Resumes

Tired of squinting over the classifieds, searching for those few companies with job openings? Well, at one local career center, the companies come looking for you --your resume, to be precise. Last year, Cal State Northridge's Career Center began collecting resumes from graduating seniors and alumni and making them available to local employers with jobs to fill.

GREENSBORO, N.C. — For a fourth day Wednesday, the jury in the John Edwards trial deliberated without reaching a verdict in a case focused on an illicit affair and federal campaign finance laws. The jury of eight men and four women must decide whether Edwards violated election laws when payments from two wealthy donors were used to cover up his affair with videographer Rielle Hunter during Edwards' failed run for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination. Prosecutors contend that Edwards solicited $925,000 in illegal contributions from the donors in order to hide the affair and keep his campaign from collapsing in scandal.

Free Monday morning counseling by SCORE (Senior Core of Retired Executives) has resumed at the Santa Monica Area Chamber of Commerce now that the chamber's remodeling has been completed. A SCORE counselor will advise anyone interested in starting a new business or having problems with an existing one. SCORE is funded by the Small Business Administration. In the fall, seminars on sales promotion and advertising, restaurant operations, catering, and starting a home business will be offered.

Yahoo Inc.Chief Executive Scott Thompson resigned from the digital media company Sunday after a dissident shareholder called attention to his apparent misrepresentation of his college credentials. Ross Levinsohn, formerly Yahoo's executive vice president of the Americas region, was named interim chief executive, the company said in a statement. The board of directors also named Alfred Amoroso its new chairman. Amoroso, who is chief executive of Santa Clara software company Rovi Corp., replaces Yahoo board member Roy Bostock, the founder and chairman of Sealedge Investments.

The need for speed has never been greater when it comes to answering a job posting. An opening at Comarco Wireless Technologies in Irvine, for example, generates hundreds of replies--many within minutes after posting an online ad, said Peggy Vessell, director of administration. "Replying by regular mail has been dead for a while, but now you can forget using a fax machine too," Vessell said. "If you're not e-mailing your resumes, you're not doing yourself any favors."

Bruce Perlowin, a convicted big-time drug smuggler who admitted his illegal expertise in an unusual resume, has landed a job. The resume, which began with the headline: "Ex-Marijuana Kingpin Needs a Job," helped Perlowin get a $25,000-a-year position as national sales manager for the Rainforest Products company in Mill Valley.

"Thank you for you consideration. Hope to hear from you shorty!" Silly errors like these can doom even the most well-qualified job candidates, according to Malissa Parker, Orange County regional manager for Robert Half International, a nationwide staffing firm that publishes resume bloopers on a Web site. "Many times the best job candidates may have the worst resumes," Parker said.

Most people rarely write a resume or cover letter. When they do, they're often rusty, or they act in haste. That's a big mistake. Resumes and cover letters are probably the most important tool job hunters have in getting past an initial screening. Whether you get an interview--or a rejection letter--often hinges on your papers. Remember, you're encapsulating yourself. Be concise, write in plain English and use common sense.

It's the document we all love to hate: the resume. Updating your resume can be a great ego boost--or a period of mind-numbing self-reflection. But it's always time-consuming. I typically ignore my resume until a new job opportunity arises. Then I spend hours ripping apart my house in search of the disk that holds the most recent version. Why not let someone else do it? The interactive resume-writing business is rather new.

The Writers Guild of America West on Tuesday ousted one of its committee chairmen after determining that he had misrepresented his writing accomplishments when he joined the guild's East Coast branch in 1988.

Yahoo Inc. Chief Executive Scott Thompson apologized to employees as the fallout from a questionable resume spread to the company's board, with director Patti Hart announcing she would not seek reelection. The Sunnyvale, Calif., company also said Tuesday that it had formed a special three-person committee to conduct a thorough review of Thompson's academic credentials "as well as the facts and circumstances related to the review and disclosure of those credentials" in connection with his CEO appointment.

An activist investor is demanding thatYahoo Inc.fire its new chief executive, Scott Thompson, after the Internet company confirmed that his resume contained misleading information about his education. The Sunnyvale, Calif., company confirmed Thursday that Thompson's credentials, questioned recently by a shareholder, incorrectly stated in a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that he holds a bachelor's degree in computer science from Stonehill College. The company called it an "inadvertent error.

What if the Kings had chosen a certain center from Flin Flon of the Western Hockey League with the 16th pick of the 1969 NHL draft instead of a defenseman from Estevan of the same league? If they had passed on Dale Hoganson and taken Bobby Clarke, who was drafted 17th by the Philadelphia Flyers, would the Kings still be chasing their first Stanley Cup championship or would their run within one victory of the Western Conference finals be another link in a chain of postseason excellence?

The problems at the San Onofre nuclear power plant are serious enough that the facility will not be able to operate at full capacity when it reopens, perhaps as early as June. The announcement comes as officials continue to investigate problems in the reactors that have forced the plant to remain shut for three months, the longest closure in San Onofre's history. Southern California Edison estimated that the company's cost for inspections and repairs at the plant would be between $55 million and $65 million.

Students traditionally have a soft spot for their alma maters. But as growing numbers of students run up debt in the high five and even six figures to pay for college, that may change. Especially when they discover their old school is actively blocking them from getting a job or going on to a higher degree. That's what increasing numbers of students are finding when they try to obtain an official transcript to send to potential employers or graduate admissions offices. It turns out many colleges and universities refuse to issue these critical documents if students are in default on student loans, or in many cases, even if they just fall one or two months behind.

NEW YORK — Gone are the quiet streets and the loading docks, replaced with hordes of shoppers ducking into stores selling scented body butter, premium denim and high-end furniture. But one thing remains unchanged on the narrow stretch of Prince Street in SoHo: the haunting memory of Etan Patz, a 6-year-old boy who left for school one morning in 1979 and never came back. It is one of this city's — and the nation's — most chilling unsolved mysteries, a case many had forgotten or never knew about until Thursday, when police and FBI agents began searching the basement of a building on the same block as the little boy's apartment.

Even in choppy waters, recruiters are still angling for the perfect job candidate. But employers don't have the time or resources to sift through all the applications churned up by the recession. California's unemployment rate hit 10.5% in February -- the highest in nearly 26 years -- while the national rate stands at 8.1%. To boost your chances of getting plucked, you'll need a top-notch resume.

The task at hand: Summarize everything there is to know about you in an enticingly brief manner to tempt someone who will pick you from the pack. Sound like drafting an ad for the personals? No, this is worse. It's called Writing the Resume. You know, boil your entire life down to one--or at the very most, two--neatly typed pages. It's an arduous and daunting task for even the most seasoned job hunter. Not to worry.