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Outline of a Chronological Resume for BCom Students

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Hari B. Varshney Business Career Centre Sauder Career Success Cycle

Outline of a Chronological Resume ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Chronological Resume is the resume of choice for most recruiters and a one page resume is generally what campus recruiters prefer with two pages being the maximum.. This format allows recruiters to efficiently find the relevant information they are looking for and allows candidates to tailor their skills to the specific posting without getting into unnecessary detail. Below are the key components you should include, as well as some optional sections depending on the role to which you are applying. Much of this information has been gathered from direct employer feedback.

1. Name and Contact Information 2. Profile or Key Competencies 3. Computer Skills (for students targeting jobs using their technology skills) 4. Education (relevant academic projects can also be added) 5. Work Experience (most recent jobs listed first) 6. Extra-curricular Activities 7. Skills and Interests

Name Your name should be in capitals and/or boldface. If you generally use a different first name, put your legal first name in quotation marks after your preferred first name. i.e. Shawn “Xiaoyang” Yan. Or, if you prefer, simply note the name you wish to go by, i.e. Shawn Yan.

Contact Information Include address, city, province, postal code, e-mail address, web site/ personalized LinkedIn URL (optional), and current telephone number. Ensure that a message can be left on your telephone voice-mail or with a reliable person who is fluent in English. Your voice-mail should be brief and professional. Check your email messages and LinkedIn profile daily as some recruiters are using these mediums as their primary means of communication with applicants. Create a ‘letterhead’ or ‘header’ that you like and will use on all your career management tools (e.g., resumes, cover letters, transcripts, references, thank you letters, proposals, etc.). This is your form of branding. Contact information should appear on any subsequent pages (e.g., page two of your resume). This is where using the header comes in handy.

Ensure your contact information is

UP-TO-DATE.

JOHN “YIN” YANG http://ca.linkedin.com/in/yourname

1234 Magnolia Terrace 604.123.4567

Burnaby, BC V5M 1M1 [email protected]

Make sure this is a professional answering machine and a professional email address.

Passive contact info Active contact info

Remember recruiters look at a resume initially

for

6 - 10 seconds!

So it is imperative to only include relevant and tailored specific

information

http://help.linkedin.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/87


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Style is a personal preference; however please keep in mind the formality of the corporate culture and type of position to which you are applying to guide your style choice.

Profile / Key Competencies/ Summary of Qualifications

The profile replaces the old notion of the ‘Objective’. In a few lines, it highlights your skills, traits and

accomplishments that are included in the body of your resume. It presents the most relevant information

about you to the reader, helping you to be screened to the “yes” pile. You have less than 10 seconds to get

the reader’s interest – so make it easy for them. Feed them all the good (most relevant) stuff in here – right at

the top of the resume! Be sure to include fluent language skills and relevant technical skills in your profile if

applicable.

Using a Profile (paragraph) or Key Competencies (bulleted list) is a matter of personal preference but only

use one, or the other, not both.

*Profiles are not used in one-page consulting resumes or in capital markets finance resumes.

PROFILE

Bilingual Sauder School of Business third year BCom Real Estate student with over two years of analytical and customer service experience. A proven self-starter with strong leadership and communication skills developed through executive positions held in student organizations. Proficient in Microsoft Office with good knowledge of Microsoft Access. Fluent in English and Mandarin, with conversational Spanish.

JOHN “YIN” YANG 1234 Magnolia Terrace 604.123.4567 Burnaby, BC V5M 1M1 [email protected]

J O H N Y A N G

1234 Magnolia Terrace, Burnaby, BC V5M 1M1 ■ ( 6 0 4 ) 123-4567 ■ [email protected]

JOHN “YIN” YANG 1234 Magnolia Terrace, Burnaby, BC V5M 1M1 (604) 123-4567 [email protected]


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Key Competencies/Highlight of Qualifications (alternative to including a Profile)

Competencies, what you are good at and also like to do, are your key selling features or differentiators in

addition to your work experience. This section provides a mini snapshot of what you could contribute if hired

and helps the employer make the choice around whether you are a right fit. This section should be limited to

three to six concise bulleted statements summarizing your experience, qualifications and top skills. Be sure

to refer to any applicable job, company and industry research when deciding on what key points to list.

