Resume – the one purpose of a resume is to obtain an interview.

Resumés are often crammed with details that simply do not need to be there. A resumé is a
kind of personal advertisement.

Source: Phil Powell of Professional Career Strategies

• Strategic resume preparation begins with identifying what you have to offer based on where
you plan to market your skills. This is the foundation for a powerful resume and interview
• Take care with on-line resumes. As many as 70% of applicants are not matching the job
descriptions.
• Companies are using software to screen applicants, filter unsuitable applicants, scan for key
words from the advertisement or job description, and send a shortlist to recruitment manager.

Source: Adecco NSW General Manager, Marie Stockley.

• Write an individual resume for each position you are applying for.
• Match qualifications and skills to the job description provided for the position.
• Avoid sending generic resumes to employers or recruitment agencies.
.

Online Resume Preparation

Research some resume sites, and compare the format with the teacher provided
resume.

Company or Job Specific Resumes

Skills
 If you are under-qualified commence training
 Identify and recognise your skills. Complete a skills audit.
 Avoid exaggerating skills or qualifications.

Research
 Research the company’s marketing position.
 Research the corporate culture of the company.
 Research the role of the position being offered

Networking
 Network. Approximately 70% of positions are filled through networking and not through
advertising.
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 Network by calling former colleagues, employers and professional acquaintances to let them
know you are looking for employment.
 Network, if you know someone who works for company, talk with them.
 New to an industry – try to arrange an ‘informal information interview’ with someone
involved in hiring.

Ten steps to a winning resumé

Length
Keep your resumé to two pages. Any more will be too much for the time-limited employer.

Grammar and spelling

Check it once. Check it twice. Have a friend read it, and then check it again.

If you have not used a dictionary or spell check facility it will probably be binned.

Layout
Keep it simple:
• avoid fancy fonts
• avoid bright colours
• use Times New Roman or Arial 12 pt

Do not lie
Everyone expects a bit of elaboration or economy with the truth, but do not lie. You will be
caught out and no one wants to work with a liar.

Headers
Put your contact details clearly at the top of the resumé in bold. You want a prospective
employer to be able to contact you easily for an interview.

Work experience
Put your work experience before your education. It is more relevant to most positions and it
gives a clear picture of your experience.

Hobbies
A few pieces of information about your interests will give a good picture of your character. Stick
to terms such as ‘hockey team’ rather than ‘socialising with my friends.’

References
Stating that you have references is not enough. They need to be included in your business folder.

Update

Keep improving your resumé. If a few hours extra work gets you to the top of the pile and
eventually the position you want, it is worth the effort.

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Source: The Essential Recruitment Industry Guide September 2009

Prepare position specific résumés

Keep your resumé focused and do not send out the same one for different roles.

Recruiters are interested in your suitability for specific positions, so focus on the skills they
want.

Sample generic resume

Résumé - Sarah Wong

PO Box 10 Phone: (02) 9217 5566
Sydney NSW 2001 Email:

Objectives: This is an optional section, but it is a section of the resume that is worth thinking
about as it can personalise your resume.

Career Objectives
A waffle (too many words) and unfocused career objective will not get you an interview.

Career objectives are a valuable opportunity for the applicant to demonstrate:

• they have done her/his homework
• understand the demands and opportunities related to the role
• show they are a suitable applicant for the position being offered

The essence of an effective career objective which shows and demonstrates what you can
contribute to an employer. It demonstrates how you can be useful to an employer.

Work
Experience:

A focused competency list is a great attention-getter. With headings such as, knowledge, skills
and ability. A competency list should draw on key terms in the job advertisement, such as
‘computer literate’ or ‘highly motivated’ and explain how you met that requirement.

This lists works by using the employers language, analysing what the person is looking for,
then giving it to them.

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Source: Jim Bright, Organisational Psychologist

The date column is a separate column. This is important for a potential employer as
she/he needs to see evidence of continuous employment or other related activities, eg
travel overseas.

Months are displayed in the date column to show a prospective employer that the
work was not full time.

(Include the past 5-6 years work experience in this section)

2001

February Word processing operator typing reports for Senior Head

November Teacher, Business Administration and Technology

Especially selected for this confidential work.

Notice the months need to be shown to indicate that the position was not
full-time position.

2000 Secretary, Legal Aid Office, Australia:

Duties

Provide achievements linking to the duties of the position you are applying for.
Consider reducing the list of duties and describing some achievements.

Source: Jim Bright, My Career – The Sydney Morning Herald 2009

 Writing shorthand dictation for business correspondence and typing

documents for despatch to clients and other departments.

 Writing shorthand dictation for the General Manager.

 Preparing PowerPoint presentations of section budgets for the

General Manager.

1999 University of NSW

January –
December Duties:
Part-time stenographic

Working for three heads of department. Three to four days

per week.

