Film and Television

We all know what films and television are, but we tend to think that it’s all about acting. It isn’t – acting is just a part of the whole thing. If you want to get into films, you must understand all the different things that you could do or need to organize for the film as a whole to work.



A CELLULOID LIFE


“ With the advent of television, a new force is being given to the world. Who can tell what the power to extend vision will mean ultimately in the stream of human life?”
-David Sarnoff, President of the Radio Corporation of America.



The film industry, though generally unorganized, gives employment to a large number of people. The young get drawn to this industry mainly due to the glamour that surrounds movies and the people associated with its making, though the reality is quite different. The process of making a movie may be quite grueling and taxing and involves a lot of repetitive work, but the end product may give immense creative satisfaction to its makers and artists performing in it.



Are you film-maker material?

Is a career in film-making for you? Have a look at your check list.

You should be:
An extrovert- Because this field is mostly about people and how interact with them . gifted with insight, creativity and ability to express- Because film and television is a medium of communication. So, if people are not able to understand what you want to convey, them the whole idea behind the exercise is a waste.

A team player - because in truth, there’s no single person in a film or television production who is solely responsible for its success.

Fairly meticulous about details – anyone in production has got to be able to keep an eye on details, and not let anything slip.

An observer – make notes about people. If you get into this profession, you need to understand how minds work because anything anywhere can spark off an idea and can emerge as the theme for a film or a television serial or an ad for that matter.

Hard working, patient and preserving. You should have the determination to carry on and passion for what you are doing..

Familiar as much as possible with human emotions, impulses and reactions. As with any profession in the media, all the experience that you have helps. That’s because if you’re in films or TV, you’re in the business of communication, and you can only communicate effectively if you’re aware of how people react to certain things, how people do certain things, and so on.



You should not:
Give up easily. You’ll working for long hours with all kinds of people. At times, you’ll be away from home for long periods but you will have to take it in your stride.



A few other aspects of Film and Television

The Producer- is the person behind the scenes. Putting together a television show Involves a thousand details. From the script to the actors, from the sound to the props, who has final responsibility? He does. He’s the producer.

There are two kinds of producers...
The first is involved solely in finance. He will sit with the director and work out a budget and handover the cash. The other kind of producer is what’s known as an executive producer. He’ll be on the set while shooting is on, make sure everything that’s necessary for the shot is available. Handles all the involved in making the film (or television serial) and make sure everything is organized to the last detail and that the film or serial does not go over the budget.



Casting Director: This is the person who’s in constant touch with artists of different calibers and styles. He’ll arrange auditions and camera tests, work out fees dates, and in the case of extras, schedules. He, therefore, must have a huge database of actors of all types that he can draw upon for a film. So, if you want to cast Shah Rukh Khan or Salman khan in your next film, you know whom to contact.


Light Technician: The lighting guy makes sure there’s enough light for the camera to pick up movements clearly, or not so bright that it reflects off the camera lens. The responsibility is a great one, particularly because you have to know and understand the quality of light. All this is important to a film, because the film needs to be as realistic as possible. If there’s poor light outside and yet the scene demands a bright sunny morning, the light technician will set up his equipment in such a way that what you see in the final film be a bright sunny morning.


Scriptwriter: The scriptwriter is the person who has actually written out the story that will be made into a film or a serial. This involves creating the characters, creating the plot, writing the dialogues and so on. He also has to be something of a visualizer because he has to see where the story is going and how it must get there. He could even adapt a favourite book for the screen. Writing screenplays is one of the highest paying jobs a writer can do. In the 1990s, Joe Esterhaus made headlines when he earned $3 million for writing the screenplay for 'Basic Instinct'.


Sound Technician: The sound guy is a very technical person. It's his job to make sure that there are no outside sounds interfering when a film is being shot, that dialogue and music is picked up clearly by the mikes and so on. He can stop the shooting when the sound goes bad. For instance, if there's a plane flying overhead during an outdoor shoot, he will hold up shooting till the plane has vanished completely. That's because his equipment is so sensitive that it will pick up sounds that even the human ear cannot hear.


Editor: Do you think the film that you see is the same as when it is shot? If you do then you are mistaken. After a film or TV serial is shot and wrapped up, the editor takes over. He has to take the huge amount of film shot at various times and various places and, working with the director, cut it down to the required length, complete with commercial or interval breaks, in a cohesive manner, so that the story flows like it should. Since films are not shot on a continuous basis (the shooting of scene 1 is not necessarily followed by the shooting of scene 2), it's the editor's job to make sure that the continuity is maintained (that scene 1 is definitely followed by scene 2). This can be difficult, because if scene 2 is shot at a different time, say at 3 p.m. while scene 1 was shot at midnight, the editor has to use his skills to make sure the lighting stays consistent (so that scene 2 is not brighter than scene 1). The editor also gets the graphics into the film (that's the opening and closing credits, the titles and so on). As someone who hasn't been involved in its production, he's in a position to see which scenes work and which don't, where the film is losing focus, what needs to be cut out because it's extraneous to the story, and so on. So, in a way, he becomes the second director ..

Cinematographer: Have you ogled at all those terrific locations that films usually show you? A brilliant view of America or the sunset or Aamir Khan dancing ... well, the locations are beautiful but to show them just as they are or to capture them in a more beautiful way is the work of the cameraman or what the industry has named him - the Cinematographer. The qualified cinematographer is greater than a mere cameraman. He knows and understands his equipment to such an extent that he'll be able to tell the director what his cameras can achieve in making the vision of the film real. Basically, the cinematographer translates the director's vision on a film. He works with the director to create scenes where his camera picks up long shots, close-ups and so on, all of which contribute to the impact a scene can have on the audience. A lot of cinematographers have gone on to become directors.

