a better idea…

Small Business and Startup Companies are being pushed to cut and focus on increasing their profit margin through better processes. Their “plan-of-action”? Layoffs!! Lots and lots of layoff, which keeps their bank accounts lasting a tad longer, especially for web companies that require little physical capital. VC firms like Sequoia Capital are urging their portfolio companies to cut costs and increase capital, with layoffs as the solution.

One of my co-workers at AC Lion made a great point, that as a recruiter you need to understand people should be more willing to hear about opportunities – in fact, they’d be crazy not to keep their ear to the ground about upcoming opportunities.  Layoffs are happening everywhere I look and I recently stumbled on a new site that effectively tracks these layoffs, company information, etc. – TechCrunch Layoff Tracker. They’ve begun tracking all of the relevant layoffs in the tech sector. They’ve mapped out…

• Total Layoffs Since August 27, 2008: 220
• Total Employees: 76,077

*These numbers are constantly growing. For an updated & comprehensive list Click Here.

A the end of the day, it’s important to know who’s laying off and why, and TechCrunch Layoffs is a great source for tracking firings…BUT I DO HAVE SOME GOOD NEWS!! I found another site, Web-Strategist.com, where Jeremiah Owyang, Sr Analyst at Forrester Research: Social Computing, started this post series (see archives) to recognize and congratulate folks who get promoted, move, or accept new exciting positions. Check it out, you may find your name on that list some day

My company, AC Lion, recently assigned me the task of finding a new Applicant Tracking System and Customer Relationship Management software. The ATS and CRM systems are a MUST for any staffing company of ANY size! Being that we are a niche market recruiting firm, our needs are particular to specific best practices and standard processes. Before picking out the correct solutions, I must define the two systems:

Customer relationship management (CRM) is a term applied to processes implemented by a company to handle its contact with its customers. [...] Information in the system can be accessed and entered by employees in different departments, such as sales, marketing, customer service, training, professional development, performance management, human resource development, and compensation. (Wikipedia)

Applicant Tracking System (ATS) is a software application that enables the electronic handling of corporate recruitment needs. (Wikipedia)

The rationale behind these systems is to improve how we track and also how we provide services directly to the customers. We use the information in the system for targeted marketing and sales purposes.  One of the industry leading CRM’s is Salesforce.com, but my company decided on an ATS/CRM hybrid able to handle both candidate leads (B2C) and client-side relationships (B2B).

Another thing to consider is a web-based, also know as Software as a Service (SaaS).It really comes down to a few considerations. Cost of in-house servers and storage vs. a Tier3 network and fast internet connection. It really depends on your comanies budget and needs. We decided on web-based.

When it came time to conduct research, I read a very helpful article on ERE.net, on How to pick an ATS in 7 days – includes short review of 6 major vendors (LONG). This is a great way to organize your time and find the right fit in an effective manner in 12 simple steps.

I am still on step #5, Contact each vendor….Below is a list from ERE.net of which I can say 3 of my choices and our current vendor are inlcuded:

• cBizOne
  Easy to use and contains all core functionality of ATS. Very customizable. Can host data locally or remotely (on access or SQL server). Cool quick searching UI.
• PCRecruiter
  Easily customizable and good performance for an ASP.
• BullHorn
  Highly recommended and praised. Performance good for ASP, UI and usability are good. Integrated email with cool email tracking feature.
• HireDesk
  Feature rich and very customizable. Awesome website integration where candidate can have custom job agents (most the same features candidates have on Monster) Large company, dedicated support staff and best support hours.
• Sendouts
  Outstanding usability and GUI design. One of two hybrid solutions. Good performance and overall solid system.
• MaxHire
  Its all Microsoft technology and the email integration and automation is very well designed.

I hope at this point you find yourself with enough information to get started. If you need further advice or a copy of my checklist, feel free to e-mail me at work – Red@aclion.com.

I don’t mean to laugh out loud (LOL), but this is worse than the time AC Lion e-mailed 50,000 people with greetings “Hi [Firstname],”. No, this is way…way  worse! If you’re wondering just how bad it was, courtesty of AdAge, read the documents for yourselves:Carat Restructuring Memo & Carat Restructuring Communication Plan. 

Neither Carat President Scott Sorokin ”nor a spokeswoman would comment on whether any disciplinary action would be taken as a result of the e-mail mishap”. I’d hate to be in HR’s shoes right about now. Quoting Ad Age Ediotor, John Hollon, ”You pay those people to step up in these situations, not make it worse.” This may be a good time for AC Lion Online Recruiters and all recruiters alike to show corporate what they’re made of!