Career Professionals of Canada News Feed
Every day, thousands of Canadian job seekers participate in a tough competition to try and reach their goal of being invited to an interview. Many will be disappointed, though, especially if they’re relying on a do-it-yourself résumé and cover letter set created from templates. Others, however, make an investment in their future by taking a thoughtful approach to each job application. They’ll craft strategic and targeted job-search documents, often engaging the expertise of a professional résumé/cover letter writer. Here are 30+ cover letter tips used by professional writers to make their…
We’re into snappy tweets and pithy memes. A résumé may cause reader’s fatigue when overly explanatory, but may fail to impress when too short. What is the professional résumé writer to do? Strategic use of powerful, attention-getting résumé bullets may just be the solution. Optimizing Point-Form Content The résumé is mainly constructed of point-form writing, a list of bullets with each one ideally making one point. As writers, we must balance the need for succinct messages with the need for context. For this reason, I have found that a 2-line bullet is…
Résumé tracking is the norm these days. Most mid-sized to large organizations receive hundreds and even thousands of résumés through the internet. Company representatives must deal with these huge volumes and somehow find and select the ideal candidate. As a result, employers and recruiters rely on technology to automate the résumé selection process. Driven primarily by the increasing volume of applicants, the Applicant Tracking System (ATS) was born. Through the ATS, employers are able to sort, rank, store, and manage the considerable number of résumés they receive on a daily…
It may come as no surprise that Canadian employers are wary of applicants who submit résumés with glaring employment gaps. Employers want to hire motivated, productive, and diligent employees. Gaps on résumés cause concern because they might indicate that the applicant is unable to secure work or hold on to work, could not perform the job duties, disobeyed company policies, or did something else that was seriously wrong or illegal. Most Canadians will run into a time during their career where they may not be working. In many cases, there…
The impact of a good résumé is truly immeasurable and can translate into positive outcomes for job seekers, including shortened job searches, higher employment, or increased salaries. In comparison, the impact of a poorly written document containing résumé red flags can create results that are just the opposite: long, frustrating job searches, no interview calls, and a multitude of missed opportunities. As a Master Certified Résumé Strategist at Career Impressions, I see a lot of résumé red flags — or “no-no’s” — that generate poor outcomes for job seekers. To help job seekers…
When it comes to résumé writing, everyone has an opinion. There is no lack of advice offered by career strategists and you may find that contradictions often exist. However, there may be more to the story. True résumé strategy is not about blindly following any rule. Many principles and guidelines make sense. However, the challenge for practitioners is to understand a range of methods and techniques and apply them only when appropriate. Following are some typical résumé contradictions. If you find yourself saying, “I always do it this way,” then…