Preparing Your Resume

Your resume layout and content are vital, and the first step in you securing the right career opportunity. This is the first document that a future employer will review and will be used to determine if they will interview you or not.

A resume must outline your career to date, your achievements and this must be set out in a clear and concise manner. It's important to remember that when a company reviews your resume, they may not read the whole document. Therefore, you need to make sure the key messages are delivered to the person reviewing this.

Below are the key presentation tips for a resume:

Front Page:

  • Your name and contact details including home address, personal email and phone number.
  • Short paragraph on your career objective.
  • Education details including month and year of commencement and completion.
  • Professional qualifications.
  • Language skills. Important to state if you are native, fluent or conversational level for each language.
  • Notice period in the current role.

Detailed Career Information:

The following should be completed for each of the companies you have worked for. It’s important that you provide enough detail that the person reviewing your resume can get a good understanding of your experience. Bullet points are a great way to deliver information in a clear and concise format.

  • Company name, the month and relevant year that you commenced and finished working for that business.
  • Job title: If you have had different job titles in the same company, then including the month and year for each job.
  • Describe the company in a few sentences if it's not a global, well-known brand.
  • Job responsibilities: Under this section you should include your day-to-day responsibilities. Make sure you include the number of people you have managed if this is relevant and any special projects you have led or worked on.
  • Achievements: Make sure you only summaries significant achievements. It's important that you don't include core aspects of your role in this section.

Other tips:

  • Make sure you spell check and fully review your resume. It's a good idea to get a family member to review this for you.
  • A person is only going to be interested in your most recent role and your work experience over the last 5 years. For roles that are before this time, only include the company name, title and dates that you worked there. This will help reduce the length of your resume.

Sample CV

If you would like further advice or feedback on your resume, please feel free to contact us at Bowen Partners.

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