CONTACT INFORMATION:

Full Name:

Address:
Street:
City, State ZIP

Tel: (with area code)

Email Address (Optional):

CAREER OBJECTIVE:

Career Objectives are required because HR departments frequently post many jobs. They need to know which one you are applying for. The objective should be brief and to the point. Usually you change this to the job title for each job opening you apply for (Generic Example: Find a full-time or part-time entry-level position as a sale representative. Focused Example: Sales Representative).

HIGHLIGHTS OF QUALIFICATIONS:

This section is divided into 6main areas that must be listed in the following order:

1. Experience
2. Education & Training
3. Certificates, Diplomas, or Degrees
4. Key Skills & Requirements
5. Personal Qualities
6. Achievements & Accomplishments

The reason is because you must summarize yourself because the average employer spends approximately 8-15 seconds scanning your resume. In that time he or she must make a quick decision as to whether you would be a suitable candidate for the position. With job ads frequently bringing in over 200-300 resumes per ad, "generic" un-focused resumes are quickly tossed out, and goal oriented and focused resumes are reviewed for the job interview.

1. Number of years experience in the field (Example: 5 years experience as a System Administrator):

2. Education or relevant training recieved (Example: Human resource management training, cashier training):

3. Certificates, diplomas, or degrees relevant to the job (Example: SuperHost Certificate, First Aid/CPR Certificate, ForkLift Certificate):

4. Specific key skills & requirements employers ask for. Key skills & requirements are identified by employers in job ads. Please review a few in your industry by clicking here (Example: Computer skills - MS Word - Excel, drivers license, own tools, willing to work shifts, able to lift 50 lbs or more, customer service skills, etc.).

5. Personal qualities and attributes required for the job (example: hardworking, organized, attention to detail, work well in a team, etc.). Keep these to a max of 3:

6. An achievement or accomplishment related to work previously done in the same field or same type of job (Example: Increased sales by 20% at previous job, Nominated for tourism vancouver award twice in 2001, etc.):

RELEVANT SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE:

Relevant skills and experience is based on skills and duties that you performed on the job. This information can be gathered from occupational profiles available online by entering a occupation keyword here: clicking here and then running a search on your job title. All you have to do is simply "cut & paste" those duties you performed into the available slots below. Then you must edit the verbs to reflect past tense (i.e. "plan" becomes "planned"). This allows for better readability as well as conforming to modern day scanning software that scans for those words.

WORK EXPERIENCE:

Don't go further back than 10 years. This is because most employers will need experience gained in the last few years. You also start from the most recent and work back (i.e. 2001, 2000, 1999...etc.). Remember, work experience means that even unpaid volunteer work is considered experience. The new employer doesn't even need to know it was voluntary or how much you go paid.

Example:

Janitor, Verigon Cleaning, Van. BC                         2001
House Cleaner, Self-Employed, Surrey BC             2000
Security Guard, SecuriGuard, Surrey BC        1999-2000

Job Title:
Company, Location
Year (YYYY-YYYY)

Job Title:
Company, Location
Year (YYYY-YYYY)

Job Title:
Company, Location
Year (YYYY-YYYY)

Job Title:
Company, Location
Year (YYYY-YYYY)

Job Title:
Company, Location
Year (YYYY-YYYY)

Job Title:
Company, Location
Year (YYYY-YYYY)

Don't go further back than 10 years. This is because most employers will need training gained in the last few years.The exceptions to this rule are degrees obtained at University that are still considered relevant. Please note that you only put the year of the course or the final year of the degree. You also start from the most recent and work back (i.e. 2001, 2000, 1999...etc.).

Example:

HR Management Course, VSB, Van. BC           2001
MS-Word Certificate, VSB, Van. BC                 1999
First Aid/CPR Certificate, VSB, Van BC            1999
Bachelor of Education, UBC, Van BC               1995

Course Title:
School, Location
Year (YYYY)

Course Title:
School, Location
Year (YYYY)

Course Title:
School, Location
Year (YYYY)

Course Title:
School, Location
Year (YYYY)

Course Title:
School, Location
Year (YYYY)

Course Title:
School, Location
Year (YYYY)

Course Title:
School, Location
Year (YYYY)

Course Title:
School, Location
Year (YYYY)

INTERESTS (OPTIONAL):

Keep this to a maximum of 3 interest/hobbies/activities that you enjoy participating in. This is useful as a means to identify the type of person you are, what you enjoy, and can provide the employer an opportunity to break the ice if they enjoy similiar activities. (Example: I enjoy reading, sports, and fixing computers).

REFERENCES:

You never put your references on your resume. The employer will only require them once they are seriously considering you for the position, and usually after they have completed a face-to-face interview with you. The standard response on a resume is:

Available Upon Request