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How To Write The Perfect Resume

The Length Of Your Resume Should Reflect Years Of Experience

How to Write the Perfect Resume Career Profile

This might be difficult if you’ve had a lot of experience and you’re proud of all of it. But this doesn’t mean it’s necessarily relevant. Cut it down.

If you’re in your twenties, your resume should only be one page there’s not enough experience to justify a second one, Alison Green writes in U.S.News & World Report.

However, if you’ve had more than 10 years of experience, you can add a second page, Douzet tells us.

Creating The Perfect Resume In 7 Steps

A strong resume increases your chances of impressing employers and being invited to interview. Crafting the perfect resume involves including the right information and writing it in a way that represents you positively. In this article, we examine what a good resume looks like, discuss the steps for writing the perfect resume and provide a template and sample.

Read more:10 Steps for Building a Resume

Where To Find Jobs

There are a ton of job boards, agencies and services that will help you with your job hunt, so many in fact, that it might be overwhelming or daunting. Try taking a look at the resources below and save links to the sites that you find the easiest to navigate.

Its up to you if youd prefer to use an agency, or apply directly. Just remember, only apply for jobs that youre really interested in. Wherever you end up working is going to determine a lot about your overall progress, stress and work-life balance so think twice before applying and a third time before accepting a job offer.

Here are some popular recruitment sites across Canada:

BC Recruitment Sites

Do you have any physician resume tips or something that has worked well for you? Let us know on !

This article offers general information only and is not intended as legal, financial or other professional advice. A professional advisor should be consulted regarding your specific situation. While information presented is believed to be factual and current, its accuracy is not guaranteed and it should not be regarded as a complete analysis of the subjects discussed. All expressions of opinion reflect the judgment of the author as of the date of publication and are subject to change. No endorsement of any third parties or their advice, opinions, information, products or services is expressly given or implied by RBC Ventures Inc. or its affiliates.

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How Often Should I Update My Cv

Even if you arent actively looking for a new role, its important to get into the habit of regularly updating your CV. So, for example, if youve learnt a new skill or successfully completed a big project in your current role, update your resume to reflect that. Its also a good idea to update your LinkedIn profile at the same time.

If you keep your resume up-to-date, when you do come to the point when you want to find a new position, theres no risk that youll forget key points.

Regularly updating your resume can also make you more aware of any skills or experience gaps that you need to fill to take the next step in your career.

Cv Versus Resume Whats The Difference

How To Write A Perfect Resume Examples

Today, a lot of employers and job candidates use the terms CV and resume interchangeably. Indeed, you may see just as many references to resume templates as you do CV templates.

Traditionally, a CV referred to a comprehensive account of your entire professional life, while a resume was a summary of your education, skills and work experience. However, in more modern times, the need for a lengthy overview of your career history has become redundant, with a hiring company instead expecting a two-page summary. At the same time, people began to use the two terms reciprocally. Now, whether you call your career overview a CV or resume, it has no bearing on your chance of reaching an interview shortlist.

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Put Your Name And Contact Info At The Top

This sounds simple, but Peter S. Herzog, author of the book “How To Prolong Your Job Search: A Humorous Guide to the Pitfalls of Resume Writing,” says that applicants will try putting this important information on the side or bottom.

This is how it should be done:

1. Put your name in bold face and/or regular caps.

2. Include your full address and home, work and/or cell phone numbers and your email address but do not bold these.

Choosing The Best Resume Template

Now that we know which software to use and the most common resume formats, letâs break down the actual template. This is the make-or-break deal. Picking the right resume template can be the deciding factor if a hiring manager gives you a call. Or if they skip past your resume and never bother to read it.

Our mission here at Easy Resume is to make sure that never happens to you! Weâre working hard to make sure your resume is high quality and presented in a way that will impress recruiters.

When speaking with hiring managers, we found that 78% of the time they skip your resume is because of the design. Again, we donât think thatâs fair.

Hereâs a checklist to use for your resume

We always use this checklist whenever creating any new resume template.

Use a clear heading structure

Incorrect: Donât make all headings and body copy the same size.

Correct: Do use typographic hierarchy by using varying heading sizes and font weights.

Use legible, friendly and professional font combinations

Incorrect: Donât use quirky and eccentric fonts like comic sans or papyrus.

Correct: Do use professional fonts that are easy to read and familiar. Fonts like Georgia, Helvetica, Calibri, and Cambia.

Use an ample amount of spacing

Incorrect: Donât go overboard with spacing. Using a lot of white-space might spark joy, but not when your resume becomes three pages long because of it.

