What is a Canadian Resume?
If you are a newcomer, getting a job in Vancouver is quite challenging to say the least. Many say that the best way to start to a successful career search is a good Canadian Resume. Well I say it is the only way to start your search! Otherwise, you will be stuck and will find yourself out of a job much longer than you thought you would be. Here are simple and practical tips you can use in order to achieve the kind of resume hiring managers and recruiters actually read.
Make it Canadian
- Keep it short and to the point. Avoid rambling on the resume about your job description or what you do on a day to day scale. What hiring managers need to see are qualities that make you stand out. They want to read about your achievements, awards or recognition that you have received in the past. Provide statements stating how you have helped improve the performance of your team, etc. You have to remember that recruiters and hiring managers receive hundreds of resumes per day. What do you write so that yours is one of the few that they will pay attention to today?
- Do not fall into the trap of putting all the “Keywords” you believe a recruiter in your field will be looking for. Most resumes I see have long lists of skills that they claim they possess. What I see are just words that fill up your resume. They do not mean anything if they are not substantiated by a success statement or a career highlight that will prove that you truly possess that skill. So the next time you are tempted to write a keyword to represent a skill, try to translate this into an achievement statement. Write something like – “Successfully grew the territory from $100k to $500K in sales in a span of 2 years.” Be prepared to tell your interviewer the story behind this success.
Canadian eh!
- Ensure that your resume has been 100% translated into English. Some projects have foreign names that the reader may not understand. This would not mean anything to them. Give them the best English translation so that they can fully relate to your profile. Also, make sure that all acronyms are spelled out at least once in your resume. You don’t want the reader to have to Google it themselves. You would want to make their job easier!
iLink Global Recruiting Inc. helps newcomers come up with a Canadian Resume that gets results, call us today if you need help! We are conveniently located in the cities of Vancouver and Surrey, BC.