How Many Pages Should a Resume Have?

Here’s another question that has more than one answer. If you are new to the work world, your resume is likely to fit nicely on one page. If you are an academic, your curriculum vita will include more detail than most resumes, including your research papers and published articles. Such a resume could run several pages.

However, like most of us, if you have a few years of experience in a business setting already under your belt, whether for-profit or non-profit, how long is too long? What is the right length for a resume to be your best sales agent? You want to tell your story and grab attention so your resume lands at the top of the pile.

I have seen resumes of all types over the years, as a hiring manager and as a volunteer reviewer for friends, family and colleagues and at job fairs. What I’ve observed is that jobseekers sometimes forget that, like any other marketing piece, their resume has only seconds to capture the interest of recruiters or hiring managers. Also, with hundreds of resumes to read and time at a premium, if you haven’t intrigued them by page 2, you’re probably toast.

You’ve heard the phrase, “Keep it simple, stupid.” I’ll add to that (and remove the "stupid"): Keep it simple, professional, organized, concise and targeted. And stick to no more than two pages. You can do this with bullets, phrases and groupings that make your resume easy to scan and to the point.

A couple of resources for you:

A video by D.C. area human resources expert Patra Frame with her resume tips: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fl-H2s9lwpk
An article that addresses the IT market: http://www.itworld.com/ITW3485

Blast Your Resume to the Moon or Target Your Mark?

If you do what all the large job banks and resume distributors suggest, you’ll upload your resume on their sites so they can blast your resume to all the jobs in their database that fit your profile, according to information you provide. Get your resume in front of 100s or 1,000s of employers, they’ll tell you.

But, I’ve heard from recruiters themselves, as recently as this week, that they receive too many resumes that are totally inappropriate or that come with a generic cover letter. That tells them instantly that these candidates didn’t target them and they didn’t do any research about the employer or the job.

You might as well blast your resume to the moon!

When I was in a hiring position, I often received well over 100 resumes for a job in my department. Here is how I sorted them out:

Instant Trash Bin Candidates:
Resumes with generic cover letters, no cover letter at all or letters addressed to the wrong employer
Resumes with errors

The Maybe Pile:
Resumes with some potential but maybe not quite on the mark

The Yes, I Need to Read These Again Pile:
Resumes that show relevant experience and accomplishments
Resumes with cover letters that address the job description and my organization

Robo resumes are about as popular with recruiters and hiring managers as robo calls are with voters, and they are probably less productive, if they do you any good at all. My advice is: don't do it.

Resumes Are Shape Shifters

There are many schools of thought on how many versions of your resume you should create.

There are those who declare that one version is all you need. Others say you should have one to three well-written, accurate resumes that are targeted to the types of job you are seeking, if they have different requirements. Still others propose that you create multiple resumes, especially if you are attending job fairs or posting your resume on searchable job boards—to be ready for anything that comes up.

But I’ve heard it straight from two local D.C. HR professionals that in order to stand out today, you should customize for each job application. In other words, make your resume fit the job. Naturally, that doesn’t mean to make things up. What it does mean is:

1. Read the job description carefully.
2. Find the key words that describe the requirements and responsibilities of the position.
3. Insert those key words where they belong in your resume (and also your cover letter).
4. Highlight specifically what you offer that the employer is seeking.

Here are a couple of articles on the topic of resumes and versions:
http://marketing.theladders.com/career-advice/how-many-resume-versions-too-many
http://career-advice.monster.com/resumes-cover-letters/Resume-Writing-Tips/Resume-Tips-for-Job-Fairs/article.aspx

Business Casual for Networking—What Exactly Does That Mean?

You’re getting ready to attend a networking event. It’s time to make a positive first impression on prospective employers and others who may lead you to one. The announced dress code is “business casual.” What the heck does that mean?

For one thing, it may depend on your city or area whether business casual really means dressy but not cocktail party wear or it means a nice pair of khaki’s and a clean dress shirt with no tie. A career advisor told a group session I attended that Washington, D.C. is a conservative city, so wear a nice business suit (with a tie, for men) or dress (and heels). But there are times when that is not necessarily true and a dressy shirt with nice slacks for either gender would be just fine.

