Career Professionals of Canada News Feed
As a professional résumé strategist, I have clients from around the globe who share their résumés with me. I see résumés that are unproductively sparse and contain nothing that might entice a recruiter. I see equally unproductively dense résumés, containing every little, tiny, itsy-bitsy thing the person ever completed, provided, and maybe even dreamed — and still they have nothing that might appeal to readers. The authors range from students to seasoned professionals, from clerical to health workers, from educators to trades people, from financial whizzes to organizational gurus. It…
As a subcontract writer, I don’t meet with clients face-to-face. My client intake starts when my vendor asks me if I’m available to interview a client over the phone. To prepare for the interview, I ask the client to send me a few job advertisements that represent the position(s) he or she is seeking, and to think about the types of problems solved or challenges faced in former roles. Then, I work directly with the client to create an authentic and marketable résumé. Here are some of my strategies: Generic…
You may have participated in some thought-provoking online debates between résumé writers and discovered that some strategists feel that certain words used in résumés are “dead,” while others find them to be valuable and descriptive. In my professional opinion, you should never discount or include any specific word in your client’s résumé unless you have seriously considered the potential outcome. When determining what to say in your client’s résumé, consider every word, phrase, and sentence carefully. How many times have you led into a client’s résumé with these words? Results-oriented……
For most career and employment practitioners, it is a well-known fact that a résumé template will not compete effectively against a branded résumé in a competition for a prime opportunity. It may be no big revelation to you that résumé templates are rampant — in applications like Microsoft Word, and even in online résumé building tools and stand-alone applications. You can readily find examples online of templates having been used by certified writers. Templates can also be spotted in popular sample books and even in industry resources. However, if you…
In recent years, we’ve seen a complete transformation of the résumé. No longer are career objectives outwardly stated on résumés. Employers do not welcome an “overloaded” listing of key words. Long summary profiles of two to three paragraphs are being replaced with three to five sentences representing a succinct “snapshot” of the candidate. And, outdated statements such as “references available upon request” have run their course. In short, verbosity in the résumé is no longer a winning strategy. As career professionals, we continuously strive to create powerful résumés for our clients.…
By Sharon Graham. I regularly coach career practitioners on advanced résumé development techniques. Over the years, I have found that most résumés – even those produced by professionals – can use additional help. In particular, practitioners generally struggle to deal with and resolve two main areas: their clients’ career obstacles and elimination factors. If your client’s résumé is not getting the results you expect, then there is probably one or more issues with the document. There may be a situation in the individual’s career background that is difficult to explain. Or, your client may have a…