Co-op, workstudy, on-campus jobs
Sign in to book an Appointment
Advice, strategies & resources
Employers, post your jobs
Resumes
Detailed Resume Handout 
Brief Resume Handout
The resume is one of the major marketing tools you will use as a job hunter - it provides the reader with a brief summary of your abilities, education, experience and skills. It is NOT a personal history. It is a personal advertisement, and as such it is important that it be carefully constructed.
There are three basic steps to making a strong resume:
1. Personal assessment - assess your skills and abilities
2. Research your potential career fields and employers
3. Present the results in a comprehensive and attractive document which demonstrates the contributions you will make to your future employer
1) Personal Assessment
- What are your career goals? What is your immediate job objective?
- Why are you looking at the career or industry you have chosen? What special skills do you have that will help you succeed?
- What have you done in school and for work?
- What skills did you learn from these activities
- What are your special strengths? How do you apply these to a work environment?
2) Industry Research
- Find out what skills and qualifications potential employers look for
- Locate job postings or job descriptions available
3) Presentation
- Decide how to present your information. The most common formats for new graduates are combination/chronological and functional. Determining which one is right for you is as easy as deciding where you have been and where you wish to go next.
Chronological/Combined
- Emphasizes skills, abilities and work history
- Emphasizes the positions you have held and the companies where you have worked
- Most appropriate for people who have a long labour history with no large gaps between jobs; also when you are not changing drastically your career direction
- Most appropriate for those with strong editing skills, as this type of resume tends to be overly repetitious
- Samples
Functional
- Emphasizes your abilities and accomplishments without providing detailed background information on where and when you acquired these skills
- Most appropriate for recent grads or mid-career changers
- Be aware that some employers dislike this style as it can be used to hide spotty employment records
- Samples
Your resume is a personal document and needs to be tailor-made. For assistance with resume development, make an appointment with a Student Employment Coordinator. Please call our office (250.371.5627) or stop by Old Main room 1712 to make an appointment.