The main difference between a Profile and Key Competencies is that Key

Competencies are in bullet form whereas a Profile is a paragraph.

Bullet 1 should include your title and experience you bring to the position:

Three years of sales and customer service experience in the food

and beverage industry

or

Bachelor of Commerce graduate with 2 years experience working in

a professional office environment

*It is best to use a sentence that incorporates the word “experience” in the first bullet.

Bullet 2/3: Should highlight the key skills, strengths, experience and/or attributes the employer is looking for:

Entrepreneurial spirit with a passion for social media, digital brand building and customer service

Resourceful in nature with the ability to think creatively and generate ideas combined with a strong analytical skill set

Culturally sensitive with the ability to adapt to diverse and international business environments

Skills: These are things you have learned through training and practice and need to qualify in your resume as

to your ability to implement them.

Attribute: is considered to be a quality or characteristic of a person and it is usually a softer skill. Examples

could include: responsible, disciplined, shows initiative. These are very important because they act as

supporting qualities that enable you to be successful at your skills/strengths.

KEY COMPETENCIES

Four years marketing and sales experience in retail industry

Proven skills in executing marketing projects with sales returns for large international clients

Strong interpersonal skills with a solid ability to lead teams and projects

TIP: Refer to your StrengthsFinder results to help

identify some of your key

strengths.


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Computer Skills

Recruiters looking for MIS(BTM) professionals have requested that your IT skills appear at the beginning of your resume. They can quickly assess if your technology skills match their needs. Generally this section does not appear under its own heading UNLESS you have extensive skills and believe it will help market yourself in your targeted position. If you are applying for a job that does not require extensive IT skills, list your computer skills in the “Skills and Interests” section. Categorize your skills using subheadings such as Languages, Platforms and Applications.

Education

Note your education after your Profile/Key Competencies. This highlights that you offer recent and relevant business training as well as signifies what you are currently pursuing or have done most recently. State the following:

Current Degree:

Title of Degree, Option (include Co-op if applicable), Name of School, Location of School, and Completion Month/Date (e.g. Bachelor of Commerce, Marketing, Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Completion May 20XX).

GPA or Honours.

Scholarship and Awards (university only) – brief description on what it was awarded for.

Courses related to the position you are seeking. Limit list to a maximum of eight courses. (Optional – only if it adds value)

Class projects involving use of industry related skills. Highlight your experience solving real business problems.

Specialized Training:

Note training related to the position/career you are targeting (e.g. Canadian Securities Course; Java Programming-BCIT; Chartered Financial Analyst).

High School Diploma:

You no longer need to note your high school diploma on your resume after your first year.

If you are targeting a job in MIS or the IT

industry, include your IT skills below

your profile.

COMPUTER SKILLS Operating Systems: Linux Server; Microsoft Windows 7, XP, Vista; MacOS Applications: MS Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint); MS Access; Project;

Adobe Photoshop, AutoCAD; Corel; Oracle; FoxPro; Bloomberg Network Administration: Windows NT4 and W2K; file server; mail server; proxy server;

security; firewalls Web Authoring: HTML; Dreamweaver; Fireworks; Flash; Java; Frontpage; Datalog


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Consulting/Finance formatting?

EDUCATION

Bachelor of Commerce, Accounting Completion: May 20XX

Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC

Relevant Courses: Financial Accounting (82%); Managerial Economics (84%)

UBC Entrance Scholarship, 20XX – awarded for achieving high school final average of 94%

Key Academic Project: Winery Expansion Plan, 20XX – as part of a three person team,

conducted a market expansion plan for a winery exploring the market exporting to Japan.

Established credibility by researching industry, conducting a SWOT analysis and presenting

recommendations to shareholders and professor.