Choreographer: Have you ever wanted to dance like Madhuri Dixit or dreamt about dancing like Hrithik Roshan on stage, moving your body in steps that are so amazing? Well, they don't dance on their own - they have a person who teaches them those amazing steps that you always copy. A choreographer is required for the myriad songs that are necessary in Indian films. Typically, the choreographer will work with director to understand the reason why there's a song at a certain point in a film (though the trend these days seems to be to scatter songs throughout the film without any reference to the storyline). The choreographer should know and understand different kinds of dance genres from all over the world, and should have trained in dance. Some of the famous Indian film choreographers you might have heard about or who may be your idols too are Saroj Khan who choreographed the famous 'Bhumro' dance in 'Mission Kashmir', which was picturized on Preity Zinta. Then Farah Khan, who has choreographed the famous 'Chaiya Chaiya' song from 'Oil Se', filmed on Shah Rukh Khan dancing on the train.

Costume Designer: A costume designer is necessary to the film or TV production because she/he understands how the characters should be dressed. For historical or period depictions, the designer has to do a great deal of research to find out how people at different levels of society were dressed at that time and create those costumes. For futuristic films, the costume designer has to figure out what kind of clothes people are likely to wear in 3005, for instance, and create those. For example, 'Lagaan' had a costume designer who had to design clothes for the villagers set around the independence period.


Set Designer: The set designer, also known as the art director, is a very vital part of production because she/he is the person who creates the actual physical surroundings of the characters. If the scene is set in a slum, the set designer will have to make a slum, if it's a fancy nightclub, the set designer will create a nightclub. When it comes to Indian films, you'll find that a lot of sets are ready-made, particularly at large studios such as Mumbai's Film City, where you stumble across temples, railway stations, log cabins and so on, that you can hire and use (which may explain why certain scenes look so familiar in different films). These days, there are films where an entire set is designed and built to give the film the right feel. For example, the whole set lor 'Devdas'was designed and built to give it that period feel of opulence

Music Director: The music director works with the director to create the music for the film/television serial. This comprises not only music for songs,
but also background music for various scenes in the film. Those amazing songs that you tap your feet to, sing along with the actors, some emotional, some wacky, some devotional, some romantic, expressing such emotions that it gives the movie a totally different feel. These days there are films like 'Kaun' and 'Bhoot', which work entirely due to their background score. Music has become an important aspect of television too. You have serials like 'Kyun ki Saans bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi' having a set of songs in between the serial, and care has to be taken for the composition of the title songs, as now they have become an important part of the serials itself. Music directors like Jatin-Lalit, Nadeem-Shravan late R.o. Burman, Anu Malik are some famous music directors




Fight Master/Stunt Director: The amazing stunts that Akshay Kumar performs or Sunil Shetty's ability to
fight with so many people single­handedly, is nothing but the efforts of the stunt director that have made it possible. The fight master or stunt director creates the fight scenes or stunts necessary. While a lot of stunts you see on screen are clearly masterpieces of editing, a lot are physically performed and the people doing them are directed by the fight master or stunt director. These days, stunts and fights are revolutionized by using special effects. 'Matrix' is a good example of this.
'Raja Harishchandra'; made by Dadasaheb Phalke and released in 1913, was the first Indian-made feature film (3700 feet long).



Remixed India

It was RD. Burman, fondly called Panchamda, who brought grooviness into Hindi film music,
ushering in the era of electronic rock, and providing Hindi film music a whole new 'happening' sound. His hip and energetic youthful compositions proved extremely popular from the late 1960s till the early 1980s, providing much of the music that defines the reputation of singers like Asha Bhonsle and Kishore Kumar.
RD. trained under Ali Akbar Khan and entered films, assisting his father S.D. Burman. He often played the mouth organ in his father's orchestra and occasionally even composed tunes CAe Meri Topi Palat ke Aa' from Funtoosh' (1956) and 'Sar Jo tera Chakraye' from 'Pyaasa' (1957)). The songs like '0 Haseena Zulfon Wali', 'Aaja Aaja Mein Hoon Pyaar Tera', '0 Mere Son a Re Sona Re', 'Deewaana Mujhsa Nahin', were unlike anything audiences had heard before and the music of 'Tee sri Manzil' was hummed across the nation.
RD. formed a formidable team with Nasir Hussain. With 'Love Story'
(1981), RD. became the first choice for teenage love stories like 'Betaab' (1983) which owe a great deal of their success to his music. RD. also occasionally sang his own songs in a unique gravelly voice like 'Duniya Mein'. from 'Apna Desh' (1972) and 'Mehbooba, Mehbooba' from 'Sholay' (1975). It is a tribute to RD.'s genius and the timelessness of his music, that most of the soundtracks today being re-mixed in the IndiPop scene are his compositions.


Have you got these with you?

Things you need to become a director:

A beard - all great filmmakers have beards-Steven Spielberg, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Shyam Benegal Farhan Akhtar (a small goatee practically invisible, but it's there). Don't worry if you can't grow a beard, you can always borrow one. Umm ... one of those chairs- You know the collapsible ones that are made out of wood and canvas with director written on the back?
A famous film- you can make the most expensive film .. or you can make the cheapest film ...
Got all of the above
Congratulations, you are now a
FILM DIRECTOR!



In the balance
What are the good and not-50-good bits about a career in film and television? Let's see ..