Use 1 page

Use bullet points

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Can I Use Any Of These Examples To Help Write My Own Resume

Yes, we have plenty of examples you can use. Select any resume example from the list on this page, and youll find the following:

  • A professional template with job-specific bullet points and information
  • Sections to present your skills, experience, education, and professional accomplishments
  • A free download in Microsoft Word format for you to personalize
  • All resume information provided in text format ready for you to copy and paste
  • Writing tips for creating a resume in that particular industry

We also have guides on how to write your own resume introduction, how to use resume action verbs, and articles outlining every other part of resume writing and formatting imaginable. Theyre all accessible on our resume help blog.

One Size Does Not Fit All

How to write the perfect resume / CV – Tips & Tricks

Focus on skills and achievements that you think will be relevant to the position youre applying for. Take the extra time to tailor your resume to the job youre applying for, employers want to clearly see how youll be a good fit for them, and anything that doesnt specifically relate to the position could hurt your chances.

Also Check: Email Message When Sending Resume

How To Write A Convincing Cover Letter

Every job application consists of 2 parts – the resume and the cover letter. Now that weve covered the first, lets briefly explain the latter.

Most job-seekers flinch when they hear that they have to write a cover letter. What do you even mention in a cover letter, anyway? If you were good at writing cover letters, youd be applying for a writing job!

In reality, though, writing a cover letter is pretty simple, if you know its purpose.

You should think of a cover letter as a direct message to the hiring manager. You get to briefly explain why youre such an awesome fit for the position. When we put it that way, it doesnt sound as hard, does it?

Heres a format you could follow:

  • Introduce yourself – As a start, give a brief run-down on your work experience and mention why youre interested in working for the company youre applying for. You can also mention 1-2 of your top professional achievements to leave a good first impression.
  • Explain how youd excel at the job – Identify the top 3 requirements in the job ad. Then, dedicate one paragraph to explaining how you fulfil each requirement. So for example, if the requirement is Facebook Advertising Experience, mention how you have done Facebook ads in the past and how youve excelled at it.
  • Wrap it up and say thanks – Thank the reader for reading your cover letter and propose the next steps. For example, If youd like to know more about my experience with Project XYZ, Id love to chat!

How To Make A Resume

Before you even start working on your resume, you need to decide how youre going to build it.

And no – you shouldnt use a basic text editor. While this IS the most popular method for creating a resume, its very far from the best.

With a basic text editor resume, youll need to spend hours playing with the formatting. You make a minor change and BAM! Your entire resume layout gets messed up.

Instead of using a text editor, we recommend choosing a resume builder, such as Novorésumé. Our resume builder is fast, easy, and to put the icing on the cake, a Novorésumé looks much better and can fit more information than your average, cookie-cutter resume…

To get the most out of this guide, you can head over to the resume builder and start building your resume on-the-go as you read this guide.

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Add In Your Work Experience

This section will most likely be the bulk of your resume. Even if youre changing careers, employers still want to see where youve worked, what youve done, and the impact of that work to get a sense of your background and expertise.

Your Work Experience might be one entire category, or you might choose to break it up into Relevant Experience and Additional Experience to highlight the jobs that are most important for hiring managers to focus on. Either way, youll almost always want to have your most recent experience at the top and your older experience down below.

Within your work experience, youll want to include each official job title, the company , and the years you worked there. Below that, youll add in two to four bullet points explaining what you did in that job, the skills you built and exercised, the tools you used, and the results of what you did. If you accomplished a lot during your time there, focus on the responsibilities that made the most impact or youre the most proud of, as well as the ones that best align you with the job youre applying for . Its key here to list, if relevant, quantitative as well as qualitative accomplishments.

For example, you might write:

Associate Accountant, Finances and Co., Ann Arbor, MI

If you have a ton of experience and this category is starting to run long , consider kicking out your oldest jobs unless theyre super relevant to the job youre applying for, or extra impressive for your field.

What Makes This Guide Different From The Others Out There

Perfect resume

Most resume books are written by recruiters and resume writers, but they are not the person who makes the hiring decision. The information in this guide is written from the perspective of someone who has read thousands of resumes recruiting talent for their own companies.

That person is me, Michael T. Robinson, Founder of CareerPlanner.com. As a hiring manager in high tech, I’ve seen what resumes work and which ones fail. It’s that simple.

If you think your resume should be getting you more interviews, get this guide today.

Also Check: Resume Rewording

Summarizing Your Job Experience

Your resume experience section is the most important aspect of your entire resume. It’s a summary of your career experience and progression that outlines your responsibilities and achievements.

This is the section that you’ll most likely spend most of your time on. It’s good practice to make sure you consistently jot down any new experiences you’ve had, even if you’re not looking for a job.

