CanadaNews’ Reporter Notes

There are lots of recent graduates and current college students looking to get into the summertime workforce. Also there are career professional who are looking to move up the ladder and find a better job.

If you are looking for a good job, you have to have a good resume. The resume means everything and when you have a good resume [with a corresponding cover letter] the world can be your oyster.

In writing a good resume, there are five simple steps. On second thought, it might not be quite that simple. I suppose that is up for you to determine.

When you write that resume you have to great advertiser. You have to leverage and sell your skills.  You’ve also have to keep the reader’s attention.

If you are reading this, you pretty much just needs to know how to write a resume.

First and foremost, you have to choose the right resume style or resume format to use.  Generally, there are three styles to choose from, each offering a different advantage to the job hunter.  The important thing is to figure out which style will work best in your situation.

The functional resume style is a good format for students that are right out of college or anyone that has very little work experience.  This format emphasizes your skills, knowledge and accomplishments.  Unfortunately, this style also makes some employers uncomfortable since you do not include a formal account of your work history.

Perhaps the most traditional of the three resume styles, the chronological resume style puts your work experience up front in reverse chronological order.  This makes potential employers or recruiters feel more at ease about your work history.  But if you have employment gaps in your history or are looking to make a career change, then there are better choices.

Arguably the most marketable of all three resume styles.  The combination resume style leads with a functional resume format, but then it finishes up with a chronological account of your work experience.  This resume format gives you the best of the earlier mentioned styles, but is really more appropriate for someone that has lots of experience they can pull from.

Once you have the right format, you have to consider the second step: assessing your strengths and weaknesses.

Don’t bypass this step. Many people have done that and come to regret it later. If you’ve been working a while, pull out some of the feedback you’ve gotten in the past.  If you’re right out of school, then take a look at the courses you’ve completed.

Everything you’ve done can definitely be used in your favour, regardless of how little you’ve accomplished.

Think about all this feedback and then factor in a couple of more things:

· Reflect on compliments that people have paid you.

· Make a list of what you think are your strengths and weaknesses.

· List out the kind of work have you done in the past that you’ve enjoyed.

· Look for pattern and meditate on all that you’ve gathered together.

This exercise should give you a pretty good idea of your strengths and weaknesses, without having to go through a detailed career assessment.

Third, is knowing how to write a resume “tutorial.” This means to look at some resume samples to help you generate fresh ideas.  Preferably, you should be looking at samples that are of the same format that you’ve chosen in the first step of this tutorial.  Any career service or job seeking website will have examples on looking at sound websites.

The important thing to look out for when examining resume samples is the way things are worded.  You shouldn’t count on “stealing” a resume from someone else and plunking your information into their resume.  It really doesn’t work that way. Besides, God is watching.

The last thing to do is to proofread your resume.

Once you’ve think you’re finished, forget about your resume for at least one day.  Put it aside and don’t look at it.  After some time has passed, pull out the resume and read it again.  This passage of time will help you pick up mistakes you’ve made, making proofreading the resume much easier.

Once you’re satisfied that the resume is ready to send out to prospective employers, let a trusted friend take a look at it.  Try to pick a friend that is also a good writer.  When you ask then for this favor, ask them only to critique what you’ve written.  Ask them to trust that you’ve put the resume together in the right order.  In short, you only want them to proofread the resume’s content, not the format.

Writing a resume is no easy task. It is by no means an easy process to go through.  So just keep this in mind - making the effort to write a resume correctly the first time will save you hours of frustration later on.