The good bits:
It's a highly creative process, so there's a tremendous amount of
satisfaction after a project is complete.

You're working with a large team of people, so there's no chance of being lonely.

You make a lot of friends and useful contacts.

You're part of the glamour industry, so other people will be gazing at you in awe.
Keep in mind, however:
This business works on contacts and word of mouth, so you need to be properly networked in your field. Without a network, you have little chance of succeeding.


There is no such thing as a weekend in this profession, no chance of availing of public holidays, little chance of sleep while a film or a serial is in the production stage. So kiss your friends and family goodbye.

Glamour industry or not, there are lots of myths about being in film and television, so you'll find people slotting you into a certain stereotype which can be very annoying. Competition in this field is fierce.


World Cinema
Movies from all over the world which are worth a watch
'Pather Panchali' (Bengali) - Satyajit Ray
'Oka Orie Katha' (Telugu) Mrinal Sen
Attenborough's 'Gandhi' Girish Karnard's (Kannada) 'Vamsa Vriksha' and '$amskara'
Roberto Benigni's (Italy) 'Life is Beautiful',
Shekhar Kapoor's 'Elizabeth'
Akira Kurosawa (Japan) 'Ikiru'
'Battleship potornpkin" (Russia ) Sergei M Eisenstein.



Training required to get a job


Educational qualifications
Most of the areas in film-making are highly technical and therefore require professional training. Even for artists and directors who are basically creative people requiring inherent talent, training helps in honing the skills. No such educational qualifications are required, though you might as well get yourself a basic Bachelor's degree in any Subject because that's always helpful on your CV.
However, you'll require a degree in some discipline if you want to study at the Films and Television Institute of India, Pune, which is the best-known institute for all aspects of film and TV Production. Selection for these Courses is through an aptitude test. For those interested in cinematography, you can apply to the FTII with a Bachelor's degree in any discipline, but with
maths and physics in your Plus 2. And Sound engineering and recording al
the FTII requires a B.Sc wilh physics, electronics and maths. Check out thu courses offered by international film schools like The London Film School, etc, to get an overview about the international film scenario.

Technical skills required
Currently, there are very few institutic;>ns offering technical courses in film-making, so the best thing to do is learn on the job. Try and attach yourself to a well-known and well- respected senior technician so as to learn from him.


Workplace
The workplace is chaotic and very stressful. What you see on screen as a plush and luxurious scene is just a few pieces of wood and furniture knocked together in a makeshift manner on an actual set. The sets can get incredibly hot and sweaty because of the lights, and work can also be very tedious, because a shot may sometimes be taken up to 100 times because some little thing went wrong. On the other hand, there's a great deal of camaraderie on'the sets - everyone's part of the team including the spot boys, everyone eats together and everyone gets respect for the part they're playing in bringing out the production.

Use your contacts. Often, that's the only way. That, and luck. Your patience might be rewarded. Now that television is getting more organized as an industry, you do stand a chance of landing a job, particularly if you're from the FTII or National school of Drama. "Nowadays, with the television industry growing, people are open to hiring trainees," says television producer Ravina Kohli. "But ultimately, you have to convince them that you really, really want to work in television."

Career Launcher

(My Dream Career Series)

How much money you can make in Advertising?

Money tends to be good in advertising you could start at Rs. 7,000 to Rs. 10,000 per month and thereafter, the sky’s the limit. “Sometimes, you could get paid so much that it doesn’t make sense even to you.” says Sunil mahadik. “But that depends strictly on talent.”


You can start as a trainee, no matter which aspect of advertising you work in. then you could work your way up the ladder. Client servicing people and media buyers are usually picked up right after their MBA programme, though of course, they can also apply to the head honchos of their fields in an ad agency. Art and copy people could get into creative arts and film, TV and radio production. Some of the famous ad agencies are Mudra, FCB ULKA. Leo Bernett, Lowe, Ogilvy&Mather (O&M), St.Lukes Communications, which have their branch offices all over India. You could to any of these if they are set up in your city. You will get a good amount of exposure while you are working in these as they have big clients and huge competitors.

Career Launcher

(My Dream Career Series)

Advertising

Do you wonder why ads have to interrupt serials an not the other way round? If you find the war between the pepsi and coke ads more interesting than a Michael Schumacher race, then this is the career for you.


A world of Ideas:

Advertising is essential a part of that industry which involves communication of information and ideas by using various mediums like news papers, magazines, poster, web sites, commercial on tv’s, hoardings, exhibitions, sales promotion campaigns and demonstrations. Advertising serves three basic purposes: first is sales promotion, i.e.to persuade people to buy a particular product or service or to attend an event, second is image building of a company or an organization or an event, and the third is to bring about awareness of a particular scheme or developmental programme taken up by the government or developmental agency for the welfare of people.

Any big advertising agency would surprise a number of operational departments like client servicing, creative department, media department, and production department. Work differs in each department an so do the desired personal working in these departments. Like, a person in creative department of an advertising firm needs to be original and creative and have the ability to create campaigns(an organized programme of ad’s) suitable to the requirements. Similarly, those in client servicing department should be adept in negotiating and therefore have excellent communication and numerical skills.


Is a career in advertising for you? Have a look at our check list.

You should:
· Ideate all the time, be full of ideas; because you never know what your client will approve of.
· Be able to look at the world from various angels; as you never know what can spark off an idea for an ad you might be working on.
· Be an effective communicator, since advertising is all about communication.
· Be a team player; as any piece of advertising is never yours alone. It’s agroup of people who work together to create that single piece of communication.
· “Be a good reader and an avid film watcher,” says Rupa Gulab, who’s been a copywriter for more than 18 years. “ because books and films teach you a lot of things that you may never have experienced in your life about places, situations, relation ships, etc. music appreciation is also very important because, remember, you’ll be working on films, jingles, and radio.”
· Have the ability to cope in a competitive environment.
· Be sensitive towards consumer behaviour and current trends.


