A resume will not get you a job, but it should, must, be good enough to get you an interview.
A resume is just a summary of some thing about you. It never tells a reader everything about you or all the jobs you've ever done before.
'I'm working on my resume' is not a profession. If you are stuck and fed up to the back teeth with your resume....GET SOME HELP. This can be from a friend or relative or from someone at an employment centre - there are many different places to get help.
Ask someone who knows you to look at it. Does it look and sound anything like you? Does it tell any of your story - where you've been, where you might want to go next, a little of who you are?
It should show your journey, in about 15 seconds - the average resume is read for about 15 seconds the first time it's seen - does yours allow a taste of your journey to appear?
Here is a plain, simple, clean and effective one page resume.
The dates are pulled out to the right. The order of presenting the work history is: what you did, when you did it and lastly where you did it
The highlights are genuine, and freshly expressed - no 'multi-tasking team player' bullsh*t here.
Jane Smith - a one page resume.doc
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Here is a sample two page resume. Unless you are under 40, or have had only one or two jobs in your life it's fine to go to two pages.
You'll notice that the work you've done before is gathered into headings - picking the right title for these sections is important and can take awhile. Once they are the right headings your work skills will fall easily under each heading.
Again, the dates are pulled out to the right. The order of presenting the work history is: what you did, when you did it and lastly where you did it.
If where you did the work was especially important and impressive - sales assistant at Holt Renfrew - then draw attention to this in the cover letter - 'With experience that includes two years at the famously high-end Holt Renfrew........' OR '...since my work history includes five years as an operating engineer at The Hotel Vancouver....' OR '...5 years landscape and grounds maintenance experience at the famous Van Duesen gardens shows the quality of my work...'.
The first example gathers the areas of experience in carefully selected headings which show the width and depth of your skills and indeed you.
The second example gathers these activities and skills, special to you, under the job where they were learned, polished or demonstrated. These feature your skills which set you apart - ones you enjoy and are proud of.
Jane Smith - Executive Chef.doc
The style of YOUR cover letters and resumes should be like you. A chatty style with fancy fonts won't be appropriate if you are a shy or more formal person. Again; does it look and sound like you?
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Finally here is an example of the classic bullsh*t resume. It looks alright as long as you don't try to read it.
Full of meaningless jargon, 'descriptions' taken straight from the NOC job duties listing or job advertisements.
Jane Smith - Executive Chef - Total Garbage.doc
It's a good lesson in creating plain English resumes which use adjectives with meaning and please avoid descriptions of tasks which you performed which are simply a definition of the job:
Baker
- used flour and water and yeast to make bread
Wow, shocker.
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