A well written resume is the first step on the way to job hunting success. The good news is that there are many resources available to DeGroote students wishing to maximize their chances of securing an interview.
The following tips were developed from the Commerce Resume and Cover Letter Guides available as .PDF documents under the ‘Resources’ tab on CBCD online (http://www.business.mcmaster.ca/cbcd/).
If you require further help with your resume please contact CBCD for an in person appointment, or e-mail your documents to cbcd@mcmaster.ca for a critique. Each Commerce student has access to 3 critiques and 3 coaching sessions per year.
Check OSCAR for Resume and Cover Letter Writing Workshops in Fall 2010!
- If you have limited work experience then avoid starting your resume with a statement summarizing yourself e.g. “Analytical team player seeking responsible position in dynamic public accounting firm”. These types of statements are subjective and have little value without examples of how you have demonstrated these competencies. Instead begin your resume with your education and focus on strong bullet points and a concise and well written cover letter.
- Create bullet points that contain statements about your actions and the results that you achieved, not simply a list of your responsibilities. Compare the following two statements – which individual would you employ?
- Business resumes should look clean, neat and professional, so avoid using more than two fonts, keep to professional looking type (such as Arial or Calibri) in a reasonable size (no smaller than 10pt and no larger than 12pt) and do not use any colour.
- If your resume goes onto two pages, make sure you add a page number and either a cell phone or e-mail address on the second page. No resume should be more than two pages long.
- When writing the ‘Career Related Skills’ section (which should be positioned after ‘Work Experience’), only mention hard skills, such as computer or language related competencies. Avoid talking about soft skills such as ‘Time management’ or ‘Attention to detail’, these you will highlight with examples in your Cover Letter. When talking about skills, mention your level of proficiency i.e. ‘proficient with’ or ‘advanced user of’. Only say your Excel is ‘advanced’ if you are skilled enough to program using VB in Excel, otherwise, you are an intermediate level user.
- Don’t forget to add an ‘Interests’ section at the end of your resume. This is your opportunity to show your individuality and may be a hook for an employer who shares the same interests, supports the same sports team or who has spent time traveling in the same places you have identified.
- No need to add the statement ‘References Available Upon Request’ at the end…of course they will be, no need to state the obvious.
- Accounting firms look for examples of leadership, analytical ability, attention to detail and an ability to work effectively in a team. Keep these skills in mind when you write your resume and identify ways you can portray these skills in your bullet points.
- Do not underestimate the value of extra -curricular or volunteer activities if you have limited paid work experience. Make sure to add one or two action and results oriented bullet points to explain your involvement.
- Avoid unnecessary errors by checking, checking and checking again. Your resume is as much a demonstration of your ability to communicate in writing and your attention to detail as it is the experience you have gained to date. Spelling mistakes, inconsistent formatting or poor grammar leave a bad impression and may result in you being filed in the ‘do not call’ pile.
