Articles : Standing Out From the Crowd: Top Five Tips to Writing an Effective Resume

By TorontoJobs.ca

Good News Job Seekers! According to Statistics Canada*, Canadian employment increased by 43,000 in January, pushing the unemployment rate down 0.1 percentage points to 8.3%, marking the fourth employment rise in six months. Within these numbers, Ontario employment was up by 30,000 in January, accounting for more than half of the employment gains.

This decrease in the unemployment rate means that there are more job openings within companies, and therefore, employers will be actively reviewing resumes for potential employees. Although jobs are being created, there is still stiff competition in the job market. Job seekers must impress employers with well written, high quality resumes that will help them land an interview. 

We at TorontoJobs.ca receive and review hundreds of resumes each week. We have compiled our knowledge and experience about what makes one resume more successful than another to create the following top five tips to writing an effective resume so that you will get noticed by employers.

Top Five Tips to Writing an Effective Resume:
    

1. Use Quantitative Information: Including numerical information such as percentages, dollar amounts, numbers of people, etc., will effectively explain your experience and accomplishments to employers, providing them with solid data about your abilities and past performance.
2. Have a Strong, Descriptive, Objective: Employers make judgment within the first ten seconds of reviewing a resume. It is important to clearly state a strong, descriptive, objective that highlights to employers that: (a) you know what you want (b) what you can bring to the position/company and (c) your familiarity and experience with the field/position. Due to the specific nature of objectives, they should also be tailored to each position and company applied to.
3. Focus on Emphasizing Successes: A resume shouldn’t sound like a job description. Employers are looking for concrete examples of how candidates succeeded in their last position, not a list of their day to day tasks. Rather than simply listing your past duties and responsibilities, your resume should emphasize your successes and what you’ve done well in your previous experiences and positions.
4. Use Action Words: Action words are verbs that add impact to your statements, bullet points and sentences. They should be used carefully to highlight your skills and accomplishments to ensure that they contribute to your resume in a positive way. Avoid using the same action word too often, and check to make sure that the tense you use is consistent. Some good action words include: achieved, assessed, initiated, secured, negotiated and implemented.
5. Formatting/Grammar/Spelling: The overall format of a resume is important due to the fact that many employers receive resumes in large quantities, and may weed out resumes that have poor formatting, grammar or spelling. Effective resumes should be, at the most, two pages in length, and should utilize either Times New Roman or Arial 12 point text style throughout. Margins should be set at one inch, and while it is appropriate to make your name stand out, unnecessary or distracting graphics such as lines or shading should be avoided. Spelling and Grammar should be double checked to ensure accuracy. Having a friend or family member review and edit your resume will ensure any mistakes are caught.

With the economy on the rise, and more jobs becoming available, employers will be receiving resumes in great numbers. It is important that your resume be well written so that it will stand out and be noticed by employers. In review, an effective resume should: use quantitative information; have a strong, descriptive, objective; focus on emphasizing successes; use action words; and use correct formatting/grammar/spelling.

TorontoJobs.ca is a full-service recruitment organization, including TorontoJobs.ca Website, Toronto Jobs Newspaper, full-service Recruitment Division and Outplacement Services. The local focus and advanced features make TorontoJobs.ca a vital asset for both job seekers and employers within the Greater Toronto Area.

*Source: 

Statistics Canada, Latest release from the Labour Force Survey, January 2010, http://www.statcan.gc.ca/subjects-sujets/labour-travail/lfs-epa/lfs-epa-eng.htm