For example, if you recently landed a $200,000 deal by bringing on a new client at your firm, write that down somewhere you can remember. Over time, you’ll have dozens of bullet points you can copy over to your resume when you are ready for a new job.

Here’s a simple example of work experience

Server, Red Lobster

  • Greeted incoming guests and directed them to comfortable seating.
  • Memorized and informed guests of daily menu specials.
  • Made recommendations about food and beverages as well as other services provided by the restaurant.
  • Provided exceptional and friendly customer service by taking food and beverage orders and entering them in our PoS system.

Here are the key pieces of information that your resume objective should include:

  • Job Title = e.g. Server
  • Company Name = e.g. Red Lobster
  • Start & End Dates = e.g. November 2018 – Present
  • Location = e.g. New York, NY
  • Responsibilities & Tasks = e.g. Made recommendations and answered questions about our food, beverages and other restaurant functions and services.

This is a simple example, but it can be improved by adding more detail.

How To Write The Perfect Resumeincluding: The Perfect Resume Template

Founder and Chief Career Coach www.CareerPlanner.com

Submitting resumes online is usually not enough to get a new job. It does work sometime, but not often.

Headhunters estimate that only 5% of open positions are filled by people who just send in their resumes.

What they say works, about 80% of the time, is when people have a great resume, and they take the extra step to get that resume in front of the hiring manager.

Usually this means having someone you know, or a friend of a friend make a call for you or better yet take your resume in to the hiring manger.

So to find a great job, you have to do both. You have to have a great resume and you have to use all the people you know and all the people they know to get your resume in front of the hiring manager.

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Where To Go For Resume Help And Writing Tips

This page should serve as a comprehensive guide to everything you need to write a resume. If you are still looking for more guidance, your first stop should be the career office at the school you graduated from.

You can also seek out public resources in your area by going to Google and typing free resume review as there is often a public organization that conducts no-cost resume reviews for community members.

What Are Employers Looking For In A Resume

How to Write the Perfect Resume

Hiring managers look for three things on your resume, What did you do? Why did you do it? And what was the result? says Muse career coach , owner of Career Therapy. If you can answer all three of these questions in…your resume bullet points, youre going to be on the right track.

Clear, easy-to-understand language is key. The truth is that most resumes make no sense. They are stuffed with jargon, they are too technical, and they are filled with redundancies. Try to read a resume that isnt yours and you will quickly realize that it feels like an alien wrote it, McGovern adds. Put yourself in the shoes of a recruiter who has no idea how your role workshow can you make your resume accessible to them?

The hiring manager also cares about more than just you and you alonethey care about you in relation to them. Hiring managers want to see if a candidate matches the requirements of the role theyre hiring for, Yurovsky explains. Your resume should paint this picture so the hiring manager not only knows what day-to-day responsibilities you can handle, but why you, above other, bring value to their organization.

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Create Your Own Cv Template

The pre-made resume templates offered on word processing programs like Microsoft Word just scream “template,” Jacqui Barrett-Poindexter writes in Glassdoor. You can use those templates as a guide, but create your own final copy.

Furthermore, you should always stick to a format that’s appropriate in your industry.

Simone Fortunini was an online marketing manager when he decided to create a resume in the form of an interactive web site resembling a Analytics page.

Fortunini tells us that since his work experience stems from online marketing and advertising campaigns, Google Analytics is a basic tool that those in his industry work with, and he wanted to create a resume illustrating his understanding in online marketing, graphic design abilities and HTML skills.

What Is A Resume

A resume is a summary of your career, whether yours is just getting started or has been going on for years. Coming in at around one page in length , it showcases the jobs youve held and currently hold, the responsibilities youve taken on, the skills youve developed, and the qualities you bring to the table as an employee. Together, those things make it super easy for any hiring manager to see your qualifications and fit for a role.

For all the work you may put into writing one, hiring managers actually spend very little timemere seconds in many caseslooking at your resume. But despite this sad fact, its safe to say that creating a great resume still matters.

If you miss the mark, your resume may never be read. Even worse, you might be removed from the applicant pool by a computer before a human even knows you exist, says Muse career coach Heather Yurovsky, founder of Shatter & Shine. So you want to get it right because, as she explains, isnt the goal to spend less time looking for a job and more time in a role you love?

And although LinkedIn has plenty of benefits, a resume has one clear advantage: While your LinkedIn is usually a broader picture of your career trajectory, your resume gives you the opportunity to tailor your career story to a specific role or company .

Oh, and youve probably heard of something called a CV? Its slightly different from a resume, and usually more common with academics and job seekers outside the U.S.

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