how to write a resume – BC Jobs Blog https://www.bcjobs.ca/blog BCjobs Blog Wed, 25 Sep 2024 13:02:15 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.2.9 Gap Years on Your Resume — How To Explain It https://www.bcjobs.ca/blog/gap-years-on-your-resume-how-to-explain-it/ Sat, 03 Jun 2023 02:27:19 +0000 https://www.bcjobs.ca/blog/?p=8775 If you explain why and how it has improved your employability, your gap year might be a valuable addition to your résumé. Gap Years on Your Resume — How To Explain It Gap years are taken by people of all ages for various reasons. There are many valid reasons to take a much-needed sabbatical, including […]

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If you explain why and how it has improved your employability, your gap year might be a valuable addition to your résumé.

Gap Years on Your Resume — How To Explain It

Gap years are taken by people of all ages for various reasons. There are many valid reasons to take a much-needed sabbatical, including so that you can travel, care for a sick family member, or raise children.

Therefore, feel free to mention a gap year on your resume. Your gap year could improve your professional document if you can demonstrate the transferable abilities you acquired during your time off or relate the experience to the position you are going for.

How Does a Gap Year Help?

A gap year should strengthen rather than weaken your qualifications. You can show that you are compassionate, devoted, or daring — all traits that might help you in the workplace — by mentioning a gap year on your CV or resume.

A gap year might be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to advance personally and professionally. It might demonstrate that you’re a self-assured, driven, and autonomous worker, improving your resume and increasing will improve your resume and increase your marketability to companies.

How to Explain the Gap in Your Resume

1. Be Honest

Honesty is the best policy when crafting a resume. If you have a delicate or private reason for taking the gap year, there’s no need to go into too much detail, but you shouldn’t try to disguise it either. If the recruiting manager discovers that you are lying, it will end whatever chance you may have had of getting the job.

2. Showcase the Positives

As was previously said, taking a gap year has several advantages. In reality, having the guts to step back and improve yourself or another person demonstrates remarkable strength of character.

So make sure to focus on the advantageous experiences and how they have advanced your professional development. Don’t be hesitant to discuss this, even if you were ill or were taking care of kids. You can demonstrate how this experience helped you gain other valuable abilities.

3. Highlight Your Achievements

Your major objective is to highlight your successes throughout your time off from work. You should specify quantifiable outcomes based on the purpose of your gap year. You could discuss the training, certifications, or courses you completed during your gap year.

4. Don’t Explain Too Much

There is no need to cram your resume with irrelevant details because the space is gold. Therefore, even while it’s crucial to mention your gap year, there’s no need to get too specific. Your information must be precise and pertinent to the position for which you are applying. More details can be provided during the interview.

5. Showcase Your Commitment to Stability

Employers may occasionally be put off by gap years since they may be a symptom of instability. You must demonstrate your eagerness to rejoin the workforce and earn the respect of any organization. 

You must demonstrate your motivation to obtain a full-time position with the organization you are applying to, particularly if your gap year was relatively recent.

Conclusion

Don’t just view your gap year as a relaxing vacation; instead, reflect on your accomplishments and newfound talents and how they can relate to your future employment. Include this knowledge on your resume after that.


About the Author

Simon Chou is the Vice President of Operations and Growth at BCjobs.ca. Over the course of his career, he carved a niche in brand development, marketing strategy, and online presence for startups. Prior to joining BCJobs.ca, Simon was an advisor for several global blockchain projects including Litecoin, NEM, and Ripple. In the past, he also worked with Fortune 500 companies in the healthcare space through SM Digital—a global marketing agency.

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5 Go-To Tricks to Writing the Best Executive Resume https://www.bcjobs.ca/blog/5-go-to-tricks-to-writing-the-best-executive-resume/ Wed, 01 Jul 2020 21:35:30 +0000 https://www.bcjobs.ca/blog/?p=7346 Your resume is an important step in getting your foot in the door at a new business. When seeking an executive position, it’s critical that you provide an executive resume that demonstrates you can see the big picture and contribute to the overall health of a business. Table of Contents 1. Keep It On One […]

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Your resume is an important step in getting your foot in the door at a new business. When seeking an executive position, it’s critical that you provide an executive resume that demonstrates you can see the big picture and contribute to the overall health of a business.