You want to be noticed, but in a positive way, and you want to be remembered not for your clothes, but for who you are and what you say. For sure, however, business casual in a networking environment is not jeans, tank tops, short skirts or other revealing clothing. And, you definitely don’t want to make your appearance wearing flip flops.

Here are some sites with tips on business casual attire that may be helpful. http://www.ehow.com/how_49_dress-business-casual.html
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_business_casual_attire_for_women
http://www.career.vt.edu/Jobsearc/BusCasual.htm

Personally, if I am not sure about an event, my approach is to arrive slightly overdressed rather than too casual.

Put on a Smile and Get out the Door

After too many days in a row in the house at the computer and phone, searching for and applying for jobs, it’s so easy to distance yourself from the real world. It’s time to get out the door and go to places and events where you can make connections, meet recruiters and hiring managers, and add to your knowledge. There are tons of ways to do this in the D.C. area (see my posting on building your network for some).

If you haven’t ventured into the networking arena, it’s time to start, because it’s a crucial part of finding a job. Here are a few tips:

1. Print some professional-looking business cards that include enough information about you to spur interest in staying in touch with you. They should include contact information at the least, but it’s also good to put your own URL or blog address, Twitter name and LinkedIn profile address.

2. Practice a confident handshake and your elevator speech. Be prepared to look people in the eye and tell them quickly, in a noisy environment, who you are and what you are looking for.

3. Pick clothes that will impress, shave off the “I’m not going anywhere today” stubble or fix up your hair, and put on a smile. Check your image, head to toe, in a mirror before you leave the house.

4. Follow up. This is probably the most important part of networking—what you do after the event. Invite them to link with you on social networks and share information, tips and ideas with them. Then, stay in touch periodically.

The Washing Machine Wins

If you saw my July 8 posting Problem Solving with Persistence--Life with an Errant Washing Machine, then you know I have a quirky machine. It has almost all new parts, but it continues to knock and rock its way through the spin cycle. This machine has been quite an interruption to my job search because I’ve had to reserve several four-hour windows for a repairman to return.

I prepared for this visit by starting a load of odds and ends as soon as the automated phone call came to tell me that I was next in line for a service call. When the machine reached the point where it would refill for the final rinse, I paused it.

Aha, I’ll show him, I thought. He’ll nod and say, “Wow. I see what you mean!” Just the day before, when I ran it, the machine sounded like it was going to take off for the moon, so I was confident that Bob, the repairman, who I had previously found to be a nice guy and very competent, would agree that this loco washer should be replaced.

But, of course, it didn’t perform. Just like the toothache that goes away the moment you sit in the dentist’s chair, the machine silently laughed at me while it spun the load. That day it sounded quiet as a kitten. So, the beat goes on.

Staying Positive When Time Drags On

Let’s face it, the economy is way down and news reports tell us every day how bad the outlook is. Unemployment is up here and there (although reportedly not quite so bad in the D.C. area as in many other U.S. regions). Companies are doubling up the workload on the employees they kept after laying off others and hiring fewer temps. I could go on and on.

It’s easy to get sucked into the gloom and doom scene, which can drag you down so that your job search becomes a perceived exercise in futility. Once that happens, your low mood will sabotage your efforts and show on your face and in your voice. I know. I’ve had a few days since my March layoff when the job hunt seemed hopeless, but it’s not. For example, I heard from a recruiter the other day that he’s seeing some action on the hiring front. Things are beginning to stir.

Also, if you get out and meet people in and out of your own field at local networking or learning events, you will find a great community of helpful professionals, willing to offer tips, support, leads and comfort. The main thing is to stay active in your professional arena. You may be on the outside now, but it could be your door to getting back inside. For me, it has been a lifeline to keeping a positive outlook and continuing on.

After a Layoff—Which Comes First?

Today I took a look at Patra Frame’s video on You Tube, entitled “The Worst Mistake in a Job Search.” Patra is a management consultant, speaker and author in the Washington, D.C. area (Strategies for Human Resources). Her series of videos for jobseekers includes this one, in which she offers advice on what to do first when you lose a job…and it’s not quite the same as I suggested in my July 9 posting, although not totally opposed to it.

On July 16, I suggested that after being laid off, you should contact everyone you know to tell them of your new situation and then gather your resources, including your resume, before doing anything else. Next, I said, you should take stock of yourself. Patra reverses the order, and she may be right about that. How can you write a resume if you don’t really know what direction you are going?

