9 tips for writing a resume that will help get you hired
It may only be March, but employers in Greater Sudbury and beyond are already trying to hire for the summer.
Alexandra Richardson is an employment and career advisor at Cambrian College in Sudbury. She offers these nine tips for writing a solid resume — even if it's your first one.
1. Tailor your resume and cover letter to each job posting
"You're not going to be handing out 40 resumes in a day. You do really want to tailor, and you want to read those job descriptions and understand what is they're going to be asking of you."
2. Keep it simple and clean
"A lot of people assume you need fancy pictures or graphs, [or] lime-green paper: Not needed. Clear and simple. Make it easy for the employer to read ... [It's] about the content."
3. Re-think your email address
"Things like [email protected] ... that's for your friends and for your family. You're going to want to create something with your first and last name, or if you can use your school email address ... perhaps you can use that instead."
4. Dump the big words
"The language should be professional, however, if you do not sound like Shakespeare in real life, you [shouldn't try to] on your resume. It does need to be believable."
5. Dump the clichés, give concrete examples
"It's one thing to say you have 'great time management skills,' but what does that actually mean, and what is that going to mean to the position? ... You could talk about being punctual [instead]."
6. First resume? School was your first 'job'
"Think of the committees or the things you have been involved in ... or volunteer work ... and of course, things like sports teams. Anything that you've been involved in that could showcase some skills and abilities."
7. No pictures, thanks
"Unless you're in the modelling industry — not needed."
8. Clean up your Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram
"Make sure that your social media platforms are set to private. [Be] conscious of what you're posting and what people are posting of you ... maybe Google yourself and see what comes up. And if you are in post-secondary, I would strongly recommend a LinkedIn account."
9. Start job hunting for summer right now
"Start early. You should be looking for [summer] work in the winter time ... start talking with neighbours, networking — there's still a lot [of hiring done] by word of mouth ."