You should not:
· Have a closed mind. Be open to everything around you . you never know what can inspire you at the last moment.
· Stick to the tried and tested all the time. Try to think out of the box. People respond to weird ideas more than to the ones already done before.
· Be sensitive to rejection because your client may not like a lot of your ideas. And as far as advertising goes: the client is god.

Career Luancher

(My Dream Career Series)

11 Things NOT to Do the First Week on Your New Job

According to Daniel Goleman, author of "Emotional Intelligence", the hardest thing kids must do is break into an already-formed play group.

In adult life, that's starting a new job.

We are intensely territorial at heart. Our reptilian brains are keyed to be suspicious of "intruders," and to fear what we don't know. Your first few days in a new job, you're being scrutinized under a microscope and are only tentatively welcome. Use your Emotional Intelligence to survive the first 100 hours! Here are 11 things NOT to do.

1. Don't FORGET PEOPLE'S NAMES.

If you do nothing else, remember people's names. When introduced, wait expectantly for a cue. If they stick out their hand, shake it. if they don't, just smile and say the usual.

2. Don't MOVE IN TOO FAST.

Take it easy bringing your "things" to the office. Save the photos and personal items for a while. Place your yogurt discretely at the back of the refrigerator. Don't grab any old cup from the coffee room, or start making the coffee until you see how it's done. It's a reptilian, territorial thing. You're moving into THEIR turf.

3. Don't TALK TOO MUCH, REVEAL TOO MUCH, OR EXPRESS UNNECESSARY FEELINGS OR OPINIONS.

Keep your conversation light, neutral, and just enough to be friendly. Sure as you get loose, you'll step on someone's toes. You don't know yet who just got divorced, who's married to an Italian, and who's opposed to daycare. As soon as you say, "Well personally I hate..." the next person who comes in will have that, do that, like that, or live there.

Use "neutral" language and tone of voice, like the anchor people do. Avoid any slang or colloquialisms in this new country. The King's English: what you learned in school.

4. Don't ASSUME ANYTHING.

Maybe everyone leaves at 5:31 on the dot; maybe they don't. Keep a low profile and pay attention to what others are doing. You're moving into an established culture and they have a set way of doings things whether they're mindful of it or not. You want to fit in, not stand out. Remember the saying, "When in Rome, do as the Romans do."

5. Don't OVERDO IT. THAT THREATENS PEOPLE.

Save the designer stuff and status symbols. Appearing "better than," in any way, will backfire on you later. If you drive a brand new expensive something or other, park at the back of the lot, and don't advertise it. If you just got back from a barefoot cruise, or just bought a new home, save it for later. You don't know the circumstances of those around you. The person you're telling may have just filed bankruptcy.

And speaking of parking ... one first day on a job, with uncanny bad form, I actually managed to park in the boss' unmarked, but definitely claimed, parking place. "How lucky," I thought. "I can park right in front of the door."

6. Don't VOLUNTEER.

They don't trust you yet. "Get" that. Don't volunteer to make the coffee or make the nightly run to FedEx. You could poison them. You might never make it to the FedEx office. (I am not kidding.)

7. Don't MAKE IT TOO HARD, OR TOO EASY.

Pace your initial tasks. If you start out blazing, you'll be held to that pace forever, or you may threaten others who do what you do. If you go too slow, you might not be there long. It's a marathon, not a sprint.

8. Don't SAY 'NO'.

If you're asked to join them for lunch, pitch in for a baby shower gift, "grab the phone," or do a task for someone, say "yes." If something goes against the grain (and there's always one person in an office who tries to make life hell for the new guy it seems), file it for later. First you need to find out how disputes are handled.

The good manager, the one with the high EQ who knows people, and knows HER people, will tell you, "If so-and-so gives you any trouble, just be nice. Then come tell me and I'll take care of it."

The inept manager won't know, or isn't willing to deal with it, and you'll have to figure it out for yourself. How do you do this? By having your antennae out. Observe and process.

EXCEPTION: Occasionally in an office you're ignored for the first few weeks, except by the loser, who will ask you to join him or her for lunch, trying to build an alliance. In that case, you come up with an excuse ("Sorry, gotta run to the bank at noon.")

9. Don't CRITIQUE, CRITICIZE, or APPEAR TO BE COMPLAINING.

You'll notice things that could be done differently and better, but if you speak at this point it will sound like complaining or criticizing. If it's too hot or too cold, for instance, wait it out. The "new kid on the block" isn't entitled to anything. You can straighten the place out later.

10. Don't VIOLATE PACK BEHAVIOR.

You watch the Discovery Channel, don’t you? Well, picture the troop of monkeys, i.e., if you’re not the alpha male, you’re just one of the pack, so start grinning and grooming the others.

11. Don’t UNDERESTIMATE THE EFFECT OF INITIAL CONDITIONS.

In physics it’s called “sensitive initial conditions.” It means the way “it” (any system) begins makes a huge and permanent difference. Think of what you say and do as being broadcast with a loudspeaker into a cavern which will reverberate and echo for months. There’s not such thing as an “innocent comment” when you’re new, and if you show up in a bright print dress when everyone else is in neutral and pants, you’ll reinvent the term “sticking out like a sore thumb.”

