This content provide resume writing slides

1. Resume Writing

2. 4 Rules of Resume Writing
1. Relevance - make your resume relevant
• Read the job posting carefully
• Visit employer’s website and take a look at their mission statement
and values
• Only include information on your resume that is relevant to the
posting
• Modify your accomplishment statements to reflect the qualities they
are looking for
2. Accomplishment-Based – show the “best you”
• Everything on your resume should be accomplishment-based
• Done mostly through the accomplishment statements
• Ask yourself if it reflects an accomplishment that you have
achieved

3. 3. Easy to read
• Make sure the employer sees all the important information
• Make your resume easy to read
• Headings that are bolded or underlined will create easy to read
sections
• Use bullets when possible instead of writing things out in longer
paragraphs
4. Esthetically Pleasing
• Your resume should be organized and concise
• Make information easy to find
• Pick up your resume and check to see if it’s nice to look at
• Is there enough white space? Is the information spread out on the
page, or is it squished into one small column?
• Get a friend or relative to look it over for a second opinion
4 Rules of Resume Writing(continued)

4. Parts of a Resume
Contact Information
Ensure your contact information is complete, accurate and professional.
Include:
• Your full name in a larger and bolded font at the top of the page
• Your complete mailing address (street, city, province and postal code)
• Your phone number with area code
• Your e-mail address (ensure it is appropriate – i.e. if your e-mail address is
lazyguy@hotmail.com you probably don’t want to include this)
Examples:
Jane Smith
421 Bay Street
Sault Ste. Marie, ON
P6A 1X3
705-555-1234
janesmith@hotmail.com
Jane Smith janesmith@hotmail.com
* 421 Bay Street * Sault Ste. Marie ON, P6A 1X3 * (705) 555-1234*

5. Objective (OPTIONAL)
An objective is only required if a job posting says that you are not allowed to
send in a cover letter with your résumé. All the information included in an
objective should be in your cover letter, and you don’t want to make it
redundant.
If you do include an objective it should be very specific to the job posting. It
should include the name of the position (ex. Sales Consultant), employer
name, job reference number and where you found the job posting.
Parts of a Resume (continued)
Example:
To obtain a full-time position as a Sales Representative with Sears Canada as posted on the Employment Solutions
website (Job ID: 1234).

6. Profile/Highlights of Qualifications/Summary of Skills
This section can be given many titles: Summary of Qualifications, Profile,
Summary of Skills, Highlights of Qualifications. This section should include a
short list (4-5 points) of the skills, personal characteristics and qualities you
will bring to an employer.
This section should be modified for every job you apply to. The skills you
include will differ depending on what the requirements are in the job posting.
Parts of a Resume (continued)
Examples:
 Proven customer service skills
 Fluent in English and French
 Ability to work independently and in a team environment
 Strong interpersonal skills
 Ability to increase sales by over 40% in the automotive division
A conscientious and enthusiastic professional with over eight years experience in office administration, who learns
quickly, produces high quality work and has effective interpersonal skills.

7. Parts of a Resume (continued)
Experience
Most people include “Employment Experience” and “Volunteer Experience”,
but there are other ways to organize these sections that might be more
useful to you such as:
• Employment Experience
• Career Related Experience
• Professional Experience
• Relevant Experience
• Other Experience

8. Experience (continued)
What information must I include?
• Position title
• Complete name of the company or organization you worked for
• The city and province (or state) where you worked
• The years of employment
• Accomplishment statements
Parts of a Resume (continued)

9. Parts of a Resume (continued)
Accomplishment Statements
• Written in a bulleted list below each experience
• 2 - 3 of these statements for each experience
• Describe not only your duties at the job, but what impact you had
An effective way to write your statements is using the CAR method
C = Challenge (what you did)
A = Action (how you did it – what skills did you use?)
R = Results (how it helped)
• How it helped them (ex. the company, patient, coworkers)
• What you learned (transferable skills)

10. Accomplishment Statements
Think of these questions when considering your results:
• What results did I achieve?
• What difference did I make to the business or organization?
• What new ideas did I come up with?
• What problems did I help solve?
• Did I speed up the process?
• Did I increase the accuracy of the results?
• Did I reduce costs involved?
• Did I boost revenues or profits somehow?
• What feedback did past customers or supervisors provide? Quote an
appraisal if possible.
Parts of a Resume (continued)

