Resume Dos and Donts - Job Hunting Tips

[Veronik 19]

Good morning Vjers!

My EAD has been approved (yeah!) and I am now faced with a severe problem! Since I come from a small town, I've always managed to find work in my field without needing a resume. And, the only resume I do have is in French!

So I would like to know if anyone has any general tips on creating a resume, some of the wording and format, as well as any other helpful tips on cover letters...

I know this is a lot, but even my hubby doesn't have a resume! I've asked several of our friends to e-mail me a copy of theirs, but I was wondering if I should specify somewhere on the resume that I have a EAD card, and am not a premanent resident yet... That's why I was thinking that someone on here would be kind enough to e-mail me their resume... Just text me on here if you do!

Thank you so much in advance everyone!

Oh! And I forgot! Where do you find is the best place to actually find a job? Newspapers? Craig's List? Monster?

[Krikit 1,164]

Returning posts from removed thread and moving from the Canada Forum to the Finding Work in America Forum. Lots of great information there!

I'll send you a copy of Mathews right now.

He did a lot of searching on Indeed.com and then at the individual company's website. Sometimes there's more things posted on the website than there would be in a job search engine. Good luck!

Thanks you Kayla, you're the best!

Keep your resume less than two pages, one page is ideal and have a cover letter. In your cover letter explain why this job needs you, not why you need this job. Include the name of the company on your resume, and tailor it to them. Do research, find out their mission statement etc... You are selling yourself, not begging for work! Keep things straight forward and simple. You want them to ask more, thus getting you an interview. At your interview you can expand on the details.

Do not tell them your hobbies... haha. I don't get why some resume aid sites still advertise this. If they care about what you do in your spare time (because it is still relevant, some hobbies require time off work or high risk of injury which employers don't want) then they'll ask you at the interview.

Most importantly, keep your name and number very clear at the top of the page. Don't use fancy fonts or colors.

There are several different formats to write your resume, you may want to google it. If you haven't had much work experience but worked in one place for a long time you may want to focus on the skills you have from that job. If you've worked at multiple places then you may simple want to list them with bullet points.

I'd send you mind but I haven't updated it in well over a year and it was tailored specifically to my job and field (travel/hospitality/airlines)... so I doubt it would be much good anyways.

I've never had luck with finding work via Monster etc... since being referred is unlikely in this case you may want to visit where you are applying (I think I recall you saying you worked for a school... can't remember) but if it's a place you can walk in then do it. Also - going directly to the company/establishments website is good too. Third party makes you look like you are applying in bulk IMO. You want them to know you want THAT job, no just any job.

[Canadiandggal 49]

Good morning Vjers!

My EAD has been approved (yeah!) and I am now faced with a severe problem! Since I come from a small town, I've always managed to find work in my field without needing a resume. And, the only resume I do have is in French!

So I would like to know if anyone has any general tips on creating a resume, some of the wording and format, as well as any other helpful tips on cover letters...

I know this is a lot, but even my hubby doesn't have a resume! I've asked several of our friends to e-mail me a copy of theirs, but I was wondering if I should specify somewhere on the resume that I have a EAD card, and am not a premanent resident yet... That's why I was thinking that someone on here would be kind enough to e-mail me their resume... Just text me on here if you do!

Thank you so much in advance everyone!

Oh! And I forgot! Where do you find is the best place to actually find a job? Newspapers? Craig's List? Monster?

Awe i am pretty much going through the same thing at the moment, although i have been looking for a few weeks no calls yet. I have been using Craigslist,local newspaper, indeed, and snagajob. I wish you luck.

[Jill & Jeff 3]

Finding a job can definitely be tough. If I were at home, I'd PM you my resume just to get a good idea. Try your best to keep it at one page in length, nothing overly fancy. You don't need to put your previous work dates down to the date, either month/year or just year are fine, especially if you're trying to cover employment gaps. Always be sure to write up a cover letter that is specific to the company you're applying for, as well as tailoring your previous work experience to the company you're applying for. Sending out a generic resume is a great way not to get hired.

You do not have to tell them you are not a citizen, and I would not put on there that you have an EAD card. The only question they are legally authorized to ask you is if you are authorized to work in the US. It is discriminatory to ask if you are a citizen or not, or not hire you on the basis of only being a permanent resident on a visa. That being said, I wouldn't be surprised if a company chose not to hire because you voluntarily told them you were just here on a visa. Once you get hired, you'll have to fill out a form called an I-9 (you can google the form to get a look at it). This form is basically an internal HR form that shows you are legally authorized to work in the US. All you have to do for this is photocopy your US Visa and submit your EAD card.

As far as where to look, I got my job from Monster. However when I was looking, I received interviews from Craigslist, Monster, JobFinder and even using the local newspaper. I would recommend creating an account with all of them as well checking job offers daily. At one point, I was putting out 10-15 resumes a day. Even going to the websites of companies that you are interested in is a great idea. Many larger companies do not advertise on job sites, they actually post their openings on their own websites. Don't get bummed out when you don't get a job right away. It took me about 3 months after I graduated from college and I would assume with the job market the way it is, it won't be a cakewalk, but be persistent.

Hopefully this helped, and if you have any questions please feel free to ask. Good luck with your job hunting!!

