Alright. Question 1: If when I'm older I work for some hospital, there's some corrupt business going on and I get laid off... suppose I look for work for 1 year and due to a strange shortage of job offerings, I find myself unemployed that entire time. Would it be advisable to work anywhere - a store, restaurant, or office - while I wait for a job to come up? Basically, I'm just wondering (since the situation up there is practically impossible) if being out of my main job but working another job is hurtful or beneficial or just doesn't matter. Question 2: I told my dad I'd read that resumes must be 2 pages max. He laughed, pulled out his 5-page resume with 20 years of experience detailed quite nicely, and showed me all the job offers he got per month while he was looking for another job. So does the 2-page rule stand and is my dad wrong, or is everyone here being too serious about technicalities?
Life gives everyone enough to worry about without inventing more...but to answer, yes, it's OK to work at something else...depends on your unemployment benifits, if any, at the time. These days, one pagers are the fashion...employers don't want your life story.
TKO: Yes, it's always better to be working. I've found from observation over the years, the longer one is unemployed, the harder it is not only to find work, but the harder it is to overcome "being used to not working", if you know what I mean. Plus, it's easier to find work when you're already working. I have done a tremendous number of things to bring in teh moolah, and I've never been "too good" for anything save being unemployed. I've done everything from busting criminals to graphic arts to DJ'ing to reporting to watching people pee into cups. Whatever it took to bring in the money, I've done. It's also given me a hell of a diverse resume. Being able to do a lot of different things = never being jobless, I've found.
I won't disagree with Phantom's advice--within reason. That said, the rule of thumb is that it takes a month of really active job hunting for every $10,000 of your salary requirements. If you can afford it and are out networking and volunteering with professional organizations you're in a better position than if you're waiting tables. If you are a consultant of some kind, doing contract work, or do technical work that has lots of certifications you can have a resume that is more than a page. But as a 36 year old with some 15 years in the job market, owning my own business, doing 5 years as a Marine officer--and even fighting a war--I was told I didn't have enough experience to merit two pages.
It's always better to have money coming in and having a different job shouldn't hurt your chances of getting another job in the field of your choice. I agree with Tech, one page is enough. But... In addition to a text resume, consider creating a video resume.
CV/resume length depends on the industry and length of time you've been working. rule of thumb is, the more specialized the job, the bigger the CV. certain industries will also require extra information, padding out the CV - if you need a portfolio for example, thats an extra half-page+ all of its own.
Don't know about your Dad's experience but I just assume a CV longer than 2-pages has been sent to me by someone with no editing ability.
Work while you're looking for your dream job. It's not a question of resume it's a question of survival. Yes you'll probably have to declare your current job to your potential employer but it shouldn't matter much if your reason is legit. A reason that isn't legit is "I got laid off because I'm addicted to heroin and I've had a hard time getting back on my feet. Thus, I work at Wal-Mart in the back room. They say I can work in the front when I get my people skills up to par." As for the resume, sorry, 5 pages is fucking retarded. There's not five pages of information a potential employer could possibly be interested in for an interview. My rule is one page max. If you're putting down every odd job you've held with each duty you maintained for all your life no one gives a fuck. I don't have every employer down on my resume. I'm 24. I haven't had that many employers but for the purposes of finding a specific job tailor it accordingly.
Well, that's what I was told by someone. And his advice on other things has been pretty much dead-on. Obviously there's some variance due to the particular job, the economy, and the locale you're willing to work in. Of course he also said you should talk to four people every day. Now I dunno if that includes telephone/email contacts too or not, because I can't conceive of having meetings with four people a day, five days a week, for half a year to land a job. Shit, you'd have to hire a secretary just to keep everything straight.
If you haven't been working I have always heard it looks worse to a prospective employer. They want to know you haven't been sitting on your ass the whole time you were laid off. And the pages depend on the job. I knew a Chemical/ Mechanical Engineer, who, coming straight out of college, had a two page resume. And this is in a job martket where they rarely look at a resume that is more than one page and they never look at it if say it's on the wrong color paper, or there is one mistake in spelling or something along those lines. It seems stupid, but all of the recruiters I have talked to say they sit down, and start to go through the resumes and if there is something that doesn't look right in the trash it goes. So really it depends on the field.
I was told one page. An employer will look at your resume for about 10 seconds. He will notice any errors in form and he will notice what kind of jobs you worked. Maybe he'll venture down to achievements or something. As other people have said it is not an outline for an Autobiography.
1 page, 2 page, or 5 page depends on the circumstances in which you're job hunting. If you're broadcasting your entry level availability to the general industry, the 1 page resume is the way to go... 2 pages tops. The two page resume is for people trying to shift in their industry who've got more experience. The 5 page resume generally comes after you've been in the business for a while and are looking for jobs beyond the entry level in professional/technical/management areas, and need to give details as to your history and skill sets. Generally, you're already someone who's networked somewhat in the field you're in.
