COVID-19 will not stop us from being career ready! 📑 📑
What do I include on my resume? What are employees looking for? Is my resume right? 📝
We are always asking ourselves these questions when it comes to job applications. 🤔
Tune in to the MUBS x ASA Resume Workshop to build a great resume for your future. 👨💻 👩💻
Date: Thursday 10th September 2020 📆
Time: 5-6pm 🕔
Location: Zoom https://macquarie.zoom.us/j/95768193150t
Missed the Resume Rescue Workshop? CV Please has you covered!
No worries! ASA has got your back! Here’s a quick rundown on all the amazing and insightful tips CV Please’s founder and EY’s senior consultant, Morgan Caroll had for you!
CV Do’s and Dont’s: a Breakdown of your CV
Your prospective employer doesn’t need to know your religion, marital status or blood group. Ask yourself before giving out information: why am I giving this information?
With that addressed, here are a few things that should ALWAYS go on your CV:
- Your email address: It is the first point of contact for your employer. Be sure to give a professional email that you check regularly.
- Your phone number: For a lot of vacationer or graduate roles, the third round is usually phone interview. Make sure to give the right number!ASA tip: answer your calls with, “Hi, This is [your name]” instead of a simple ‘Hello’ – makes it a bit more professional. You can also set a voicemail, so your caller knows they have the right person if you miss it.
- Your LinkedIn: Your recruiter may not look at your Facebook, but they will almost always look at your LinkedIn.
CV Structure:
- Executive Summary: The goal is to let the recruiter know who you are and what you want! In a third-person point of view, aim to write 75-100 words to addresses the following:
- Who are you?
- What can you bring?
- Your values
- Your long-term goals
- Education: If you have a good GPA or WAM, do mention it! But it is okay not to if your grades are not that great. Companies prefer a candidate with average grades with more work experience compared to a candidate with just high grades, so get some work experience!
- Work Experience: Don’t forget to tailor it to the role you’re applying for! More on it in the customizing section.
- Skills: Mention any skills you have, even if it’s unrelated. For example, jewellery designing might not be relevant to your job, but it does speak for your creative juices.
- Extracurriculars: All your volunteer work, be it for not-for-profits or University societies, goes here.
- References: Be sure to let them know which role you have applied for so they can talk about relevant skills.
General formatting:
Pick a font that is easy on your eyes and add a bit of colour to your CV. It doesn’t necessarily have to be black and white, pick some professional colours!
You can also download a template for free from CV Please’s website.
Insights from CV Please’s partners: What gets your CV thrown in the trash
In short, typos, grammatical mistakes or identical executive summaries, CV’s or cover letters will get you kicked out of the race right away! Be sure to run it through CV360 offered by MQ Career Zone before you submit it. Refer to the next section to customise your CV!
Tailoring your CV to suit individual roles:
To start with the obvious, always do your research! Look into values, mission and vision statement of companies and see how they align with your values and goals. Look at the job description/requirement and identify which ones overlap with your skills. Be sure to address this in the first bit of work experience in your CV.
Tip: don’t copy-paste the exact wording of the skills in the job description, use synonyms!
Application Tracking System (ATS) Algorithm: getting past the gate-keeper:
This is the Cindrella’s shoe that you must fit to get to your Prince Charming – aka your desired job. In non-Disney words, it filters applications based on different criteria such as keywords, skills, years of experience.
If you have tailored your CV to suit the role, you’re pretty much good to go as ATS essentially matches the required skillset with contents of your CV. If your CV doesn’t clear this hurdle, it will be chucked into trash electronically.
Tip: Do address the actual questions asked as they go through ATS as well!
LinkedIn – the art you must master!
As mentioned before, recruiters look at your LinkedIn 80-90% of the time, and it plays a significant role when it comes to job recruitment. Almost 75% of recruiters use LinkedIn to look for potential employees, so be sure to add some sparkles to your digital CV! For more on LinkedIn, check out MQ CareerHub for some amazing workshops!
Here are a few tips from today’s workshop:
- Profile Picture: Ideally, you should have a high resolution, plain black or white background with your shoulder up.
- Executive Summary: The LinkedIn summary is similar to your resume but written in the first-person point of view
Hope this helps!
If you have any questions, feel free to drop us a message on our Facebook page at ASA Macquarie or contact CV Please.
About CV Please:
CV Please is an affordable service that provides young professionals and university students with professional career advice and helps them stand out from the crowd. For more about CV Please, visit their website at cvplease.com
