Does anyone have any good examples of a Candadian C.V. (or resume) template I can take a peek at?


Steve

I like this idea although I doubt very many will take you up on your offer!
However it may be a bit better if you target your audience by stating which type of role you are looking into.
I would send you mine but it is pretty naf! and it hasnt been successful so far so I am considering re writing my own, hence my interest in this post!

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/te...043371033.aspx
http://jobsearch.about.com/od/sample...pleresume2.htm

And there is a lot of good advice and links to sample resumes in the wiki ...

http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Resume-Canada

To be honest, I think too much is made out of "Canadianizing" your CV.

If you already have an up to date CV, just use that. There isnt a huge difference, and you wont be prejudiced in any way by using it.

I think I'd canadianize mine as it shows you've made the effort. Though this might mean just removing my dob and changing the title from 'cv' to 'resume'

I disagree.

In many cases a British CV will not be understood by a Canadian employer. They won't know what an NVQ, HND or a GCSE is for example. Some job titles have very specific meanings in Canada (an engineer for example) that do not equate to UK job titles. To use an example from the wiki, if you apply to an auto repair shop and state you have 5 years experience as a panel beater in the UK, no one will know what you are talking about.

Also, if I am recruiting and someone sends me a "British" CV I immediately think:

a) the person is not committed to getting (and so keeping) a job if they can't be bothered to spend a few minutes adapting their CV for the job market they are applying to, or
b) they are arrogant a*s*h*l*s who think they are so great they don't need to make the effort.

Either way it is bin time.

I think that's fairly normal. Even headhunters who specifically came after my husband and knew his background were insistent on seeing a Canadianized resume, rather than just his CV. If he'd been applying the normal way for jobs and hadn't bothered to convert it, I think it would have been chucked straight in the shredder.

I guess it depends. My CV would look pretty much the same (I no longer bother listing qualifications 'A' level and below). I list my degrees, job titles (with what I'd been doing and how great I was at it), and special skills. The order of these sections would depend on the job (rather than the country) and I would try to keep it on one page.

This is the problem with CV's and resumes, people make assumptions and bin the person immediately. Where someone that has put the effort in gets the interview. Reality is that often the great resume writer has either cut and paste other peoples work or has sat and written a load of bollocks!
Never judge a book by its cover!
Anyway I am busy writing bollock on my resume, anyone wanting to PM me a good one so I can cut and paste would be appreciated!
It is a terrible way we go about employing people but I suppose we need to do it some how!

I agree, it does depend. The examples I gave were some of the more extreme. Academic qualifications are pretty much understood, so if your jobs titles are the same it may be a simple matter of removing the personal details expected on a British CV and changing the name.

I still think it important to stress to anyone thinking of applying for a job in Canada that it is just not good enough to assume that a British CV will do.

It is a problem, it is unfair, but it is reality.

You have a vacancy to fill and you receive 20 applications. Three jump out at you as people who have put their resumes together to show you they have exactly the skills and experience you need. The other 17 are OKish, and one or two maybe diamonds in the rough.

In an ideal world you might interview all 20 to make sure you get the best person. In the real world you interview the three standouts. If one of these people match up to their resumes and their references check out, then they will get the job. Only if all three turn out to be nowhere near as good as their resumes suggested do the other 17 get a second look.

The ONLY purpose of a resume (or CV) is to get you some face time with the people making the hiring decision. If you need to copy and paste a format, or get some professional help, that is perfectly justifiable in my opinion.

It's not really unfair. A resume is a marketing tool. This is an applicant selling their abilities to get an interview, a resume will rarely get you the job. How much effort one is willing to put into getting a job is however indicative of how much effort they would put into that job. Canadians will get judged by this as well, one size does not fit all and a resume has to be adapted for each job applied for. It shows commitment and abilities. Getting a professional resume writer to do it for you if you are not confident is well worth the cost again it is showing initiative and knowing when to get help. Spending $100 to get in with a chance of getting even a $40,000 a year job seems pretty small change.

With all due respect, if someone isnt capable of writing a resume, how can then be expected to carry out the job properly?

I guess everyone has their own experiences. I made sure my own CV was up to date -I made no changes to the format or the spelling or anything else. I had 11 interviews in the space of a week and 3 job offers.

Yes. Even if the changes are small, I would do them - it certainly won't hurt your chances. Either way, I would tailor my cv (ahem... I mean resume) to the role I was applying for rather than have something completely generic, that way you can give relevant skills and experiences greater prominence.