Exchange Program 20XX-20XX

ESADE, Barcelona, Spain

Studied implications of European influence on marketing campaigns

Transfer Program 20XX-20XX

Camosun College, Vancouver, BC

Dean’s Honour Roll: 200X, 200Y – awarded for achieving an average over 80%

Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) – Level 1 Candidate Exam June 20XX

CFA Institute

Canadian Securities Course 20XX Canadian Securities Institute, Toronto, ON

Education Completion: 20XX

Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada Bachelor of Commerce – Specialization: Transportation and Logistics Awarded the President’s Entrance Scholarship Related Courses: Logistics Service Management, Supply-Chain Management

Additional Courses

E-Business and Supply-Chain Management Applied Project Management Managerial Accounting


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Work Experience

This is the key area recruiters examine to assess your suitability for a position. They are specifically looking to see if your experience and skills match the requirements of the position for which they are recruiting, so it is important to spend time focusing on relevant information.

Recruiters review your competencies in areas such as leadership, decision-making, initiative, flexibility, customer service, team orientation, results achievement, analytical thinking, time management, and communication skills. Be sure to assess the requirements of the employer, and specifically describe how you have developed these skills through your work experience.

Describe in detail your position using key ‘accomplishments’l. This allows you to demonstrate your transferable skills and core strengths. Use strong action verbs (see below for examples) to describe your accomplishments and skills. Format:

List experience in reverse chronological order – most recent first.

Name of employer, location (city, province or country).

Descriptive sentence. If the nature of the company is not recognized by its name, you may include a sentence explaining what it is that they do. This is very handy for international work experience.

Position title. If the job title is directly related to the career you are targeting, then you may list the job title ahead of the name of the employer. Alternatively, if the employer is a well-known corporation, it may be more prestigious to note the name of employer first. Just be consistent throughout all sections.

If position details are too long, list the position and company details on two separate lines. One line should include the position title and the other should include the company name, city and province. Specify the country only if the job is/was located outside of Canada.

Dates of employment. Use only years – no months. Right aligned.

Accomplishment statements demonstrating your specific skills and how they benefited the employer.

Concise and specific phrases instead of complete sentences. Do not use first person (e.g. “I” or “me”) and eliminate unnecessary words such as “the, “a”, “an”, etc.

Use action verbs in the past tense to start each point (unless you are currently performing a job).

Use business and technical terms, volumes, or dollar amounts that describe your work. Quantify your experiences by noting %, # and $. If you increased profitability, note it in dollars ($) or by percentages (%). If you led a project team, note the number of team members. Note that numbers 1-9 are spelled out (e.g. nine) whereas 10 or greater is shown in digits.

Where applicable, use industry related terms/jargon to

describe your work experience. Avoid company specific

terms.


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How to Write Accomplishment Statements Some action verbs are more result oriented than others. The key verbs to express your accomplishments are:

Attained

Exceeded

Eliminated

Increased

Improved

Decreased

Maximized

Minimized

Reduced

Saved

Surpassed

Formula for creating “Accomplishment Statements” Accomplishment verb + Transferable + Quantifying a scope of = Accomplishment Statement with result Skill what was accomplished (result of what you did)

WORK EXPERIENCE

COMPANY NAME, City, Prov, 20XX-20YY

Customer Service Representative (CSR) Exceeded branch CSR goal by 50% in TD product sales by clearly identifying customer needs

Achieved “Employee of the Month” and two customer service awards through attention to detail by minimizing errors in orders and greeting every customer with a smile

Selected by management out of a group of seven to train two new hires resulting in trainees

surpassing standards for new CSR’s by 45%

Note: use of bolding, italics and underlining in bulleted statements above is for instructional

purposes only. Do not do this in your resume.

Accomplishment verb + Transferable + Quantifying a scope of = Accomplishment Statement with result (proof) Skill what was accomplished

WORK EXPERIENCE

COMPANY NAME City, Country

Customer Service Representative, CSR, 20XX-20YY

Exceeded branch CSR goal by 50% in TD product sales by clearly identifying customer needs

Achieved “Employee of the Month” and two customer service awards through attention to detail by minimizing errors in orders and greeting every customer with a smile


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When updating your resume, the following examples may help you to move from an activity based approach to an accomplishment based approach. EXAMPLE 1: Old Style – Activity-based:

Developed and implemented divisional and store merchandise plans. New Style – Accomplishment-based:

Increased sales by 22% through developing and implementing divisional store merchandising plans.