The onus (hard work) is on you. They will be adjusting to you. You must adapt to them, a far stronger concept. When in doubt, get coaching! You want to get off to a good start.

Susan Dunn

http://career.preferredconsumer.com

Succeeding in the Music Industry

Many people have the talent, some have more than others do, but being successful in the music industry is based on more than just talent. To be successful in the music business, sometimes it feels as though the stars have to align. That's partially true; it's difficult to sell that record if you're not in the right place at the right time.

However, being truly successful in the industry isn't just about getting that deal. Now more than ever, the industry has had a turn in bands that know how to market themselves or have some prior knowledge of the marketing industry. Bands can become a success in a fairly reasonable period-some more than others can-if they have a solid knowledge base of viral marketing.

Viral Marketing is where you can use existing networks to build branding awareness and through a self-replicating viral processes. This process mimics a computer virus in the way it's supposed to spread. Some online marketing campaigns for bands will tease the music fan with a sample of the music and it's replicable in the fact that many people can upload them to their page and their friends see it and email and share with their friends and so on and so forth.
This method of campaign is at a relatively low cost your band and can have a huge impact on the status of your record before it hits the stands. Viral marketing has never been so easy and to become a success in today's competitive music industry it's vital to get have any advantage you possibly can. It can make the difference in a flop of a record and a hit record. It makes sense that your record will sell the more people have heard it and want to buy it.

Viral marketing can even contribute to you having more airtime on the radio. Don't discount the fact that many Disc Jockeys are music fans and are looking for new talent to play on their show. So, you're interesting in becoming a success, is viral marketing for you? Yes, it is.

Record companies are like any other company in the fact that they have a simple advertising budget, and it will depend on what they want to invest in you as an artist to your advertising budget. You can't rely on them solely for your marketing. To become a success in the music industry, you really ought to try viral marketing.

If you're an artist, undiscovered, it can even help you be discovered and get that record deal. What are you waiting for? With so many tools available at your fingertips, get started on that marketing campaign today!

Jaci Rae

www.universitydistanceeducation.info

Job Reference FAQ's

Question: What are references good for? Who is a good or bad reference? What are these people asked? Are they really contacted by employers? What if the employer can't reach them? Why is it bad to lie on a resume? Are the past employers contacted? What are they asked? Can an employer find out about a person through a totally different source? How is a new employee checked out by a company? What does the company do when it receives a resume? Do they bother if they see that the person was in a foreign country for a few years?

Answer: Lots of questions there -- let's try a few. First off, a reference gives you a chance to get your cheering squad in order, and so you want to choose people who are pretty smart and articulate and who can "sell" the prospective employer on your good qualities. It goes without saying that you need to choose folks who like you. Take your reference list to the interview with you, and make sure that you have the correct name, address, title, and phone number for each person on it. Many potential employers will want to talk with your last supervisor, so if that person is not on your list, they'll want to know why. They might indeed call your last employer without your permission, and they are also free to gather information about you in any way they can. Some employers now ask permission to look up your credit rating and debt history, on the assumption that if you can't handle your personal finances well, then you might make a mess of your work with them.
Why not lie on a resume? Because people find out -- and then you get fired because they figure you're not trustworthy. As for having been out of the country, it depends on what you were doing and where you were, for fairly obvious reasons. The bottom line of all of this is that your past does follow you, and the fabrications you try to pass off as truth almost always come to light eventually.

Barbara Reinhold

http://midcareer.monster.com

How Many Pages Should Your Resume Be?

