Need Resume Templates / Samples?

Check out these 2 links for resume samples / templates. Some are definitely eye-catching, which does help differentiate in the clutter of resumes the recruiter might receive.

Here and here.

As bonus, here's one that's really... extravagant and another that you can wear.

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Need help with Resumes? Find some at Scribd.

Jim Stroud has a 2 parts article on how to "mine" resumes from Scribd.com, the User Generated Content - Online document repository site.

Scribd is like a YouTube for documents. on any given month, 17 million people research Scribd for documents of all types. Since Scribd launched in March 2007, it has become one of the top 300 websites on the Internet, receiving over 20 million monthly visitors. It has also accumulated over 17 billion words in its library, making it five times the size of Wikipedia!!!

More after the jump - part 1 and part 2.

Article and Image Source TheRecruitersLounge.com.
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1 in 3 workers unsure about career future

AsiaOne reports that valued workers feel they have stake in company.

It is a sad fact that one in three Singapore workers is uncertain about his career (my paper, July 31).

Many have not received vocational guidance after completing their studies, and they just grab any job opportunity which comes their way.

Some are now unhappy and discontented with their work, after they realise that their qualifications are not relevant to their jobs.

Career uncertainty can adversely affect a worker's job performance, and it is imperative for managers to help employees chart their career paths.

It would be beneficial for a company to deploy its employees to different sections so that they will learn new skills, apart from gaining a better insight into the organisation?s operations.

Training and retraining as well as job-redesign can enhance an employee's loyalty to the company and his job satisfaction, thus minimising staff turnover.

I agree that one essential aspect of good management is understanding the aspirations and strengths of employees. They need guidance as to how they can contribute more to the organisation and what the future holds for them.

A worker who knows that his boss values his contribution will be an asset to the company, because such a worker believes that he has a stake in the business.

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Did you regret your choice of study?

More than half of workers in S'pore regret choice of study, the Straits Times reported.

A global recruitment company has found that more than half of workers in Singapore regret what they chose to study back in school, polytechnic or university.

One in three is also uncertain about their ultimate career choice, according to an online survey by Kelly Services. It was released on Wednesday.

The findings are distilled from the answers given by more than 2,000 people who had sought Kelly Services help to land a job. They form part of it global survey of 115,000 people by its offices in 33 countries.

People of all age groups, educational levels and professions took part and in Singapore, most were in business, engineering, financial services and information technology.

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Top 20 recession-proof jobs

With the US economy in upheaval and its effects slowly influencing hiring strategies in Asia, here are some areas where you may want to polish your job skills.

If you want to stay employed in IT amid the economic uncertainty, look for jobs in software design and development, networking and systems administration, software implementation analysis, testing and quality assurance, database administration and general IT management with cutting-edge mobile IT and Web 2.0 skills.

ComputerWorld article noted that in the top 20 recession proof jobs list, 4 are IT related. They are:

• Software design/development (No. 4)
  
  
• Networking/systems administration (No. 10)
  
  
• Database administration (No. 18)
  
  
• Software implementation analyst (No. 19)
  
  
• Testing/quality assurance (No. 20).

"That general category of IT popped through as the biggest winner" at this time, said Barry Lawrence, a JobFox.com spokesman. "We know our recruiters are dying to get people with those skills. Everybody is trying to improve the ways they do business, to streamline in a tough economy," so companies are seeking workers with these qualifications.

Image Source Payscale.com.
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IT jobs will drop in 2009 - Goldman Sachs & Co. Study

IT staff jobs are at increasing risk -- both for contractors and in-house workers -- according to a survey of top CIOs by Goldman Sachs & Co. released last week. Global services companies will also feel the pinch because of the slowing economy.

ComputerWorld article reports that the Goldman Sachs & Co. regards the survey as "an early warning flag" for service providers' 2009 bookings of new projects.

These intended cutbacks are a change from last fall. When the managers were asked in October which area of IT service delivery resources they would cut for application-related development or maintenance work, the answer was 0% for in-house employees.

However, with a declining economy, 8% of respondents in a February survey said in-house IT programming staffers would be cut. In April, 15% of respondents said in-house staffers would be cut. That dropped to 11% in the June survey (the most recent).

But contract employees fare much worse. In the survey, 48% of the respondents said that those staffers would be cut. And 30% of the responders said on-site third-party service provider staffers would also be cut for application-related development or maintenance work. 12% of the managers said they would cut employees from offshore third-party service providers.

Image Source lkitconsulting.com.
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Singapore creating innovative new education plan

Newsweek's recent article on Singapore's education system explored the government's new plan to incorporate more of a creativity and technology focus in education. Though Singaporeans are admired world-wide for their work ethic and strong educational emphasis, the traditional structure of S'pore's system may prevent growth in new industries like biotechnology or entertainment unless new steps are considered.