EXAMPLE 2: Old Style – Activity-based:

Created marketing campaigns for new product launches. New Style – Accomplishment-based:

Exceeded sales targets by 10% through designing an innovative marketing campaign developed through extensive competitor analyses, targeting untapped market sectors, and working with dealers to develop stronger merchandising incentives.

Accomplishment Verb

with result

Transferable Skill

describing what skill-set you used

Quantify the scope

of what you did

Examples Examples Examples

Generated over 35,000 unique hits per month

by developing and managing

a 200 page, active server commercial site within 6 months of going live.

Increased annual sales by 55%

through gathering and analyzing data to develop and implement a new marketing campaign

raising sales from $11 million to $17 million in three years.

Saved $10,000 annually

by developing an innovative, cost-effective concept in project management through

assigning the design engineering to outside contractors.

Surpassed quality control standards

through implementing

ISO training programs for 650 production employees.


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Extra-curricular Activities or Community Involvement

Recruiters are interested in assessing your volunteer work for your employability skills in areas such as leadership, management, and problem solving. These activities also give an employer an indication of what you are like as a person. Include:

Volunteer activities (list in reverse chronological order; include your leadership roles)

Involvement in Sauder School of Business clubs and professional associations (include any leadership roles held)

Participation in team sports (including the level of competition and your role)

Optional Sections Con’t The following headings may be optional depending on your own personal experience. Note: List activities within the last couple of years. Ensure that formatting is consistent across all sections of your resume.

You may choose to rephrase this section to best reflect your activities. Other appropriate titles include “Community Involvement” or “Leadership.”

Use the Extra-curricular Activities section to

highlight your key skills & competencies related

to the job you are targeting.

EXTRA-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

UBC STUDENT TAX ASSISTANT CLINIC FOR STUDENTS, UBC 20XX-Present Tax Volunteer

Completed three error free tax returns per hour by scanning relevant information and accurately reporting on tax forms

VANCOUVER COLLEGE, Vancouver, BC 20XX-20YY Assistant Rector

Improved team cohesiveness while managing a 15 person organizing team in planning and coordinating a five day retreat for over 75 students

VANCOUVER COLLEGE STUDENT COUNCIL, Vancouver, BC 2007-2008 Public Relations Officer

Awarded “Man of our Times Award” by exhibiting excellent leadership qualities through planning and implementing a multi-event fundraiser which raised over $1500 for water projects in Africa

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT ___________________________________________________________________________

Tax Volunteer 2008-Present UBC Student Tax Assistant Clinic for Students, UBC, Vancouver, BC

Completed three error free tax returns per hour by scanning relevant information and accurately reporting on tax forms

Assistant Rector 2007-2008 Vancouver College, Vancouver, BC

Improved team cohesiveness while managing a 15 person organizing team in planning and coordinating a five day retreat for over 75 students


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Skills and Interests List your skills and interests/hobbies that are team based, goal oriented, social, and/or industry related (e.g. marathon runner, rugby, e-trading, golf). This is again to illustrate that you are a balanced and well-rounded individual. Highlight your computer skills or unique training in this section. While this is not a mandatory section, we have heard of employers who have based their hiring decision between two competitive candidates on this particular section.

Note: Try to include a variety of interests including team activities, especially if you are interested in external roles such as consulting and business development.

Two- Page Resumes

If you choose to have a two-page resume, always remember to number your pages and put your

name on the second page either in a header at the top similar to your first page or in a footer.

Without the page numbering and your name on page two, you run the risk of your pages being

separated and the recruiter not being able to match them up again.

Example of Bottom of Page One ….

Education

LONDON DRUGS, Burnaby, BC 20XX-20XX Pharmacist Assistant

Attained a 100% error free record by learning detailed characteristics for 25 pharmaceutical drugs and filling over 200 prescriptions

Implemented a new organizational method for prescriptions enhancing customer service efficiency

Acknowledged by chief pharmacist for “great attitude where all employees loved working with me.”

Page 1 of 2 It is clearly indicated that this document continues onto page 2!

SKILLS AND INTERESTS Computer Skills: Bloomberg, Excel (charting, DCF analysis)

Interests: Golf, mountain biking, competitive hockey, ultimate frisbee, photography (landscapes)

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