1. Keep It On One Page

Don’t turn in a multipage resume and expect it to be read, especially if you’re sending it electronically. Make sure to upload your single-page resume in an easy to read but not an altered format, such as a pdf. Use fonts that will catch the eye but not get in the way of clarity.

A justified font will turn your single page into a blocky mish-mash, so consider using a standard professional font such as Arial. Break up the sections with lines. If possible, build your resume in a table in word so you can add color to some portions of the table and easily manipulate the data to keep it on one page.

Job Search Tips: Top 15 Words to Include on Your Resume

2. Use Color to Break Things Up

Consider setting up your headings in a unique color and add underlining in the same color to keep the headings on your executive resume consistent. If you have a remarkable certification, work experience, or educational credit, flip the color of that portion of the resume to the unique color and turn the text to white [1].

For example, if you set your headings up in navy blue and participated in a study or working group that dealt with an extremely difficult topic, make sure to cite that special experience in a navy blue box in white font. That said, don’t use ultra small fonts just to fit everything in the page; you’ll make the resume unreadable.

Related Post: Important Things You Need To Include In Your Resume

3. Columns Count

Add columns to your executive resume to demonstrate growth. For example, your educational progress and advancement in previous employment settings will make great reading from left to right in columns high on the resume. If you can use three columns, consider changing the background color slightly in the second one for easier reading.

Consider starting each column with a keyword. Make this keyword a different color and set it to bold. Avoid using larger fonts in keyword layouts. Large fonts leave white spaces that look like an odd gap, and you don’t want a gap in your educational history.

Related Post: 5 Tips to Get Your Resume Noticed

4. Bullet Points

When using bullet points, take care to let the text stretch all across the page. Make sure the alignment of these bullets wraps so that all text is left-justified to the start of the top line, and that the next line doesn’t wrap under the bullet point. If you’re using numbers, use them all the way through. Be aware that numbers 1 and 2 alone can look sparse, so if you don’t have three things to list via bullet point, use a consistent symbol.

Color considerations can help when putting bullet points to use. For example, you can add bullet points around the middle of the page and use a slightly grey or tan background with different colored bullet points while you promote a new skill or educational effort. Keep the color choices simple and professional to avoid building a resume for a position working with kids.

Related Post: Search for Jobs on Western Canada’s Largest Jobs Board Website

5. Alignment

Center justification works great at the start of a section, but too much center justification will look like a recital program or a wedding announcement. Make your executive resume easy to read, share, and understand by focusing on the left justification for the basic features of any resume, such as Degrees Earned or Previous Work Experience. Again, if you’ve participated in a committee that was working on a particular problem or project in your community, you can use center justification, a color change, or a font change in this section only.

Consider adding a hyperlink to this section to a particular newspaper article or community website in this section. Encourage the folks reviewing your resume to find out more with a simple click of the mouse. (https://www.terrariumquest.com)

Your resume needs to match all your online profiles, including LinkedIn. Be aware that your Facebook page may be stalked. Try to keep your posts pleasantly neutral, and if you can’t, go through and delete any recent unpleasantness that you or others may have said or done online.

 


About the Author

Simon Chou is the Vice President of Operations and Growth at BCjobs.ca. Over the course of his career, he carved a niche in brand development, marketing strategy, and online presence for startups. Prior to joining BCJobs.ca, Simon was an advisor for several global blockchain projects including Litecoin, NEM, and Ripple. In the past, he also worked with Fortune 500 companies in the healthcare space through SM Digital—a global marketing agency.

The post 5 Go-To Tricks to Writing the Best Executive Resume appeared first on BC Jobs Blog.

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