Curriculum Vitae - Resume
When looking for a work there are two documents which are very important: CV (resume) and cover letter (cover letter). If these documents are written by the Canadian customs, it increases the employment chances. But do not forget that this potential employer first obtains and in many cases even the only track of a person of the applicant. The quality of their processing depends on whether or not the applicant invited to a personal meeting.
How to write your resume:
Resume should include:
- personal information (name, address, contact phone, e-mail, etc.);
- your status in Canada - for example: the holder of a work permit, a person with the permanent residence and so on. Status in Canada, please specify to make it clear to the employer that he/she can immediately hire you. If he/she sees your history only outside Canada, he/she will think that he/she needs to arrange a work permit for you;
- Summary of qualification, a brief summary of your skills, maximum 3-4 lines of the most important and most interesting from your practice;
- work experience: be sure to include how long you have worked for someone since when until when (accurate to month), name of the employer, your position and responsibilities (best in bullet points);
- education (graduated school, training courses, acquired certificates, awards, publications);
- language skills;
- interest in the work, valued by the educational interests, charitable activity;
- information on the possibilities to provide references on request.
Resume must not contain:
- age, date of birth;
- gender;
- Social Insurance Number;
- some personal information (marital status, health status, race, religion, nationality, etc.);
- photograph of the applicant;
- courses passed and grades achieved during the study.
Proper Resume:
- adapted, structured and written on the computer;
- one or two-pages long;
- without spelling errors;
- when listing the education and work begin with the present and continue with the past;
- to each professional experience is in short attached a job description;
- does not list any university (school) courses and grades;
- no shortcuts;
- is adapted for each employer separately;
- when formatting remember that Canada does not use paper size A4 but a "letter" (21.59 x 27.94 cm), most resumes are printed out (they are not looking at the resumes at the screen);
- if you use a special font, or even more interesting graphic design always send your resume in PDF format;
- is not written according to the template found on the Internet for Canada and certainly not with the logo of Europass.
How to write the cover letter
Whenever a job applicant sends a resume attaches a cover letter that briefly explains why and for what position he/she applies. When writing do not forget:
- introduce an interest in a particular job, and possible where was the offer advertised;
- write about your work experience and put them in the context with the position you have applied for;
- mention that you also attached the resume;
- request a personal interview;
- state your contact address and telephone number.
Examples of the most frequent questions of the employer
- Why should this company hire you?
- What are your strongest abilities?
- Where do you see yourself in five years?
- Why do you want to work for us?
- What does success mean to you?
- What does failure mean to you?
- What has been your greatest accomplishment?
- What kinds of people do you enjoy working with?
- What is your ideal job?
- How do you deal with on the job stress?
- Why did you leave your last job?
- What software programs can you use?
- Tell me something about yourself?
- How do you deal with on the job conflict?
- Explain how you organize your work to meet deadlines
- What is your greatest weakness?
- What would you like to achieve in your life?
- What is the most difficult decision you have had to make?
- How do you deal with stress?
- Describe a mistake you have made, what you did to rectify it, and what you learned from the experience
- What have you learned from some of the jobs you’ve had?
- What special skills do you have that take you suitable for this position?
- Have you held any positions of responsibility outside of the workplace?
- How do you work under pressure?
- How would a friend describe you?
- How would an enemy describe you?
- How do you feel about working date?
- What does being a team – player mean to you?