Job Hunting With a Point of View

As Lois Kelly writes in her book on marketing in today’s social world, Beyond Buzz: The Next Generation of Word-of-Mouth Marketing, some of the most successful companies identify a point of view that defines how they will operate. Taking this one step further, what is your point of view about your career?

What do I mean by this? Your vision addresses the characteristics of a career move, but your point of view is all about who you are. Here’s a brief example of a point of view:

I want work that I can deeply support and enjoy—something that I can be passionate about. I get a charge from challenges and working with people. I believe in getting the job done, doing it on time and doing it well. Words are my friend.

This point-of-view statement applies to someone who cares about mission because of her own values. She also knows the environmental factors that are important to her and what she likes to do. Now it’s up to her to find and target the organizations/companies that offer the mission, challenge, environment and work mode she wants.

If you have your own career point of view, you are welcome to share it as a comment.

(See the previous post for discussion of defining your vision.)

A Vision for Your Future—Where Are You Going?

In my last posting, I talked about building your own job hunt strategic plan, starting with defining a vision of what you will be doing and in what environment. By taking time to think through your vision, you will give yourself a direction and a starting point. It’s true that in today’s job market, even in the Washington, D.C. area, you may feel lucky just to find any employment, but without some kind of vision for your professional future, your job search could become randomized and prove frustrating and possibly fruitless.

By targeting yourself, you will be better equipped to construct a strategy for finding the jobs that fit your goal. You can apply for hundreds of jobs at random, but unless there is a good match on both sides, yours and the employer’s, you are probably wasting your time. Better instead, target only jobs that either lead to or fit your vision.

What does a jobseeker’s vision statement look like? Here’s mine as an example:

My Vision:
I will work for a national association or a for-profit company in a marketing or communications leadership role. The organization will have a mission that complements my values and serves the public good. I will spend my days strategizing, collaborating and communicating. There will be much variety in what I do, and I will work with diverse individuals. I will be the go-to person for all external messaging and be the brand guru.

Here are some questions that you can answer to help you think about and build your own vision statement. They were compiled by Susan Silverman on her blog searching for a job in washington, dc when she was between jobs:

• What am I good at?
• What do I hate doing?
• If I could have any job in the world, what would it be?
• If I could work anywhere, where would I work?
• What are some key competencies that I can use to describe myself?
• When was I happiest personally and professionally?

What’s Your Plan—What’s Next?

Before you start your search for new employment after a layoff, it’s a good idea to take stock of yourself. Think about it. Yes, you want to earn a paycheck again, but first, who are you professionally and what do you want to be doing when you go back to work?

After I had updated my resume, notified everyone I knew and updated my online profiles, I took a little time to develop my own strategic marketing plan—where I wanted to be and how I planned to present myself. My inspiration was a book I was reading, called Beyond Buzz: The Next Generation of Word-of-Mouth Marketing, by Lois Kelly (see My Blog List to the left). Reading her book reminded me that the conventional approach to a strategic plan is to define:

• Vision
• Mission
• Values
• Value Proposition
• Messaging (including an elevator speech)

All of these are helpful in defining yourself and creating your personal strategic marketing plan. But Kelly goes one step further by proposing that companies—and I suggest this for jobseekers too—identify their “point of view,” which she defines as:

“Beliefs and ideas that help build understanding, provoke conversation—and are something a person would actually say.”

Conventional strategic planning produces a one-way message in buzz word language, in the same way a resume can. Kelly says, however, that the most effective marketing today is done by “making meaning” rather than “creating buzz” and through creative conversations. In my thinking, the same approach should work for the job hunter.

What are your thoughts on applying this new approach to the job hunt?

No Pay, But the Rewards Are Many

People who are out of work after being laid off can start to lose their steam after the first rush to find a new job. One way to energize yourself, help others and build professional equity at the same time is to volunteer.