11. Transferable Skills
• Problem-solving
• Communication skills
• Interpersonal skills
• Organizational skills
• Conflict resolution
• Leadership
Any specific skill you used that would be applicable to the new job (ex.
knowledge of POS sales system, experience working with children with
disabilities)
Parts of a Resume (continued)

12. Accomplishment Statements (continued)
Examples of Accomplishment Statements
• “Reorganized office files using a colour coding system that resulted in
improved efficiency by 5%”
• “Served food in a fast-paced environment by communicating effectively with
co-workers which enhanced my time-management skills”
When you are done, each experience you have listed should look like this:
Parts of a Resume (continued)
Challenge
Action
Result
Office Manager 2008 – present
Algoma Surgical Shoes Inc., Sault Ste. Marie, ON
 Supervised 10 clerks and directed all activities contributing to efficient operation of the office
 Prepared a series of reports used in key decision making by senior executives. Reduced time required to
prepare these reports by 25%, thereby helping senior management to make important decisions faster
 Decreased cost of preparing reports by an average of $1,000 per month by eliminating unnecessary paper
copies. This freed up funds that were used to hire a part-time support person which enabled us to improve
accuracy by eliminating errors from the previous incumbent’s two per report to zero

13. Education and Training
• All the formal and informal training and education you have completed
• List the name of the diploma or certificate you received and the name and
location of the school
• Begin with the highest level of educational achievement
• If you attended university or college, there is no need to also list your high
school education, unless you have completed a special program in high
school (such as the International Baccalaureate Programme)
• Any awards, entrance scholarships won based on grades, or Dean’s List
standings can be written underneath as a bullet point
• If you have taken courses that would be relevant to the position you are
applying for, you can list 3-4 under the degree as well
Parts of a Resume (continued)

14. Education and Training (continued)
If you have multiple certifications (WHMIS, First Aid, CPR, special vehicle licenses)
it might be more beneficial for you to create an entire “Certifications” section. If
you only have one, it can go in your “Education” section.
Parts of a Resume (continued)
Bachelor of Arts, Major in Psychology 2010
Algoma University, Sault Ste. Marie, ON
 Dean’s List (2009/2010)
 Received $1500 Excellence in Academics entrance scholarship
 Courses included: Child Development, Introductory Statistics, Neuroscience
CPR/First Aid Certificate 2010
St John’s Ambulance, Sault Ste. Marie, ON

15. Volunteer Experience
• Include relevant activities that could be discussed with a potential
employer
• Volunteer work or work in the community may have given you valuable
experience or skills applicable to a new position of interest
• This section can give the employer a clearer understanding of who you
are as a person and if you will make a good fit with the company or
organization
• List the name of the organization, the name of the position you held, and
the dates you were involved in the organization
• Include 2-3 Accomplishment Statements
Parts of a Resume (continued)

16. References
• References do not need to be sent to an employer with your résumé
unless specified in the job posting
• If the posting does not ask for you to send references you do not need to
include it in your résumé
• Do not write “References Available Upon Request” on your resume – the
employer knows that they can ask you for them
• When you are invited to an interview, bring a printed list with 3 references
to the interview with you
• Your printed list of references should be written on the same header as
your resume
Parts of a Resume (continued)

17. References (continued)
Who You Should List as References
• Choose professional rather than character references
• Employers, supervisors and professors/instructors who know you and your work
habits make the best references
• Include the names, titles, addresses, phone numbers and e-mail addresses of
your references
• Always ask permission before including any information on your reference
sheet. You may also want to consider giving your references a copy of your
résumé so they will be prepared to talk to employers
Parts of a Resume (continued)
Example:
List of References
Jane Smith John Doe Mary Ray
Senior Manager, Social Work Professor Manager
Sault Area Hospital Algoma University Shopper’s Drug Mart
750 Great Northern Rd. 1520 Queen St. E. 10 Second Line W.
Sault Ste. Marie, ON Sault Ste. Marie, ON Sault Ste. Marie, ON
(705) 759-3434 ext. 222 (705) 555-5555 (705) 253-1111
janesmith@gmail.com johndoe@algomau.com maryray@gmail.com

18. Important Hints
• Your resume should be 1 full page or 2 full pages – you don’t want a
resume that is a page and a half long
• Make sure you do not repeat information
• If your resume is 2 pages long, the second page must include the same
header as the first page, except it only needs to contain your name, e-
mail address and “Page 2/2”
Parts of a Resume (continued)