moving

Hye,
Immigration being over, I am now in the next phase...looking for a job.

I just wanted a clarification. While writing the resume...do I need to mention the achievements in a particular job or do I just mention the responsibilties of the job? I have looked at various websites and discussed with people. The feedback has been very varied. So could I have some feedback/advice/suggestions? Thanks in advance.

willmore

This is just my opinion from a professional. I understand from friends working in Human Resources for large organizations and head hunters that is a great idea to include your achievements/responsibilities.....it shows the company that you have initiative and can think outside the box (as they describe it)......but their exact words are....."keep the resme short and sweet"!!! be to the point - in their dealings.....employers don't want to read through a 10 page resume.....it shouldn't be more than 2-3 pages at the very most!!!

Just my opinion and others working in the field - others will surely have different opinions.

Bob

Would depend on type of job your going for....if there looking for experience, gear resume towards that, if they set out requirements, write it towards that...

squarepants

Well said Bob ! Also I believe Lizwil86 ( or 68 ), a member on this forum, said she has a sister in BC that deals with this sort of thing, for new immigrants, you might want to drop her a line, and she can hook you up with her sister to sort you out.

Rhodes

98.

squarepants

I knew there would be a smart-ass, waiting to correct me on that How is London today Mr Rhodes, or should that be Kent?

willmore

Good idea....we have that type of help in Victoria for new immigrants where professionals donate their time...and it's done by donation.

But I think a generic type of resume might be a good idea - otherwise he'll be having to change his resume every time he applies for a new job....and it can get quite time-consuming and costly, and then what if you get confused and send the wrong one to the certain employer

But a professional can surely help you with that.

Bob

Well have two kinds, experience based, and something that's more along the qualification base...

willmore

But....logically why can't they be combined into one resume that can be changed quickly and efficiently instead of him having to deal with two different ones. As a professional I have one resume that's short and sweet and keeps them guessing.....if the person is interested you'll be called in for an interview.

In any case....a professional resume writer.....I'm sure wil be able to steer him in the right direction

iaink

My longstanding offer to send interested people an anonymised version of my engineering resume and cover letter in canadian style still stands. Dont know if the new PM system allows attachments, so please email me if you are interested.

It was assesed and ammended by an outplacemnt consultant about 18 months ago now. Best to mention acheivements and responsibilities If you can, even if it means leaving other stuff of to keep it short like personal interests and details, which are largely irrelevent here. Also no need for "references available on request" thats a given for anyone looking for a job nowadays.

Length and content are often dictated by the type of position, but never more than three pages. Often for shop floor/ low paid jobs one page is enough. Remember if you are posting a general resume on sites like Google for HR types to search through, pack it with the industry keywords that the automatic resume checker progs will be looking for.

If emailing from the UK, remember to set the paper size to Letter, A4 willl screw up the print appearance here.

I would tend to steer clear if professional resume writers, HR pros can spot them a mile off, and it will be very hard to taylor each resume to the job its intended for.

Also important as the resume sent is who you send it too. Where possible get the name of the manager in the department you want to work for, it will help impress them of your interst, and will help avoid it getting binned by the HR manager at the first step. Also after sending it, wait a week or two , and phone if possible to try and again raise your profile, try and wangle an interview ("discuss the resume in person"), and perhaps get feedback on your shortcommings so that you can use te info to improve it for next time.

I know it all seems a lot of time and effort, but anything you can do to stand out from the herd is worth doing. I really think one of the main reasons I landed one of my jobs is because I faxed the people at the interview afterwards to say thanks for speaking to me, and to clarify some of my strength. My new boss was well impressed at the follow up aspect.

Good luck!

Iain

Bob

Good advice....
and being allowed to work, that's the biggest thing, so far for me anyway

CalgaryAMC

There are no formulas for writing resumes. But as a starting point, cut out all the BS that Brits put on cvs. Nobody cares where you went to high school or if you like feeding the ducks on the weekend. Really gut the whole thing; make every word count. If it can be got onto a single page, then it shouldn't be two pages.

moving

Hye Pal,

Searching for a job is getting very frustrating. Thanks for the help. It would be great if you could send it to:
[email protected].

Cheers.
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