Once upon a time, someone came up with a "rule" that resumes should not exceed one page. No one really knows who came up with the rule, but a great many job-seekers still seem to live in fear of this supposed edict.
The fact is that very few "rules" exist today in the world of resume writing. Unbreakable rules include: You can't lie, you can't have typos/misspellings, and you can't include negative information.
Just about every other rule you've ever heard about resumes, however, is breakable, including rules about how many pages your resume should comprise.
Times have changed, after all, as Grant Cooper, president of Strategic Resumes, notes in the Resume Critique Writer software that he authored. "Brief resumes are simply no longer effective in today's increasingly competitive job market," he said. "The advice that 'They only want to see one-page resumes,' is perhaps the single most outdated and incorrect statement job-seekers hear today."
But if you've come to this article looking for the definitive word on how long a resume should be, you'll probably be disappointed. We informally surveyed experts -- members of Career Masters Institute and the Professional Resume Writers and Research Association -- about resume length. And their consensus:
It depends.
This situational view of resume length is pervasive among resume experts. The comments of Marnie McCown-Guard of Profile Career Services are typical: "I have written one-and-half-page resumes for senior-level people with 20+ years of experience, and I have written a three-page resume for a recent college graduate."
Virtually every expert in our research said each individual situation dictates resume length. From their expertise, however, we developed some guidelines to help you determine the right length for you.
It should be noted that length is primarily an issue that pertains to the traditional, formatted, "print" version of your resume. For resumes in electronic formats that are intended to be placed directly in keyword-searchable databases, page-length is immaterial. So this article's guidelines apply either in situations where your formatted resume is screened by human eyes without having been placed into a keyword-searchable database or after a keyword search has narrowed the field of applicants.
The guidelines:
Resumes for new grads and entry-level job-seekers are often, but not always, one page.
Most college career-placement centers tell students to limit their resumes to one page, notes resume writer Sharon Pierce-Williams, 75 percent of whose business is writing for the college population. Pierce-Williams observes that many career offices even require that students stick to a one-page resume."
Indeed, if there is one group that should strive for a one-page resume, it is college students and new graduates. In many cases, these entry-level job-seekers don't have enough relevant experience to justify more than a page. Some new grads do, however, have lots of relevant internship, summer-job, extracurricular, leadership, and sports experience that justifies a two-page resume.
Pierce-Williams takes an unusual approach to new-grad resumes. "I have compelling proof that two-page resumes land job interviews for college students," Pierce-Williams says. "Length depends on extra-curricular involvement and leadership. It takes a certain 'go-getter'-type student for a two-page resume."
Pierce-Williams designs college-student resumes in which page one "often looks like a 'regular' resume, but page two is entitled 'Key Leadership and Project Management' or simply 'Key Leadership.'" Pierce-Williams says she uses this page-two section to list three to four projects in which the student made a difference in an association or sorority/fraternity.
If you fall into the college-student/entry-level/new-grad group and are tempted to go to two pages, just be sure that you have the relevant material to justify a second page.
A two-page resume may be the best bet for the vast majority of job-seekers who are above entry-level but below the executive level.
"Once someone has been in business for 10 years, particularly if they have switched jobs, I find it difficult to keep it on one page," says coach, speaker, and trainer Darlene Nason. "I think a two-page resume is a good average."
In his Resume Critique Writer software, Strategic Resumes' Cooper offers this view of the growing acceptance of the two-page resume: "The resume has now taken the place of the initial interview, and only those with significant qualifications and strong resumes are even invited to interview. As a result, more, not less, information is now needed on the resume, and the past insistence on short resumes has now given way to more in-depth, two-page resumes for most professional positions," Cooper writes "True, it does take an additional minute or less for an HR professional to review the second page of a resume but that extra minute is seen as far more helpful than scheduling a questionable candidate for a personal interview."
One-page resumes have typically been expected at job fairs, but that tradition seems to be falling by the wayside.
"Even the job fairs that claim to accept only one-page resumes seem to be more and more accepting of well-crafted two-page resumes," says Cooper, "and the candidates that present them at those events often stand out above the crowd with simplistic or crammed one-page resumes."
Even among employers, there's no consensus on preferred resume length.
Surveys show that employers who prefer a one-page resume are in the minority, and the situational view is prevalent, as writer Susan Britton Whitcomb discovered while researching her popular book, Resume Magic (JIST Works).
"I conducted a survey of HR managers from some of the Top 100 Companies to Work for in America (from the book of the same name by Levering and Moskowitz)," Whitcomb relates. "One survey question asked their opinions as to the length of a resume." The results revealed that 12 percent of respondents felt resumes should be "one-page, never longer;" 67 percent felt resumes should be "kept to one or two pages;" and 21 percent responded "as long as needed to convey the applicant's qualifications."
Resume writer Tracy Laswell Williams found similar results in her December 1999 survey of 40 HR managers and recruiters in Colorado. Twenty percent of Williams' respondents said a resume should be one page; 20 percent said two pages; and a whopping 60 percent said resume length "depends on the level of the position."

