One of the most common reasons students study with us at E2 is
that they're moving to an English speaking country, they might be heading to the UK,
Canada or Australia. And a lot of times they want to get jobs. So in this video,
I'm going to show you how you can write a resume that you can use to apply for any type of job.
So in this video, we're going to cover six important steps to writing a great resume.
First, we review the organisation or order of the resume, then we focus on accomplishments.
After that, we highlight relevant experience, then we include unpaid experience. Next,
we need to know our employer. And finally, we check for grammatical errors and typos.
Don't worry if you can't remember all of that, we're going to look at each step in
much more detail. Before we do feel free to download a sample resume from the description
of this video. This resume incorporates the six steps that we're going to look at in this video,
you might find it helpful to look at when you're writing your CV. Let's look at the first step to
writing a great resume. organising the order of your resume. Your resume might look like this,
it will start with a brief summary. As you can see here, I've described myself and my goals, then we
put our work experience. Now here you can see that it is in chronological order. But I've got
bullet points under each section that goes into detail about duties and accomplishments I've had.
Next we might include our education. And you can see some of the details I've got here. And in the
end, you can see we've got a few extra sections. These parts will potentially change depending on
your circumstances. Alternatively, it could look like this if you need to highlight your education
over experience. This might be in a situation where you've got a degree in your field, but not
a lot of work experience. Keep in mind, different countries have different customs when it comes to
resumes. In some countries, it's fine. In fact, it's necessary to include a photo in your CV.
But in many countries like Canada or Australia, unless you are asked to do so, you generally don't
put a photo on a resume. There are similar rules for whether or not to include if you're married.
Whatever country you're in, it's best to do a bit of research first. If you're not sure what
information should be included or excluded, that isn't directly related to the job, ask a friend
you trust or give it a quick Google search. Step number two, focus on accomplishments over duties.
Now, you can see in the sample CV that we've got, in our work experience,
we have some bullet points. The recruiter might only look quickly at the CV, you want these bullet
points to show the most important information first. Now, if you're say, a senior programmer
or an experienced professional, you'll definitely want to show what specific things you achieved.
Did you help the company increase reach sales or customer satisfaction? You want to show that. But
if you're looking for work in a restaurant or other entry level positions, you're probably
not going to have that kind of experience, or a need to show it. In that case, showing your
duties and responsibilities might create a better picture. Step three, be sure to highlight relevant
experiences. This one is key. Now, let's say you're applying for a job that requires you
to have a range of skills that don't always go together. You could do something like this, add a
section to the top of your resume that shows this range of skills and some of your accomplishments.
Now I remember one time I was applying for a role that required foreign language proficiency writing
experience proofreading and editing skills and into teaching skills. These skills aren't always
found in one single position. So I added a section like this to the top of my resume.
You can see that I've got a few skills and accomplishments put together here. And this can
really help recruiters or business owners decide if your resume deserves a little extra attention.
Remember, some recruiters or managers are only going to look at your resume for a
few seconds. This really helps you get closer to that interview. Let's move on. Step four,
include unpaid experience. I'm surprised how often I have to remind people of this. One of
the questions I always ask students is about volunteer experience. A lot of people have
experience, tutoring or coaching that they forget to include or that they don't think is important.
One student I had years ago, wanted to volunteer at the Olympics. And I pressed him for information
about this experience or volunteer work, and finally managed to find out that he had been
a swimming instructor at his local community centre for years. After some persuasion, he
added it to his resume. And after the interview, and after getting the position, he told me that
the interviewer actually circled the experience while reviewing his resume during the interview.
So remember, don't forget to include relevant unpaid experience. Next step number five, know
the employer. This step will help you with step three. If you know a few things about the place
you want to work, you can make your CV stand out a little bit more. What is it about that company?
What have they done that you think is interesting or important? Is there anything you can modify in
your CV to show that you are interested in that? Make sure that the recruiter or business owner
knows that you have a specific interest in the job with them, and not with other places. If you are
applying at a few different companies, make sure each resume matches the specific place, not just
the type of job you're looking for. You should not be giving the exact same CV to three different
companies. Here's the last step number six check for typos and grammatical errors. Obvious one I
know. But you'd be surprised how many typos and grammar mistakes end up in a resume. Whether
you're a native speaker or not, this happens a lot. Now, most business owners or HR staff will be
tolerant of one mistake or maybe two. But if it's a big mistake, or they happen a lot, it's going to
reduce the chances of you getting that phone call for an interview. So make sure that someone you
trust reviews your resume, it could be a friend or a colleague at work or an advisor at your school.
So let's review the six steps. Step one, organise your resume, carefully decide what you are going
to include, and in what order. Step two, include and prioritise your accomplishments. But remember,
if it's an entry level job, showing your past duties and responsibilities
at a previous type of job should be okay. Step three, highlight relevant experiences,
clearly demonstrate the particular skills required for the certain position you're applying for.
Step four, include unpaid experience, this could be previous volunteer work, don't forget to
include it. Step five. Know the employer. If your CV looks like it could be given to three different
companies in a similar industry, it won't stand out. Finally, step six, check for typos and
grammatical errors. And that's it. Keep in mind that wherever you go in the world, there may be
different cultural practices that you need to be aware of, and different ways of applying for jobs.
But I hope you got some good ideas from this. Don't forget to subscribe to this channel, and
download the sample resume from the description below. And I'll see you in the next video.