Arsha Jones writes: “…what has helped me when I wanted more experience, I volunteer(ed). It looks great on your resume and you actually can learn some stuff for free. And, keeping up to date with current trends in your profession keeps you marketable.” [Arsha is owner of Brand It! Domains - Domains & Web Hosting for Beginners]

Here are some sites that offer to help you find volunteer opportunities in the Washington, D.C. area:
http://www.volunteermatch.org/
http://www.charitablechoices.org/default.asp
http://www.dc-cares.org/
http://www.onebrick.org/index.asp
http://www.some.org/
http://www.capitolletters.org/

Build Your Network…and Your Knowledge

You may feel tossed on the street after a layoff, but getting on your feet quickly after you dust yourself off is a good idea. Instead of concentrating on the painful aspects of your new condition, start making connections, and update your knowledge while you’re at it. Here are a few ways to get started:

LEVERAGE YOUR PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS: In the Washington, D.C. area there are myriads of professional organizations, local and national, that offer networking happy hours, brown bag lunches and other low-cost events. Attend every free or low-cost business networking event you can. Also, almost every group has a job board, so check them out. If you do not have any memberships now, it’s a good time to establish at least one. Some groups are free or low-cost to join, especially those that are D.C. based rather than national. One active networking resource I recommend is the Washington Network Group. The dues are $90, but they offer a lot for it.

CHECK OUT LINKEDIN GROUPS: For instance, Washington DC Connections is a business networking group started just this spring by an enterprising local financial advisor, Andrew Meringoff. It already has almost 6,000 members from a wide range of professional fields and now has subgroups for more focused networking. After launching with three very successful breakfast networking events at La Madeleine restaurants in Maryland and Virginia, plans are underway for much more, including happy hours and educational events. So far, the only cost has been for the food you buy.

BUILD YOUR SKILLS: Learn and meet people at the same time. Sheila, a reader of this blog suggested Toastmasters as a way to mingle with people who are still employed. Great idea. Also, check out MeetUp groups that focus on areas that will expand your professional knowledge. Take a course or start work on a certification that will enhance your resume.

BUDDY UP: Find a job hunt buddy, preferably someone in a field related to yours who is not a direct competitor for the same jobs. Review each other’s resumes and check in with each other regularly. Send each other occasional leads or ideas. Stay connected.

For some tips on how to network, see this short video by Patricia A. Frame, management consultant, speaker and author, of Strategies for Human Resources.

Marketing Yourself—Your Public Image

You want to be found. And, when you are found, you want to impress. That means there are a few steps you should take as soon as possible after you rejoin the job market.

UPDATE YOUR ONLINE PROFILE—Update your online profile on LinkedIn, Plaxo or Twitter, or all of them. Anywhere you are part of a social/business network, you need to be promoting yourself. If you are not on any of these networks, get on now, but keep your content and your connections professional. Be sure to post a recent photograph (a headshot is preferable) showing you looking professional and approachable.

POST RECOMMENDATIONS—Ask your references and other colleagues to post short recommendations of your work and your work style on your online profile. Recruiters do check them, according to two HR professionals who spoke at a workshop for out-of-work D.C. professionals that I attended this spring.

MAKE AN EMAIL UPDATE—If you use AOL for email, consider using an alternate provider for your job search, such as gmail or Yahoo. Pick a professional account name, such as your own name, to use for your job search communications, especially since it will appear on your resume. The word on the street is that if you use AOL, you are probably older and not tech savvy. I’ve heard this from recruiters and seen it in multiple articles.

SPREAD THE WORD—Tell everyone you know that you are unemployed and what kind of job you are seeking. Friends, former colleagues, neighbors and family can be great resources for support and networking. Even tell the grocery store clerk or your bank manager. It’s not a time to hide your situation, especially since you are definitely not alone and, in today’s economic climate, there is no shame in being on the job market because of a layoff.

My online profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/cynthiarosso

Marketing Yourself for a Job—Gather Your Playing Cards

There are resources you should gather right away after a layoff. And, if you still have a job, make this a “just-in-case” preparation measure.

RESUME—Your resume is the most obvious resource, and it is one that should be addressed quickly and updated constantly, even when you are still employed. Seek out some expert advice on your resume content and format, and make sure it has not one single error in it.

SUCCESSES—Have you thought about your achievements, i.e. what you have done that you can call a success? Write up short success stories while you can still remember the details. Be sure to include data, if you can quantify your accomplishments. Being able to tell “your story” will come in handy in letters and interviews. Highlighting your achievements on your resume will draw attention to the value you offer.

KUDOS—Save any congratulatory messages or recognition that you may have received for successful projects or outcomes. Have them ready and at your fingertips when you write a cover letter or prepare for an interview.