Singapore has notoriously high university entrance standards that may need to be relaxed in order to attract a broader variety of students. It's historically been so difficult to get into good schools that students have had to spend an enormous amount of time studying versus innovating, creating new businesses or engaging in the arts. Some of the city/state's traditional values will have to become more relaxed to encourage an entrepreneurial mindset among young people, encouraging more rebellious, creative thinking while still maintaining S'pore's strong ethical values.

Singapore's Education Minister recently spoke about some of the upcoming reforms in the university system and the government's desire to stay competitive when luring foreign students or trying to retain it's own citizens. S'pore's universities are in the top 100 in the world so maintaining this standard will be imperative. It is encouraging to see that the government realises that they need to maintain open thinking and groom innovative ideas to maintain Singapore's financial growth and world status in the years to come.

Image source: E-architect.com.uk

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Gallup offers visionary education program

The Gallup organization has developed an educational program called StrengthsQuest to help identify and foster student's strengths versus shoring up their weaknesses. The program, and the accompanying book, provide resources for educators including seminars, curriculum outlines, guidebooks and Web forums.

Based on recent findings in the Clifton StrengthsFinder and Positive Psychology research, the program is part of a new wave of strengths based education and career counseling that includes Marcus Buckingham's recent books such as Now Discover Your Strengths.

The curriculum is currently in use at many schools including Texas Tech where survey information from 2007 and 2008 showed that most students agreed that the program was helpful in the following ways:

• making educational decisions based on strengths



• increasing confidence



• recognizing self-identity



• improving self-awareness



• using strengths in career search



• understanding personal strengths

Image source BMC Academy
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Singapore public servants are doing alright

Being a public servant in Singapore has some advantages. Civil servants do not compete against foreign talent, some are guaranteed at least five years of job security, and their salaries are less likely to be performance based, per a parliamentary speech by Low Thia Khiang on April 9, 2007. Singapore has some of the highest paid civl servants in the world according to a 2005 report by the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations. There is debate as to whether these higher salaries ensure a better quality of life for Singapore, but it still makes a career as a public servant a great career choice for many.

Starting salaries for civil servants in areas like management, education, accounting, engineering and more saw increases of 7-14% annually (which does not include bonuses) in 2007 based on whether they graduated with Good Honours or an iPass degree. Thus, the starting salary for someone in the Education sector with Good Honours jumped from S$2560 to S$2820 that year.

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Students on work attachments disappointed...

Heidi Khoo reports in The Electric New Paper that middle-class students from countries like Indonesia and the Phillipines who were lured by six month work attachments in Singapore are finding disappointing situations upon arrival. The work positions are often sales clerks or waitstaff, not the higher level roles they were led to expect. Additionally, living situations in the dormitories are often unbelievably crowded.

Recruiters are misleading students and luring them without making living conditions clear. Some students are living in dorms crammed with 11 bunk beds that are riddled with bed bugs. Additionally some of the students are working an incredible number of hours. One female student interviewed in the piece is working 60 hour weeks. According to the article, recruiting agents were unable to find affordable, better accomodations for the students and many would be sent back.

Image courtesy of The New Paper

80% of Poly nursing students get jobs before graduation

courtesy Channel NewsAsia

Like other developed nations around the world, Singapore is facing a severe nursing shortage. This shortage is caused primarily by an aging population and because nurses comprise the largest number of healthcare workers, according to The Singapore Nursing Journal. Additionally, nurses are called upon to learn new, high-tech methods making the role increasingly challenging.

This represents great opportunities for new nursing graduates, with 80% of Ngee Ann Polytechnics nursing graduates securing jobs before they've graduated. These graduates are taking part in a new degree program started in 2005 to combat the nursing shortage.

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50% of the Singapore Student Population Could Be Putting Their Identities And Friends At Risk

Photo courtesy Dreamstime.

From Singapore Hardware Zone:

Social network security is of current concern to parents and educators and new information from a Singapore poll is adding to the reasons why. "Almost half of the students between the ages of 17 to 25 polled in Singapore are revealing their full contact details" on social networking sites and "30% were adding people they do not know as 'friends'."

Norton Symantec and Hewlett Packard conducted the online poll of 120 students which revealed, among other things, that students are spending approximately 6 hours a day on the Internet and 92% have registered on at least one social networking site (such as MySpace or Facebook).

Phishing attacks are common via the Web and social networking sites make it easier to lure private information from younger users, making such attacks (involving fraud and identify theft) more common. It is important to educate young people on the risks to both their technology, financial and educational information utilizing a security software, but also the risks to their physical selves when revealing their location or contact information.

SMU Graduates - 75% found jobs before graduation

According to SMU's survey of 2007 graduates, 69 out of 618 ex-students landed with jobs which paid between S$4000 to S$10,000.

The average starting salary rose 6.7% to S$3040 and 3/4 of them found jobs BEFORE graduation with 1/4 securing jobs within 6 months.

CNA report here.