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It's back to
work now that everyone has returned from their "Summer" holidays. That
means that more new jobs are coming on the market and I have been asked to
share some of the résumé writing tips that we give our candidates to help them portray
themselves to best effect.
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There is plenty of advice on the Internet on how to write
good résumés and what to put in it. Space does not allow me to go into
great detail here, so this is my own view of of a few things that I have found to work well.
1) Proper English, accurate spelling and good grammar
We were all taught this at school yet it's surprising how many people
do not even bother to do a spell check before sending out their résumés.
This portrays you as sloppy and uneducated, and you won't get a second look from
the HR department unless they know that you won't be required to write any
reports or documentation.
2) Good layout of information
Remember that most HR people have to skim through hundreds of
résumés sometimes
to pick out the good ones. They may take 10 seconds to decide if yours is worth
considering. Make sure that they can quickly and easily pick out what YOU
want them to read. So give them a brief outline of your skills and put
your most recent jobs at the top of your list of companies worked. Clearly
state what each job entailed and the skills used.
Education, courses taken, references, hobbies, etc., can be placed after this as
they would only look for this detail if you have already caught their attention.
CRS recommends the layout given on our website
http://www.crsitjobs.com/resume.htm.
Always write in the 'first person' rather than the 'third person' as the latter
style makes it look like someone else wrote the résumé for you.
3) Keep it short and concise
You may have had a busy career with a long list of jobs, each with
interesting skills to high-light. If your résumé is more than 3 pages
long, then cut it down! No one will find the time to read your
accomplishments of 10 years ago and may skip your recent ones as well if they
are faced with a volume of information.
Keep any job description over 8 years ago to 1 or 2 sentences. Any skills
used then are probably irrelevant now in the fast-paced world of technology.
You can leave out minor jobs altogether, so long as this doesn't leave a
significant time gap between jobs listed.
4) Put in dates
Always put in dates for your jobs and education. Otherwise it looks like
you are trying to hide something.
5) Don't be too fancy
As an agency, we hate when candidates put in fancy colours, complicated
formatting, tables and graphics as we have to do a certain amount of style changing to conform to our
own standards, put in our logo, etc. Avoid referring an employer to your
online résumé as this takes time on their part and they may be unwilling to make
the effort.
6) Skills Matrix
We encourage our technical candidates to put their skills with competency level,
years experience and when last used, in a chart format at the back of their
résumés (see
http://www.crsitjobs.com/resume.htm#matrix). Our clients have found
this extremely useful as they can then quickly assess whether someone has the skill
profile that they are looking for.
Good luck with writing that killer profile of yourself!
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(Referring to our last
newsletter "Retaining I.T. Staff"
http://www.crsitjobs.com/Newletters/CRSNews-Retaining%20I.T.%20Staff.html)
What makes you want to work for a company? Usually it's because you admire the
challenges that the employees in that company face in terms of the solutions
that they develop for their customers, you are eager to work with the technology
that this company has available or quite simply the expertise that is available
makes you want to just bask in the glow of brilliance (ok I'm laying it on a bit
thick.. but you get my drift). Money issues are secondary concerns.
We all have our bills, but in my opinion many people would take a pay cut if
they are able to go to work somewhere that challenges them to work creatively,
productively and encourages communication of ideas... It just means they would
have to come up with creative budgeting measures.
Companies need to do some re-evaluating. Are they willing to be looked at as a
revolving door, knowing that people view you simply as a stepping stone, or do
you want to be seen as a company where I.T. personnel aspire to work because
they know that they would be able to grow as the company grows? ... Shelly-Anne
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We would love to hear what you think of this issue of
CRS News. And of course, if you have any suggestions for upcoming issues that
you would like to share with us, please send those too.
Comments, suggestions, feedback?
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in the field of Information Technology in Trinidad & Tobago. For more
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http://www.itps.org.
If you wish to join the ITPS, then please
click here to email for information and
an application form.
LOOKING FOR A QUICK, CONVENIENT,
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... a leading provider of technical resources for permanent and contract jobs in the Caribbean
and elsewhere in the world. We are based in
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© Copyright 2006
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All Rights Reserved Worldwide.
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In This Issue:
-
Susan's Snippets
-
6 Tips for Writing a Winning Résumé
- Tell Us What You Think
-
Subscriptions
- Join ITPS
- Psychometric Testing
-
Who is CRS?
See
our
website for a complete list of I.T. JOBS
New Requirements include:
Customer Support
Engineers
(3) for 2-5 year contract (TRINIDAD):-
Responsible for providing system support while working on a variety of hardware
and software platforms and peripherals.
Job Ref:A31
Project Manager
(TRINIDAD):-
To manage the implementation of
all new I.T. projects.
Job Ref:A30
Systems
Engineer
(TRINIDAD):-
To implement Microsoft Solutions, mainly Active Directory and
Exchange. Also implementation of other IT solutions sold by the company.
Job Ref:A29
Manager
(TRINIDAD):-
To manage a team of about 6-7
persons for an ICT company. To relieve the Directors of day-to-day
responsibilities either as a General Manager, Financial Manager or Business
Development Manager.
Job Ref:A28
Still urgently required:
Systems
Engineer
(TRINIDAD):-
Responsible for implementation and
maintenance of servers and database systems and technologies.
Job Ref:SJ163
Business Analyst (TRINIDAD):-
To plan, evaluate, source, implement and maintain Information
Technology solutions; to support one or more defined business areas so as to
achieve operational efficiency and productivity.
Job Ref:SJ162
Sales Specialist - Networking (Contract:
6mths – 2+ yrs)
(TRINIDAD):-
To sell networking solutions
offered by the company (e.g. Cisco) and to provide sales support to Client
Representatives.
Job Ref:A22
Sales Specialist
(TRINIDAD):-
To sell the company's I.T.
solutions to clients in a cross section of industries. To work with and provide
sales support to Client Representatives.
Job Ref:A21
VB Programmer (TRINIDAD):-
To work with a team of programmers in the development
of new desktop applications from a given design and specification, for Windows
based computers using VB6 and MS Access and/or SQL Server. Maintenance and
updating of existing applications written in VB6
Job Ref:A12
Do you have any of the following skills (or know someone who does)?:
Oracle
AS/400
UNIX
I.T Sales
then please register with CRS via
www.crsitjobs.com
to be
among the
first to know of exciting opportunities around the Caribbean for
experienced people with your skills
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...
a leading supplier of technical resources in the Caribbean