AWARDS—Won any in recent years? If so, add them to your resume and your online profile.

PORTFOLIO—Depending on your career line, a portfolio may take different forms. In any case, it should be visual, showing documents, products or charts and graphs that showcase your skills and best efforts. You can post your portfolio on a personal website, but you should also have PDFs ready. (Recently, I saw a job announcement that specified “no links” for writing samples submitted with resumes.) In other words, keep your options open.

These resources will be covered in more detail in upcoming posts.

Marketing Yourself—Getting Started Again

Layoffs happen—these days a lot of layoffs happen. So, it’s wise to prepare. I wish I had seen it coming. Rather than being blind-sided by an unexpected layoff that put me suddenly on the street without a job, I should have planned ahead.

If you have already been laid off, it’s okay to give yourself a short recovery time—no more than a few days—but then you need to get to work on your marketing plan. In my case, I took no time off and began contacting everyone I knew the next morning.

A marketing pro myself, I see the job hunt as a campaign. I am marketing myself, which requires strategy rather than a hit or miss approach. For instance, blasting hundreds of employers with resumes is probably a waste of time and effort. Targeting specific employers and networking in their realm is likely to be more productive.

The job market today is a totally new game. Everything about it has changed, from resumes to networking to the hiring process. In upcoming posts, I will be sharing what I have learned from friends, former colleagues, jobseeker support groups, HR professionals, a life coach, employers, articles, workshops and my own experiences.

Problem Solving with Persistence--Life with an Errant Washing Machine

In the past few weeks, I have rearranged my life around washing machine repair schedules. Add to that now our refrigerator. When we moved into our house in early 2007, we fitted it with fairly high-end, name-brand appliances and purchased extended service contracts that go into 2011. Everything was just great for the first two years.

It wasn’t easy to fit one of today’s washing machines into the closet-like space in our upstairs hallway. Those jazzy front-loaders were out of the question because the bi-fold doors that close off the space blocked the machine’s doors. Also, because of the way they are constructed, they are too deep for the space. So, we bought a standard top-loading washer that was billed as super quiet and offering plenty of cycle options. We loved it, until one day in April it started banging like a drum with every revolution during the spin cycle…so loudly you could hear it two floors down.

That began a string of visits from the maker’s repair team, covered by our service contract and arranged by phone with very accommodating, helpful customer service representatives. They couldn’t have been nicer, but we still haven’t solved the problem after four completed service calls.

Visit one was to explore and identify the problem. The repairman, who was very diligent and friendly, said he was amazed our machine lasted so long without this happening, because the model we bought usually broke down before one year. He also said that our contract should cover any repair needed. He left, ordered a new motor and gear gizmo, and returned a week later to install them. Boom, everything done. Should be fine now.

Nope. When we did our next wash, we discovered the machine was still making wild banging noises. I called again. Our first repairman was on vacation, so they’d send a substitute to check it out, who turned out to be a really nice guy who spent time with us trying different cycles and listening. His solution: replace the agitator. So, he left, ordered a new part, which arrived on our doorstep two days later, and returned on his next available date two weeks later to install the new part. Well that should fix it!

Not at all, we discovered later. I called again and arranged another service visit. This time they sent a third person, who arrived with a surly attitude and zero patience. After a few minutes of waiting for the machine to perform its noisy problem and not hearing it yet, he decided there was no problem, and left, but only after I had him look at our refrigerator (which was supposed to also be on his job ticket, but wasn’t). Both door latches were broken. Little plastic doodads that hold the two French doors closed tightly on our expensive stainless steel fridge—both dangling and inoperable. Egad. We left it that he would have the latches ordered and sent to me, and then I was to arrange another service call.

I waited for over a week through the July 4 holiday and beyond, but no latches arrived. And the washer was sounding worse than ever. Time for new action.

On my last call to the company, I asked about the latch order. I heard: My, we don’t have a record of that. I’ll be glad to order them for you and set up a new service visit. And, we did so, but I made it clear it better not be the one with the attitude again.

Today was the day, but the latches still haven’t arrived. Bob, repairman number two who we liked, called this morning to ask if I had received them and indicated there was nothing in any of the computer records that showed they had been ordered. He offered to order them himself and scheduled a day next week to install them.