Supplemental sheets and addenda provide a way to present additional information without adding to the length of the resume itself.
"A suite of addenda," says Deborah Wile Dib, president of Advantage Resumes of New York, can be "a strategic way to mention presentations, awards, published works, technical skills, extensive education, and expanded success studies." Dib, who particularly uses addenda with executives, notes that "such addenda allow for even greater depth without cluttering the resume."
Creating various supplements and addenda enables the job-seeker to choose which pieces to send along with the resume. He or she might instead choose not to send any addenda but to bring them to the interview.
No matter what the length, the resume must capture attention on the first page, preferably the first third of the first page.
Given that employers screen resumes for between 2.5 and 20 seconds, a resume must quickly capture the reader's interest. "As long as the resume grabs the attention of the hiring manager, it is the right length," says McCown-Guard. "Whatever the length of the resume, the critical factor is to make absolutely certain that your reader's interest is piqued within the first half of the first page," cautions Laurie J. Smith, president of Creative Keystrokes Executive Resume Service.
Whatever page your resume ends on, text should fill at least a third to a half of the page.
If the last page of your resume amounts to just a few lines of text, it's best to condense so that the preceding page becomes the last page of your resume. Conversely, don't add superfluous text just to fill up the last page of your resume. "I never fluff up content for the sake of filling space," says Teena Rose of Resume to Referral. "Irrelevancies can dilute the overall effectiveness of the resume." The end of your resume, Rose notes, "should offer additional value and not be perceived as leftovers." [Editor's note: See more of Rose's resume advice in the article, New Grads Must Dig Deeper to Beef Up Skimpy Resumes.]
Don't sacrifice your resume's readability to make it conform to any arbitrary "rules" about resume length.
It's always pitiful when we have to whip out the magnifying class to read the tiny 8- or 9-point type on the resume of a job-seeker who has gone to absurd lengths to limit his or her resume to a certain number of pages. Don't discard readable type (we suggest no smaller than 10.5 point; 11 to 11.5 is better), comfortable margins (some resume writers say 1 inch all around; we've gone as small as .7"), space between lines, white space, and a pleasing, eye-attracting layout just to cram your resume onto X number of pages. "It's less taxing and time-consuming to read one and a half or two well-formatted pages than one page where everything's squished together," observes Gail Taylor of A Hire Power.
"Those resumes that do contain detailed information, but are literally 'crammed' into one page, are now frowned upon," says Cooper in his Resume Critique Writer software. "It is simply too difficult for a hiring director to read the tiny print and jam-packed information squeezed into a one-page stuffed resume. Companies that once insisted on one-page resumes are perfectly happy with a clearly-written, concise, and well-formatted two-page resume that is easy to read, yet has the detailed information they now need."
Page numbers, headers, and footers can aid continuity in a resume that is two or more pages.
All resume pages beyond page one need to be numbered. Some job-seekers choose a "page 2 of 3" model. "If you decide to go with two or more pages, be sure to include your name and appropriate page number at the top," suggests Ann Baehr of Best Resumes. "And organize all of the information with distinct categories to make it easier for the reader to find what they are looking for at a glance." Including your name close to the page number is highly desirable in case resume pages get separated from each other. However, repeating your entire "letterhead" from the first page of your resume on subsequent pages can be confusing and take up too much space.
Career-management coach Don Orlando takes a novel approach to a footer designed to entice the employer to keep reading the resume: "At the bottom of my multi-page resumes, there is a [customized] footer that reads something like this: 'More indicators of performance General Motors can use now. . .'"
It's OK for a resume section, such as your experience, to straddle two pages of your resume, but avoid splitting the description of a given job over two pages. Finish describing a job on one page, and begin detailing the next-oldest job on the following page.
For executives at the highest levels (senior management, executive VP, and "C-level" positions such as CEO, CIO, CTO, COO) even two pages is probably not enough; three, four, or more pages may be required.
"At executive levels, the resume must be long enough to deliver the extensive information that decision-makers need to make an initial assessment of suitability for the position/interview (typically a director-level to C-level job)," Dib asserts.
Experts like Dib who specialize in executive resumes cite several reasons for multi-page resumes at the top echelons:
"Decision-makers have a much larger scope of need than just skill sets or even accomplishments," says Dib. "They need to see the 'intangibles' that make a great leader, including ... vision, proven long-term leadership, agility and flexibility to proactively meet the lightening-fast changes in the marketplace, well-honed change-management skills, thought leadership, demonstrated ethics and integrity, the guts/ability to make and implement tough decisions, and even a dash of charisma. This cluster of tangible and intangible skills cannot reach critical mass in a one-page resume or even in a two-page resume."
Adds Roberta Gamza of Career Ink, "The hiring company will be making a huge investment and risking quite a bit on a candidate, so they need to know much more about the candidate than can fit on two pages. A chief executive resume can go to three, four, or more pages, or may have a portfolio of several documents."
It's just too risky to make a blunder in hiring a top executive, says Smith. "In today's unforgiving economy and cutthroat markets, a mistake in hiring of top-level leadership can spell doom for a company. To make an informed hiring decision, a greater level of detail on a candidate's experience, education, management style, problem-solving skills, and delivered results is critical."
Further, Smith points to the negative way a senior-level job-seeker may be perceived if his or her resume is not a multi-pager: "I have spoken with multiple recruiters over the years who have remarked that when they receive a one- or two-page resume from a high-level candidate, the immediate question they have is: 'What's the matter with this candidate and why don't they have more to tell me?' To adequately present a senior executive's qualifications commonly requires a three- to four-page, sometimes even a five-page presentation."
Smith also observes a lack of success in landing interviews among execs with puny resumes. "As a specialist in executive resume writing, I occasionally encounter an executive who is under the mistaken impression that he or she needs to restrict his or her resume presentation to one or maximum two pages. Typically, this executive has been looking for quite some time with no results."

Katharine Hansen, CCM, CECC

www.careerindustry.com

Fact or Opinion?

"You ain't going nowhere, son. You ought to go back to drivin' a truck." What if Elvis believed this Grand Ole Opry manager's critique after his l954 performance? Or the Beatles listened in 1962 when Decca Recording Company responded, "We don't like their sound. Groups of guitars are on the way out."What if Rudyard Kipling quit writing when the San Francisco Examiner told him, "I'm sorry, but you just don't know how to use the English language." Or as a struggling artist, Walt Disney took seriously the words of a prospective employer to "try another line of work" because he "didn't have any creative, original ideas."What if ten year old Albert Einstein believed his teacher's words, "you will never amount to much." Or opera star, Enrico Caruso, gave up singing after his first vocal teacher counseled, "your voice sounds like wind whistling through a window."Thankfully, they didn't believe what they were told. But many of us do. We accept someone else's opinion as our fact. We allow others to determine what we believe about ourselves, what we aspire to achieve, what we dream and what we become. Others people's limiting beliefs about us become our own as we give them power over our life.But, Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen didn't. Their "Chicken Soup for the Soul" series, now with 65 titles, has sold more than 80 million copies in 27 languages. Not bad for an anthology rejected by 33 major publishing houses in the first month, receiving more than 140 total rejections before their agent gave it back to them saying "I can't sell this book." Only by going booth to booth and pitching their vision to editors at a booksellers' convention did they finally find a small publisher who said yes.Their passion about their work and its message kept them going. Passion kept Disney and Einstein and Kipling going, too. That's because passion is the most powerful self-motivator any of us can have. It's what drives us to use our talents and abilities. It's the one criteria I've found most helpful when selecting people in my twenty years of management. You can teach most skills. But you can't teach passion.People who are winning at working believe in themselves and their dreams. They're not likely to view setbacks as failures, roadblocks as dead-ends, or negative critique as fatal. It's their passion that keeps them going when others give up. It's their passion that provides strength of purpose, resilience, persistence and the confidence to keep trying. It's their passion that helps them differentiate between opinion and fact about who they are and what they can do with their life. It's their passion that guides them.Like Babe Ruth said, "It's hard to beat a person who never gives up." When you are passionate about your work, your dreams and your life, you don't give up.