1998 X-Ray Department

Runnymede Hospital

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Duties:
Two weeks’ reception work

1998 Nanny in London (Employer, Ms T Frost)

May –
December
This position was not requested in the job advertisement, but it is used to
shown continuous employment history.

Educational
Qualifications

2000 Certificate III in Business Administration and Technology

TAFE NSW, Sydney Institute – Ultimo Campus

Grade: Distinction

Shorthand (Pitman New Era – 100 wpm)

Typing Speed – 80 wpm

1999 Higher School Certificate

Newcastle High School

Subjects:
English 2 Science 4
Mathematics 3
History
Commerce 2 Art 2
French 3

Show these qualifications only if you have left school in the last 2-3 years. Work
experience is much more valuable.

Other
Qualifications

St John’s Ambulance Certificate

Driver’s Licence – Class 1A

Other Member of Rotoract, Hornsby

Activities
This section shows commitment to the community.

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Other
Interests:

This section is designed to show you as a person, so that a prospective

employer can briefly get to know you.

Sport: tennis, bush walking

Include any sporting activities you are involved in, especially team sports.

 craft – pottery, music, language.

 reading – list any authors you particularly like to read.
 reading – list any professional journals you read, or any memberships
you subscribe to.

Further
Study Write any study you have undertaken or you are presently
doing.

Referees

Ms J Albright Dr Elizabeth Lloyd

Phone: (02) 9463 7544 Phone: (03) 5364 7555

Referees should be contacted to discuss using their names as a referee

before including their name on your resume. Surprises in this area do not
represent you well.

Written
References Attach copies to your resume displayed in you business folder.

AIM to keep your resume to one or two pages.

Employers are busy people and do not read multiple pages of a

resumé.

Prepare position specific resumés

Keep your resumé focused and do not send out the same one for
different roles.

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Recruiters are interested in your suitability for specific positions, so

focus on the skills they want.

Task - Resume Preparation

Ban the buzzwords

Studies have shown that an average employer spends just 20 seconds or less skimming the each
resume. Because of the volume of resumes received by companies there is no time to be nice.

The reason for an application to be rejected may be insincerity. The average resume contains so
many clichés the author sounds like a used-car salesperson.

Six clichés to avoid:

1 Team player
Share an example of how your participation contributed to a team success.

2 Can-do attitude
Tell about a situation where your attitude made a difference to the day or influenced the
client. Stick to the facts.

3 Excellent written and verbal communication skills

Demonstrate¸the results of your written and verbal skills.

Explain how you use advanced PowerPoint skills to design visually effective training
materials or use Excel to create financial models.

4 Resolve customer concerns promptly and tactfully

Unsupported, the sentence does little to highlight your skills and could bring the reader to
avoid the whole statement.

Demonstrate how you have resolved customer concerns. Provide examples to show the
benefits to the company.

5 Goal-oriented, self-motivated individual

This phrase is so overused it is best to avoid it.

Show the facts. For example,

“Only person from a 20-strong team of sales personnel to consistently exceed sales key
performance targets.”

6 Hard-working with exceptional organisational skills

Everyone claims to be an industrious and effective planner.

The above statement is a cliché to be avoided. Demonstrate what you achieved for the
company and the monetary benefit. Prove that you have the skills you claim.

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Interview Guidelines

The purpose of interview is to identify a candidate’s attitude, motivation,

skills and competency for the position.

• Plan
plan
plan for the interview to demonstrate thorough preparation and to reduce
nervousness.

Treat every interview as if it was your first by demonstrating interest, and

showing that you are keen

Creating a professional impression

• Build a relationship with the interviewer/s by treating them with respect and courtesy

• Make positive statements about the company.

• Use positive body language, smile and engage eye contact.

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• Achieve a balance throughout the interview; do not take control. You cannot afford to
sound arrogant.

• Show initiative and enthusiasm

Demonstrate
• Demonstrate your interest in the company. Prepare and ask questions about the
company, for example ask about the company’s future goals and their expectations.

• Demonstrate suitability for the position by showing how past experience will benefit the
new employer.

• Demonstrate that you are a competent and likeable person.

• Demonstrate a positive attitude.

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Comprehensively Answer Interview Questions

• Answer the questions from the company, business or organisation’s perspective.
Demonstrate in your responses how your skills can be utilized within the organisation.

• Take time to answer each question comprehensively.

• Respond to interview questions with answers that highlight your successes.

• Ask to have a questions rephrased if it is not explicitly clear to you.

• Ask to return to a question later if you cannot answer giving a comprehensive reply or
ask for clarification of the question.)

• Answer question succinctly and in approximately two minutes for each question.

• Ask the interviewer/s if there are any doubts about your ability to perform in the
position. This is an opportunity to clarify any information the interviewer/s may be unsure
about.

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Interview Questions

A range of federal and state laws make many lines of questioning illegal.