As for the washer, after trying numerous cycle combinations and staying close by to listen the machine’s nuances, we have pinned down the problem to the final spin of the regular cycle. Not one of the three men who have come to check our machine believed it could happen in one spin cycle but not another. They'd say: The computer that controls the machine would never do that.

Now we know it’s true, though, and we are ready to demonstrate it for him when Bob comes next week for our sixth scheduled service call.

This nightmare will end one day soon. I know it will. Persistence…

Have you had an appliance nightmare?

Isn’t It Tweet?

Recently, I joined the Twitter world as a beginner, and in the smallest way possible. I had been putting it off, since I currently don’t own a laptop or a texting account on my cell phone. But the time had come to jump into the game.

At a blogging primer session in late June, I heard that one important, cost-free way to promote traffic to your blog is to tweet to your followers. So, now I tweet after each posting.

At the same time, two virtual groups I belong to were gathering Twitter account information from members. Once the lists were shared, I quickly had more followers.

And, I’ve heard from former colleagues and at several professional events that communicators are using Twitter as an additional way to keep the media and others updated on what their organizations are doing. Although the jury is still out on whether time spent on Twitter brings positive returns, it obviously has some value as a communications tool. It depends on how you use it and what you expect from it.

My personal view of Twitter has been that of a skeptic. Tweeting several times a day didn’t seem much different to me than incessant personal cell phone calls by people who seem addicted to it. Can they really have anything of value to say so often and for so long, day after day? What can I say on Twitter that isn’t wasting people’s time to read? What will add to their knowledge or build a bond that I wouldn’t put in an email instead? Should I tweet for the sake of tweeting?

These are all things I am contemplating. What do you think?

It’s a Bloggerful World

Some factoids I heard last week in D.C. at a Blogging 101 session hosted by the Ad Council and Google blew me away and some just make sense.

First, there are 1.5 million new blogs created every week and about one million posts per day. While close to half of the population is said to visit the same blogs regularly and a third reportedly reads one each day, only 8% of Americans have a blog. That makes me feel really special!

Also, about 95 % of the top U.S. newspapers have reporter blogs. With what’s happening to the newspaper industry today—losing print subscribers and advertisers—this seems an inevitable evolutionary shift. They are going to have to reinvent themselves, even those papers that continue being printed, in order to compete as news services.

As a small fish in a very large blogosphere, I have joined a purportedly male-dominated arena. That surprised me. Why should gender be a factor?

[The data sources cited by speaker Jenni Brand of Bastille Marketing in her introductory presentation included Technorati, Pew Internet and American Life Project, and Synovate.]

Blog School at Google D.C.

I’ve had three occasions in the past month to attend events and presentations at Google’s Washington, D.C. office. It’s a pretty cool space on the second floor of a downtown glass-fronted building. There are lots of different seating and group discussion areas scattered around the office. The atmosphere is industrial, casual and brightly decorated in bold solid colors, and they have their own chef who prepares breakfast and lunch every day for the staff. (See a video tour.)

The first time I visited was the second week of June for an all-day “unconference” planned by the Environmental Defense Fund and sponsored by Ashoka, a Rosslyn-based group that fosters innovation for social change. The event, focused on Green Innovation for Business, used a large portion of Google’s meeting spaces. There were no speakers. Instead, it was a large group think session which was the first of four such events to be held across the U.S. Very invigorating.

My next visit to the New York Avenue office was for an evening DC Web Women presentation later in June on using Google Analytics. It was informative and prompted me to get started.

And just this week I went back to Google for Blogging 101, a two-hour quick course on the basics of blogging as well as how to make your blog successful, presented by a panel of top experts. After a primer on what blogging is and can be, we heard tips from bloggers at Google, The Nature Conservancy and TSA, as well as what they have done to overcome obstacles to getting started and operating smoothly. I will be sharing some highlights in an upcoming post.

What sticks in my mind most of everything I heard at these Google events is that I am just one of 133 million bloggers. So, I’ve joined the throngs. Now I need to stand out.

Chipmunk Time in Potomac Falls

My resident chipmunk now sits on his haunches just outside his probably very deep hole in the yard near my back door. He seems to be casing out the area. All I can see is his head. Occasionally, he runs back and forth across the top step just outside from where I work. Earlier he came right up to the glass on the sliding doors, but raced off when he saw me move. Busy little bugger…and too fast to catch on camera. I see him there every day. He’s very cute.