Resume Tips/Suggestions

• 

  canyoudoitcheaper on 15/02/2017 - 18:58

  +2

  Management consulting is ambitious, it's a very competitive field and the WA economy is going through post-mining-boom pains. Many of the professional consultants I've met have had call-centre experience, which helps with interpersonal skills/ dispute resolution. Maybe also consider roles in health related NGOs.

  I like your cover letter. You should consider exchanging stuff from the 3rd and 4th paragraph with STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result) modelled examples that target selection criteria in the job ad.
  Example- How do you demonstrate interpersonal skills? / Worked on enquiry desk - Had a difficult client - Worked my charm - Client happy and boss happy /

  A resume for a graduate should be 2 pages MAX and possibly even 1 page. You have waaaay too many dot points. Remember that on average, HR personnel receive 200 applications for each job and will only spend 20 seconds scanning each resume. Consider reducing the 'Responsibilities Undertaken' sections of each job, or even taking it out completely. The hiring manager will know what a service assistant at Caltex does. Your resume also looks really cluttered, like you just wrote it up on a Word document. I suggest you Google some free resume templates with better looking formatting.

  Revelian/ psychometric testing can be difficult. You should search for some free online sample tests to practise on, and remember to do the tests in a quiet, comfortable area. A lot of these test are timed, so you should skip questions if you can't work them out after 60 seconds. If you're failing the personality component then I can't help you.

  I hope I'm not coming across as too critical. Of the hundreds of applications I pumped out after graduation, I had a 6% interview rate and a 1% offer rate. Once you get the resume right, its all about upping the volume. Good luck and may the numbers game be ever in your favour.

• 

  dasher86 on 15/02/2017 - 19:14

  +3

  Every cover letter needs to be tailored to the role you are applying for.

• 

  airal3rt on 15/02/2017 - 19:39

  Your cover letter is far too generic, like the poster above said it needs to be tailored to each application. At the initial stage of a recruitment process they are looking for ways to thin out the pool of candidates, and any experienced recruiter will see that you haven't bothered to write a cover letter for the position so your application goes straight in the bin.

• 

  doweyy on 15/02/2017 - 19:45

  +1

  Cover letters need to be written from the ground up for any company you are applying for, templates are a terrible idea. You need to explain exactly why you would fit their company and be a fit for their specifications. I'm in my last year of uni and I'll be applying exactly the same as you, but every application I've put in so far has been tailored for that company. They want to know why you want to work for them, and tailoring your cover letter is the perfect way to do that to get their attention.

  If you would like to have a look at my resume however, I'd be happy to send it through in a PM to compare. You've got some great information but I feel it might be a tiny bit over the place to read.

  Also I'd highly recommend putting the mentor experience in your cover letter, it shows that you're willing to help others with your intelligence and that could transfer into the workplace by helping out other colleagues with any issues they may have that you could help out with.

  • 

    Cynicaloflife on 15/02/2017 - 22:17

    Hi, if you could PM me, that would be great! Cheers!

• 

  Cynicaloflife on 15/02/2017 - 22:17

  Thanks! New link for the cover letter - https://www.dropbox.com/s/nwglqfwsznkbvvx/Cover%20Letter%20w…

  I do tailor it based on the company's needs. It's just a generic one, that I have uploaded.

• 

  ShannonN on 16/02/2017 - 03:39

  First of all, I wish you luck finding a job after all the hard work getting your qualifications. Used to write cover letters etc for a living but that was 20 yrs ago.

  Looking at your stuff I find its a little verbose and your cover letter full of "flowery" suck up phrases like esteemed etc

  and as many have pointed out looks like many other cover letter/cv word based templates
  Its text based boring and doesn't stand out from the rest. It's likely it really never gets read.

  I have a number of cv templates in in-design or even PS format that have some graphical element included for skills section that show a bar chart approach (percentage) of skills)to common elements such as knowledge of Word processing, PS and others this could be adapted to show your "Community focus/involvement", "Social skills", Leadership potential etc based on what you want to say.

  PM me if you'd like to see the templates have a chat and I along with others will try to set you up with targeted, stand out stuff.

• 

  lupiter on 16/02/2017 - 08:56

  As someone who has just dealt with some applications from the other side, here are my tips:

  • Keep your resume short (absolute max 2 pages)
  • Rewrite your cover letter for every application
  • Modify your resume for every type of job, ideally every application
  • Only mention parts of your jobs that are relevant to what you're applying for
  • Cut your high school from your resume
  • If you can, address the cover letter to an actual person
  • Mention something specific about what the company does in the cover letter

  From your most recent cover letter, cut the "esteemed" from the first paragraph (it sounds weird). From the second cut "from my research" (we know you just looked it up online, don't mention it). Cut paragraph 3 entirely (its all in your resume), re-write the last paragraph as one short sentence e.g. "Thank you for your consideration, I look forward to hearing from you."

  Basic cover letter outline (one short paragraph each):

  • Who I am
  • Who I think you are
  • Specific example of relevant experience (if grad or changing roles)
  • Thanks (short!!!)
  • 

    canyoudoitcheaper on 16/02/2017 - 15:14

    I'd be wary about cutting high school from your resume, especially for grad roles. I've heard a lot of companies will assume the lack of a local high school with non PR/ citizen status and poor cultural fit, particularly if you don't have an anglo sounding name.