J-

[Ban Hammer 13,416]

i would suggest that any site that requires an email, get a "disposable" email from yahoo or another provider and use that - otherwise, you may be spammed.

any job offers that come in from them, be very careful of them - and if you do go on them, i'd suggest taking your spouse. some offers nessa got from a few of the same named sites above sounded very suspicious to me.

[LT.Nora 7]

Good websites to look for job are monster.com careerbuilder.com indeed.com (this one is particularly good, because it is like "google" for jobs). I try to stay away from craigslist because it is usually smaller, family owned companies that advertise there, not mentioning about all the scams...

As far as the resume goes... When I started looking for job, I applied everywhere and got no calls whatsoever. I have applied for a job through jobfox.com and one of their professional resume writers emailed me a critique on my resume (hoping I would pay for their services to professionally write me one). I didn't hire them to do my resume, but checked their samples, did lots of research and redid my resume myself that now at least gets me interviews.

Depending on your experience, resume shouldn't be longer than two pages. It has to include Professional Summary (like a summary of you being oh-so-wonderful and polished), Experience (beginning with most recent, also explain briefly your duties in sentences and bullet-point your achievements with specific numbers i.e. "Developed new advertising campaign and increased rental bookings by 200%"), Education (most recent first) and Key words (in my resume I put it as Core Competencies, and just put keywords such as - Accounts payable/receivable, excellent communication skills etc). Do not list your hobbies or interests. Also don't forget to put Page numbers (like "2 of 2")on every page, word "continued" on the bottom of first page and also on the second page there should be a header that has your name, email and phone number. The reason for page numbers and header with your information is that pages of your resume might get split in a pile of other resumes and if recruiter has only one page of your resume, he will still have your contact details at the top of the page. Also don't put any colors or fancy decorations on your resume, make it look professional, easy to read and simple.

You also need a cover letter. Cover letter should be in the same format as your resume. In the cover letter you should explain that you are applying for this-and-this position that you saw being advertised in there-and-there and just quickly summarize why are you a good fit and bullet point your strongest qualities (ideally it should mirror what their advertisement of what they are looking for).

If you have extra $300 or so to spend, I would definitely recommend having a good professional resume writer write your resume for you. Otherwise you can definitely check jobfox.com (that one seemed to have the best samples, after my extensive research!) for resume samples and also get ideas from other people's resumes!

Keep applying for jobs, and if you don't get any interviews that could mean: 1. Your resume isn't up to standard. 2. You may be under qualified for the position. 3. You may be over-qualified for the position.

I am looking for job myself and it really tough out there! And to top that, the whole resume-interview-job process is completely different than in England, and I am having deja vu as if I am applying for my first job all over again!

Good luck and let me know if you have more questions

[Szilvia74 3]

It really depends on what kind of job you are looking for, your qualifications and experience. If your field is not as sought after typically Monster and other general job websites will not help. You need to find specific job sites that covers your area. Getting on mailing lists for that particular field is also a very good idea. Also look for organizations, companies that work in your field. If you can't find a job in a few weeks I would contact them and start volunteering. That will give you some experience and it is an easy way to network (that is the only way I personally was able to find a job).

If you tell us your area maybe it is easier to give you advise as far as WHERE to look for jobs.

Edited December 23, 2010 by Szilvia74

[Afrikan Queen 11]

Not sure if this was mentioned or not, you can go to a job placement agency/staffing company and they will help you with your resume and help you apply for jobs.

[Tiz&Adam 0]

Hi!

I still don't have my permit to work but I'm looking around. I put my resume on monster.com and ever since I started receiving calls...stupid calls! So I took my telephone number out hoping that if someone is really interested that they will write an e-mail.

I learnt that if you google the number that called (from you missed log on your mobile), you can find out whether it's a scam or not!

Thanks for your posts, they were really helpful!

Good Luck!

[the governor 0]

A great resource is to look at the career services webpages of good colleges and universities. They usually have guides available about how to write your resume. If you have a specific field, go to a university webpage that would have specifics about that field. Good luck!

[Nan & Mario 0]

There's not such a thing as perfect Resume

the best way to find out you have a good resume

is by sending it out to as many as possible Recruiters

and other people that have applied for jobs and have found work successfully

Through applying by resume

I've been applying this week, after updating my old 2005 resume

and putting it on a new 2007 word format, i'm getting more replies from employers.

I hope this helps..

here's a sample i got from the other employers very simple..

check the attachment.

sample - Resume2.pdf

[Veronik 19]

Thanks for the PDF doc Nan & Mario! I actually updated my resume two weeks ago and the new format is almost the same as the one you posted! A good thing I found was going to the library to get books on how to write resumes. I found one called "The Big Red Books of Resumes". It was very helpful!

[ThreeC 0]

Question: Where is the best place to put externship? Under Education or Work Experience?

[Moosker 7]

Simple changes.... label work experience as "Professional Experience"

- make sure you resume isn't too overloaded, make it clean

- go to the local library and get a book on resumes & cover letters (I did and it helped a lot!)

- if you have to apply for a job through an online program, you'll want an area called "Areas of Expertise" where you place specific words (eg. Budget Supervision, Facility Management) you want words that relate to the job description. Search engines pull from your resume words that match (professor told me this) and those with a certain % of words get chosen for another look

- have family or friends take a look at your resume to build it up and critique it. Others may find mistakes you didn't even notice

- good luck!