All questions should be directly connected to the position and the position description. It is
important that interviewees can identify questions, for example around age, race, colour, gender,
religion, disability, national origin and pregnancy.

Other questions employers are not permitted to ask are those about circumstances, relationship
status, children and your partner’s details, your workers compensation record and your attitude to
unions.

How to answer a discriminatory question

Example: How old are you?

Response: “If it is all right with you, can we get back to questions around the position.”

Employers are able to ask questions about non-continuous dates in employment history. They
can legally ask if you have ever been fired.

Source: Debbie Jayne, a certified interview coach

Usually smaller companies ask the questions they should not, as they do not have the support of
a HR section. It is easier for them to get away with unprofessional behaviour.

Source: Dr Ann Villiers, specialist interview coach for the public service.

1 What skills and expertise can you bring to this position?

Question requires you to talk about two major skills you have identified in the Skills Analysis
chart, and match these skills to the key words used in the job advertisement or Job
Description in the Information Package.

Sample response – Being a health organisation I realise that clients, visitors and participants
to your organisation require people with communication skills that make them feel welcome,
and who assist them to achieve the health levels they require while being assisted by
professional people.

In my previous position I took the opportunity to develop effective two-way communication

skills and also learnt to pay attention to detail when dealing with customer and client
information, as I realised this information was extremely important to them.

Your response

My previous job was in the health field as well and I realise that working there I had
developed the communication skills because I was dealing on a daily basis with clients,

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customers, couriers.

2 What are you strengths and weaknesses?

The question requires you to match one or two major skills you possess with the Job
Advertisement or Job Description.

a To successful answer the weakness section of the question focus on a skill that you have
that matches the Job Advertisement or Job Description and needs further development or a
skill that you are improving through training.

Sample response - As well as being able to achieve successful outcomes with customers
and clients, I understand the amount of detail required when managing clerical work, and
the necessity for accuracy when administering these tasks. I am conscious of the level of
detail and accuracy needed when reporting to other professional providers or government
departments.

To further improve my administrative skills I have enrolled part-time in a Certificate III

Financial course, so that I can develop my skills to a higher level. As my work has
predominately been in the reception area, I feel it is necessary for me to also be competent
in the financial area of business as well.

My previous position needed me to undertake management of the reception area within a

team environment. The duties I did in this position included managing initial enquiries,
mailing and invoicing clients for treatment. I managed room bookings for team meetings,
professional meetings between consultants and conferences for outside organisations

Your response

1 Give an example of an area where you have succeeded.

Aim to match this response to the job advertisement of Job Description, and demonstrate
what you have achieved.

3 Why did you leave your last position?

Use this opportunity to show that you are planning a career path. You have undertaken study
and want to utilise and perfect these new skills.

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4 Why would you be the best person for the position?

Use his opportunity to:

a reinforce the major skills that match the position you are applying for
b reinforce what you can do for the company
c highlight your strengths and professional presentation

5 What are your career plans three years from now?

Take care to balance your response so that they show:

a a thoughtful and planned career path
b a career plan that includes what you want to achieve with the company you are
applying to
c a career plan that shows commitment to further training to keep skills current (up to
date)
d a career plan that shows you want training and promotion opportunities.

6 What can you tell me about EEO policy (Equal Employment Opportunity)

Everyone has the right to be treated equally; no one has to be discriminated and not be
hire because of their sex, colour, race, disability, religion,
Fare treatment in federal employment, sex, colour, age, mental disability, and race. The
unfair treatment to a person in comparison to others is a discrimination practice and is not
part of the EEO. The law prohibits discrimination if you are not given the same training
as anybody else.

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Job-related skills - Four categories

 working with people
 working with data and information
 working with ideas
 working with things

Transferable skills:

People Skills
 leadership  training
 mentoring  entertainment
 mediation  persuasion
 public speaking  conflict resolution
 problem-solving

Data and Information Skills

 research  analysis
 proofreading  editing
 arranging  budgeting
 assessing  analysis
 surveying  pricing

Working With Things

 knowledge of  repair
equipment
 maintenance  installation
 setup  troubleshooting
 building 

Working With Ideas

 Creating  developing
 restructuring  painting
 writing  problem solving
 planning  brainstorming

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Top 20 Transferable Industry Skills

 career planning  change management

 coaching  continuous improvement
 customer service  finance
 interpersonal skills  computer literacy
 marketing  mathematics
 negotiation  networking
 performance  presentation
management
 problem solving  research
 self-management  strategic planning
 team leadership  writing

Transferable skills are marketable and tangible qualifications that will have value to many
organisations.

Self-management Skills
 creativity  energy
 enthusiasm  logic
 resourcefulness  productive competence
 persistence  adaptability
 self-confidence

These skills demonstrate how a particular skill will benefit an employer.

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