本文发表在 rolia.net 枫下论坛I helped some IT people on their resumes, and I would like to share my thoughts with more people. What I will say in this article is only my person opinions. You may disagree with me, but please do not doubt my sincerity.
As an IT professional, it is great to see that the IT job market is getting better and better. Many IT guys get jobs in Canada, and some of them are even considering changing to a better position now. Why you are still out of the door? Is it because you are not as good as others? No, you are just not as well-prepared as others.
Many people have attended resume workshops here. Unfortunately, I think that most resume workshops for new immigrants in Toronto are not as helpful as workshops in universities or colleges, but the later usually does not open to the public. The basic rules you should follow to write your resume are business writing rules. Some people may have it that it makes your resume looks not modern, but how many hiring mangers are under 30 years old? How many hiring managers do not have a local academic background? To follow the traditional approach hurts nothing.
How to make your resume looks professional? The format is more important than you can imagine. Use Arial for your titles and Times New Roman for your body. The font size of your body should be 11.
Your resume should always be in black and write. A resume as colorful as flyers will find its destination in the garbage tray as well as flyers. Do not use any pictures in your resume. I once saw people put IBM and Sun’s logos in his CERTIFICATIONS session. It is absolutely unnecessary beside I highly doubt if we are authorized to use those logos due to copyright issues.
A winning resume should have good content as well as good format. Unless you have more than ten years experience, you resume should be two to three pages. And considering that many hiring managers only spend five to ten seconds on each resume, your beginning part should be clear and attractive. Write a brief career summary stating your expertise and objectives. You could also list the industries you have worked on here.
Following the career summary, list your technical skills. Remember: only list those skills that you are comfortable with and will bring you jobs. Some people list nearly every thing here, and it is worse than listing nothing. A reasonable number of skills should be around double of your years of experience. I admit that there are persons with intelligence above average, but those persons should have already had a good position, and bothering wasting time reading this article. In addition, list your skills in a well-organized way. I saw some people put Visual C++ under Programming Languages. It is not.
Then write your professional experience and education background. Be honest and proud. Read this:
Three years experience in one of the most famous Egyptian wireless companies
Do you feel anything? The hiring manager feels nothing either when reading:
Two years experience in one of the most famous Chinese banks
Or
Graduated from one of the most famous universities in China
If your previous employer or your university is famous enough, they know it. Otherwise, it only reminds the hiring manager that you are not so confident about your background. Just write your previous employers’ names and your university names, but write proudly, and they can feel it. Trust me.
One more thing I would like to mention on the experience session is that when listing projects you worked on, please specify the month and year of the starting and ending time. Many IT projects only last for months, so if you do not specify the month, the hiring manager may be confused, but they probably will not call you to clarify. If you landed this Jan, you may think that if you clearly write 01/05 on your resume, the hiring manager will notice that you have not been working for half a year, but to write down just 05 will only lead the hiring manager to doubt if you are deliberately hiding something. Do not try to hide anything because they will find the truth if they really care it. When listing your education background, you could list the location of your universities, but the date you got your degree is optional.
Finally, how to deal with the time gaps in your resume? Some people may only work for two months in the past whole year. How to make your resume look better? Join some IT forums or open source groups, or take some courses in the university if money is not a problem for you. It makes the hiring manager think that although you are not working, you still stay close to the industry. And of course, if you contribute to any open source projects of if you have any publications, do not forget to mention it in your resume.
You may argue that you have consulted some local people, and they do not think that something I mentioned in this article is a problem. It is true that many people do not pay attention to those trivial stuffs, but those who do are still worth our respects. I do hope this article could be helpful to your IT career in Canada. Thanks for reading.更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net
As an IT professional, it is great to see that the IT job market is getting better and better. Many IT guys get jobs in Canada, and some of them are even considering changing to a better position now. Why you are still out of the door? Is it because you are not as good as others? No, you are just not as well-prepared as others.
Many people have attended resume workshops here. Unfortunately, I think that most resume workshops for new immigrants in Toronto are not as helpful as workshops in universities or colleges, but the later usually does not open to the public. The basic rules you should follow to write your resume are business writing rules. Some people may have it that it makes your resume looks not modern, but how many hiring mangers are under 30 years old? How many hiring managers do not have a local academic background? To follow the traditional approach hurts nothing.
How to make your resume looks professional? The format is more important than you can imagine. Use Arial for your titles and Times New Roman for your body. The font size of your body should be 11.
Your resume should always be in black and write. A resume as colorful as flyers will find its destination in the garbage tray as well as flyers. Do not use any pictures in your resume. I once saw people put IBM and Sun’s logos in his CERTIFICATIONS session. It is absolutely unnecessary beside I highly doubt if we are authorized to use those logos due to copyright issues.
A winning resume should have good content as well as good format. Unless you have more than ten years experience, you resume should be two to three pages. And considering that many hiring managers only spend five to ten seconds on each resume, your beginning part should be clear and attractive. Write a brief career summary stating your expertise and objectives. You could also list the industries you have worked on here.
Following the career summary, list your technical skills. Remember: only list those skills that you are comfortable with and will bring you jobs. Some people list nearly every thing here, and it is worse than listing nothing. A reasonable number of skills should be around double of your years of experience. I admit that there are persons with intelligence above average, but those persons should have already had a good position, and bothering wasting time reading this article. In addition, list your skills in a well-organized way. I saw some people put Visual C++ under Programming Languages. It is not.
Then write your professional experience and education background. Be honest and proud. Read this:
Three years experience in one of the most famous Egyptian wireless companies
Do you feel anything? The hiring manager feels nothing either when reading:
Two years experience in one of the most famous Chinese banks
Or
Graduated from one of the most famous universities in China
If your previous employer or your university is famous enough, they know it. Otherwise, it only reminds the hiring manager that you are not so confident about your background. Just write your previous employers’ names and your university names, but write proudly, and they can feel it. Trust me.
One more thing I would like to mention on the experience session is that when listing projects you worked on, please specify the month and year of the starting and ending time. Many IT projects only last for months, so if you do not specify the month, the hiring manager may be confused, but they probably will not call you to clarify. If you landed this Jan, you may think that if you clearly write 01/05 on your resume, the hiring manager will notice that you have not been working for half a year, but to write down just 05 will only lead the hiring manager to doubt if you are deliberately hiding something. Do not try to hide anything because they will find the truth if they really care it. When listing your education background, you could list the location of your universities, but the date you got your degree is optional.
Finally, how to deal with the time gaps in your resume? Some people may only work for two months in the past whole year. How to make your resume look better? Join some IT forums or open source groups, or take some courses in the university if money is not a problem for you. It makes the hiring manager think that although you are not working, you still stay close to the industry. And of course, if you contribute to any open source projects of if you have any publications, do not forget to mention it in your resume.
You may argue that you have consulted some local people, and they do not think that something I mentioned in this article is a problem. It is true that many people do not pay attention to those trivial stuffs, but those who do are still worth our respects. I do hope this article could be helpful to your IT career in Canada. Thanks for reading.更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net