Tip Tuesday

Tailor your resume, it is important!

Resumes can be generic that is if you are applying to the same type of job just at different locations.

But a few things you want to do are: personalise the look, highlight relevant material and tailor your resume to the position. This will help your resume to stand out to employers.

Personalise!

Whether it is coming up with a creative header or using colour, personalising your resume is a great way to stand out. Now this doesn’t mean put the font in crazy colours or crazy font (try and keep the font as New Times Roman or a standard font), we want you to keep it subtle but unique.

Using creative bullets is one way to make your resume different from the rest. Instead of using black dots, try using check marks or a funky shape.

You can also print your resume in colour and/or have a coloured header. This will catch the employer’s eyes and help your resume stand out. But remember, if your resume is meant to be in colour, print it in colour!

Highlight relevant material

If there is something on your resume that you feel is very important for the employer to see, put it in bold. Now this does not mean bold everything or even an entire row of information, but if you have jobs in the employment section that relate to the job you are applying, bold the position. For example, if you are looking to work as a PSW and you have done a PSW placement highlight PSW PLACEMENT.

Tailor your Resume

If you have extensive amounts of employment history or a long list of education that makes your resume 2-3 pages, pick out the most relevant to the position you are applying for.

For example, if you are applying for a position in customer service and you have worked as a cashier at Walmart and have answered phones in an office and have worked construction, you can leave construction out if you need to save space. Same with skills, if you have worked at McDonalds but are applying for a job with children, working with a deep fryer is something that may be replaced. Working in a kitchen you must follow safety rules and regulations, which you can put on your resume to replace, worked with deep fryer.

It is very important to have an "objective" section on each resume. In this section you will state who you are and what you are looking for.

For example: Loyalist College second year Nursing students seeking a placement position with Quinte Health Care.

You don’t have to make every resume as personal as a cover letter but adding in an objective that contains the place of employment, makes it more personal for the hiring manager then a resume that says: Nursing student looking for a placement in a health unit.

K. Jolley