By: Nan S. Russell

www.jobbankusa.com

The Relationship Between Motivation and Talent

Hydrogen and oxygen are distinctly different elements, but sometimes they combine to form water. Something similar is true for motivation and talent.Motivation is the desire to do something. Talent is what you do well naturally. They can exist independently, but when they combine, they create something special. They create motivated talents.People often are naturally good at something (talented), but it just doesn’t turn them on. For example, Heather is good with numbers, but she doesn’t go out of her way to find tasks calling for that talent. Most people have such talents. But then there are those talents that we really enjoy using. These are the motivated talents, and this is where the magic is.We use motivated talents every chance we get. Most of the time we don’t even think about it. For example, Larry has a motivated talent for conversation, and he naturally engages both friends and strangers in dialog. He doesn’t consciously determine to do so; it just happens. It’s natural and unforced. He enjoys it, and he’s good at it. That’s the hallmark of a motivated talent.Motivated talents tend to be irrepressible. They find expression. In fact, if you’ve ever tried to stifle a motivated talent (either yours or someone else’s) it probably felt like you were trying to hold two dozen ping pong balls under water at the same time. Motivated talents pop out, even if no one else is asking for them. And doesn’t that make sense? After all, it’s what we do well AND enjoy.Well then, wouldn’t the ideal job be one where you can use your motivated talents daily and get paid for it? Absolutely! But more on that later.What are your motivated talents? Shouldn’t your boss know? You can let him/her know by giving them a copy of you own career assessment.Get a job you love and never work a day in your life.

By: Henry Neils

www.jobbankusa.com

The Problem of Seeing Yourself Clearly

Karen was only half thinking of how her hair looked as she used her comb to meticulously sculpt her new haircut. Her mind was on the Manager of the Year award she was about to accept. As she re-applied her lipstick she ran through her acceptance speech in her mind. Karen stepped back from the mirror to admire her new navy blue suit. Stunning. She looked great, felt terrific, and marched out of the ladies room with an unmistakable glow. As she waited offstage she was more excited than nervous. In a few moments she would be honored in front of 2,000 employees. When she got her cue, she strode confidently across the huge stage toward the company president, trailing two feet of toilet paper from her left heel.All of us have trouble seeing ourselves accurately. We often need an objective source to give us honest feedback. Karen sure could have used it!How about you? How accurately do you see yourself in terms of the job market? Can you list your top five motivations? How about your key talents?Research shows that we only see ourselves accurately about half of the time. When it comes to what makes you tick, it takes an unbiased source that knows what to look for to give you an accurate picture of yourself. Career assessments are such a source. They can identify what motivates you, and what doesn’t. You can use that knowledge to help you understand why your present job is not satisfying, and what types of job would be.Don’t strut upon the stage of work without objective feedback about your strengths and weaknesses. Who knows, you might be the next Manager of the Year?

By: Henry Neils

www.jobbankusa.com

Reducing Stress

You’ve seen bungees. They’re those stretchy devices with hooks on each end, used to secure tarps to trailers, or to hold your trunk lid down while you transport a large box. If you hold a bungee by both ends and pull, you can stretch it. To keep it stretched can require some significant energy, because the bungee is trying to snap back to its original length.It’s the same with your top motivations. You can stretch yourself by working outside of your motivated strengths for a while, but you will want to snap back the first chance you get. For instance, let’s say your Career Assessment shows that you have a highly motivated trait called “Independent, self-planned, self-performed activity,” and you are required to work on a team most of the day. It will take a lot of energy for you to stretch yourself beyond the way you are naturally wired. It will be extraordinarily draining to be on a team several hours a day, day after day. Everything in you will want to snap back to your original shape.Right-handers don’t suddenly wake up left-handed. People who have a strong motivation for “Intuition, Creativity” don’t stop being insightful and creative. Your motivations and strengths are a stable foundation you can build on.Career Assessments such have helped a lot of people understand why they are so stressed at work. Armed with that knowledge, they went on to find jobs better aligned with their strengths. You can do the same by getting your personalized MAPP, the foremost assessment for identifying your strengths. Take a Career assessment and take the first step to alleviating work-related stress.

By: Henry Neils
www.jobbankusa.com

5 Quick Resume Tips

Here are five quick tips to help you write a resume that gets noticed.

1. Remove sentences that begin "Responsibilities included…" That works for a job description, but not a resume. Instead, list accomplishments. People who read resumes want to know what you've done.
   
2. When writing accomplishments, quantify them whenever possible. For example, "Increased sales 15%." "…resulting in savings of $40,000." "…doubling the number of customers."
   
3. If you've had at least one job in your chosen field after graduation, list your education after your work experience.
   
4. Tailor your resume to fit the job you want. If you are responding to an ad, and you have six of the eight key requirements, be sure your resume says so. Don't make the reader infer how competent you are. Companies generally spend less than one minute reading your resume during the first screening.
   
5. Make sure there are no typos or improper uses of words. One of the top traits that hiring managers want is excellent communication skills. Since spell checkers don't catch everything, be sure to have someone else proofread your resume.

If you want to improve the odds that you'll land a job you'll really love, make sure your resume reflects your strongest motivations and talents. A career assessment can be an enormous help. Not only does an assessment identify what truly motivates you, it gives you words to help you explain it. Weave those words into your resume so that it accurately represents your potential.For example, your assessment may show that you are "Methodical and thorough in routine procedures." Use those words, link them to a specific accomplishment and you've just strengthened your resume. Try it with all of the traits where you score your highest levels of motivation. These phrases will stand out to hiring managers who value these traits.

By: Henry Neils

www.jobbankusa.com