No More VisualCV after December 31, 2011

Thanks to Kathy Hansen of Quintessential Careers for sharing this message, which announces the end of VisualCV.

Dear VisualCV Member:

We regret to inform you that the VisualCV.com website will be ceasing operations, effective December 30, 2011.

Since our launch almost four years ago we've been gratified by the response to VisualCV, and how it has enabled thousands of professionals to better represent themselves online. Even more importantly we have been delighted to see VisualCV help people secure significant new career positions. However, we have been unable to turn the site into a viable, self-supporting business and therefore we reluctantly made this decision.

We recognize that many of you need time to recover your resume data from VisualCV -- which is why we are providing you with thirty days' notice. We recommend saving a PDF copy of your current VisualCV. You can easily do this by clicking on the button on the bottom of the page you see when viewing or editing your VisualCV. We also recommend you separately save any images, videos or documents in your portfolio that you do not currently have stored somewhere else.


To ensure we meet all our members' privacy concerns, we will destroy all user data once website operations have ceased. This includes any and all backups we have. As a result, once the deadline has passed it will not be possible for us to recover any member data. You can be assured that we will not be providing any user data to third parties of any kind.

We will be contacting the small number of paying customers that still have active subscriptions to arrange a prorated refund for the months remaining on their annual subscription.

Thank you for all your support over the past four years. We wish you well in your future career endeavors.

Resume Writers Digest Receives CMA Mentorship Award!

I found out on Thursday that I received a Career Management Alliance Mentorship Award!


Thanks to Kathy Hansen for nominating me for this award. I'm truly honored. Here is the criteria for the award:
The Career Management Alliance honors those individuals who have guided others in tradecraft, entrepreneurship, and community-building. Through teaching and example these mentors have inspired their colleagues and generously shared their wisdom.


Kathy's nomination (which she so kindly sent to me), was centered around my efforts to educate and inform resume writers through the work of Resume Writers' Digest -- including this blog. So thanks to all of my readers and subscribers too!

ExecuNet White Paper: How to Make Your Resume Recruiter Ready

ExecuNet (a national business referral network with a private membership site) is offering job seekers a free report, "How to Make Your Resume Recruiter Ready" by ExecuNet Contributing Editor Marji McClure (presumably as a way to build up their opt-in e-mail list -- a great technique, by the way!). Thanks to Kathy Hansen of Quintessential Careers for bringing this to my attention in her Feb. 14 blog post on the subject.

The special report is an excerpt from a full-length article available only to paid subscribers of the ExecuNet service. While the special report is interesting, I will caution you about directing your clients to the special report, as it is focused on making the resume recruiter ready. Because the survey subjects were primarily recruiters (as opposed to hiring managers specifically or HR personnel), they often have special needs/requirements for the resume that other target audiences might not express as preferences... and, consequently, things you might not put into the resumes you write that aren't being sent to recruiters.

For example, "some recruiters" in the survey want candidates to include specific years of employment dates and college graduation dates -- and while there is some disagreement within the careers industry on this practice, certainly most resume writers will disagree with one expert quoted in the article who says that 30 percent of the resume should focus on the job seeker's work history from 10-20 years ago, and 10 percent on 20+ years ago. Conventional wisdom in the resume writing field is that the resume should include the work history for the past 10-15 years, unless there are compelling reasons to go back any further in time than that.

There is some good information that should be shared with job seekers in the report.
What can resume writers do with this report?

• Quote from it. I'm always looking for research that dispels the One-Page Resume Myth. I'd prefer the raw data to use to substantiate this, but you could cite this report as another example of one in which hiring experts feel that the resume length should correspond to the accomplishments of the job seeker.
• Use it as inspiration for conducting your own research and writing your own report. You could do a survey within a specific industry you specialize in (finance, for example) or within your geographic target area.

Best of Today: 9/13/10

Here's my finds -- from this weekend and today:

Alison Doyle – Job Postings Reach Record Levels

MediaBistro Article: So What Do You Do, Seth Godin, Author and Marketing Guru?

- I didn't know Seth had sworn off traditional publishing. Interesting.

Kathy Hansen – Quintessential Resumes & Cover Letters – “Only About Half of Resumes List Core Competencies” 

Doug McIsaac -- Ways to Get Traffic to Your Website

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BONUS, courtesy of DavidGraziano: Online alarm clock (set it to remind you of appointments & phone consultations!):

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

@MikeRamer: “Whatever you are, be a good one.” Abraham Lincoln

Pharmaceutical Sales Careers

Came across this great post by Kathy Hansen's husband, Randall, and it reminded me of a book that I used to recommend to my clients looking for a pharmaceutical sales job. Unfortunately, the book is now out of print. (The last edition of it was published in 2008.)

Then, I learned about Teena Rose's book, "Cracking the Code to Pharmaceutical Sales."

Teena's book picks up where the Insider's Guide to the World of Pharmaceutical Sales left off, offering resume and job search tips for breaking into the industry, including a list of pharmaceutical companies, job banks, and forums. It also offers STAR interview tips, geared specifically towards the pharmaceutical industry.

Cracking the Code to Pharmaceutical Sales: The perfect book to help your clients and a job in pharmaceutical sales. The book author knows what she's talking about because she possesses a long history of getting jobseekers into the field! (And because she's a resume writer, you'll find the advice she gives on resume and cover letter development is consistent with industry standards. This is a great resource for your clients -- and it's just $29.95.


If, as Randall says, it's even harder than ever to break into the competitive world of pharmaceutical sales, you need to help your clients by giving them every advantage.