Entry level Resume advice (aka the topic that never dies)

[Saniokca]

Hi all,

I have read many threads on this forum about resume writing, all the do's and don't's, and yet I am sure that mine has many areas where it needs improvement.

So, i am asking for a 5-minute donation full of advice and sarcasm to a poor student.

Thanks in advance

P.S. I am graduating this april so this is for a full time entry-level position

John Doe
8-9 canada Avenue North 519-123-1212
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada X2X 2X2 something@uwaterloo.ca

OBJECTIVE
after reading countless debates i still don't know whether to include it... "to obtail an entry level blah blah..."

SOA EXAMS
Successfully completed exams:
• FM – November 2006
• P – February 2007
Planning to write exams MLC and MFE in May, 2008
Satisfied VEE requirements for Corporate Finance and Economics

EDUCATION
University of Waterloo
Candidate for Honours Actuarial Science/Finance Option to be completed in April 2008
• Financed 100% of education through part-time employment and student loans

Newtonbrook S.S. 2001-2003
• Graduated with Honours

PROFESSIONAL PROFILE
Technical
• Proficient in MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint)
• Strong background in object oriented programming (Java)
• Experienced in statistical software (R)
• Thorough approach to a task with strong analytical skills
• Successfully completed Communications in Math course

Interpersonal
• Demonstrated effective persuasive skills in retail sales
• Effectively led and managed a team of fellow students in a school project
• Fluent in Russian and Hebrew, basic level of French
• Excellent team player

ACCOMPLISHMENTS
• Ontario Scholar certificate
• Canadian Open Math Challenge and Euclid Contest certificates of distinction
• Captain of Newtonbrook S.S. chess team; 2003 Toronto Region bronze medalists
• Public Relations award
• Top Sales Person award

EMPLOYMENT/VOLUNTEER HISTORY
University of Waterloo – Housing and Residences
Front Desk Assistant

Newtonbrook S.S.
Calculus Tutor (Volunteer)

Bentley Leather
Sales Associate

(as you can see mine is very short without any description - just position, company and dates - if i elaborate it will go over 1 page... should I? they are not related to the field at all.)


INTERESTS
• Reading – psychology behind interpersonal relations
• Soccer – continuously participating in intramural competitions

[Spook]

delete the references line and repost the whole thing as an actual resume with the real words and capitalizations and flow.

[Saniokca]

:)

[Spook]

I would say no to the objective.

Not a Canadian, but you have "Options" instead of "Majors"?
You have that you financed your education through part time work. I would expand a small bit on the work history. As you have drawn attention to it. And dates of employment are important.

Bentely Leather (May 2001-August 2004)
Sales Associate
- Top Salesman Award for Month of July 2003

Also, S.S. - I don't know what that is. If it is Canadian high school, in the US we just use our last place of education (college) and leave off our high school. When you get to the application process they will ask you for it, and you can put it there. Unless of course this is a very prestigious school.

[Saniokca]

Thanks for the reply Spook!

hmm, that's the programs name. The major is actuarial science but the finance option means i took a few courses more finance oriented... should I somehow rewrite it so it becomes more clear?

as to the dates the are on the resume but on the right side of the page (didn't know how to put them in here)

the top salesman is the part which i'm having the hardes time with. Since I created the "Accomplishments" section i don't want to write the same thing twice (or is it ok?)

S.S. means secondary school which is (as you assumed) high school - it does seem like a space filler to me... but i thought that "graduated with honours" would look good.

[Disastro]

Show, don't tell.

"Demonstrated effective persuasive skills in retail sales" How did you do this? You could either elaborate here or in the job section.

"Effectively led and managed a team of fellow students in a school project" Again, what exactly did you do?

I recommend leaving off your high school stuff and focusing more on your work experience.

Good luck!

[Westley]

I've come full circle on the objective, I used to advise agaiunst it, now I say that it's ok, but if your resume is going to HR, you must include it. NEver underestiamte the ability of HR to do the worng thing (or nothing) with your resume.


On this:
Demonstrated effective persuasive skills in retail sales
• Effectively led and managed a team of fellow students in a school project
• Fluent in English, Russian and Hebrew, basic level of French
• Excellent team player

I like parallelism - the first two start with a past tense verb (demonstrated, led, managed) and the last two don't, which just sticks ouyt as not very good.

Financing your undergrad through student loans doesn't impress me; if it's a big number, you might just state what percentage you paid for by working.

[Saniokca]

Thanks Disastro and Wetley!

Definitely dropped fluent in English :)

About the financing part: I made about 20-25K by working during school... i think it's about 50% of my school expenses... is that significant enough or should I drop it entirely?

Also, I had worked as a soccer referee. Should I include it? In my opinion it demonstrates leadership. What do you think?

[Westley]

I would mention soccer, but it's a judgment call. I think paying for 50% is more impressive than paying+borrowing for 100%, but interested if others agree?

[JMO]

I would mention soccer, but it's a judgment call. I think paying for 50% is more impressive than paying+borrowing for 100%, but interested if others agree?
agree

[actexp]

if you have honours or will graduate with such, suggest you put in your qpa. quite honestly, i look at that and exams passed, and would decide from that whether or not to interview you. the rest is almost filler-i expect you'll have some computer skills, and have had various summer type jobs, but as long as nothing unusual (like jail time) I really don't care. Point of the resume is to get you an interview, so make it professional, take or ignore some of the advice here, but don't sweat it too much. heard somewhere that average resume gets something like 30 seconds of attention, so anguishing over it forever and trying to get everything in isn't time well spent. One page is more than enuf at your stage in career.

[Westley]

heard somewhere that average resume gets something like 30 seconds of attentionIt would have to be pretty good to get that much attention from me.

so anguishing over it forever and trying to get everything in isn't time well spent.
:iatp:

[tommie frazier]

i don't care how you financed it. loans aren't that inventive. but if you worked through school to pay for it, you get that in the work experience section, not in that AND the blurb about how you paid for school.

[Maine-iac]

OK.

1. Objective: while I'm not a big fan, a very simple one is useful for entry level as you are likely to be sending it out wholesale to companies that don't necessarily have a posted opening, and they need to know quickly what you are looking for. Shouldn't be much fancier than "Seeking an entry-level actuarial position"

2. Education. No gpa? Is that a Canadian thing? I'd expect it on a U.S. resume, anyway.

3. You have too much "fluffy stuff" in your resume for my taste.

- I'd take the financing part out of the education system. I don't care how you financed it, unless you did something really noteworthy like worked as an insurance agent and qualified for the Million Dollar Roundtable to finance your university career.

- I don't care for the "professional profile" section. I'd split it into a software skills section, leaving out the "thorough approach . . . " line and an accomplishments section. I'd move the language skills to an accomplishment and dump the "interpersonal section". The teamwork thing may be handy in interviews for answering behavioral questions, though.

- This will give you room to elaborate a bit on the employment section. You don't have to go into great detail, since they are not directly related jobs, but you can give some idea of your duties. Noting your sales award here would be good.

- Interests is OK, you can leave it if you have room, or drop it. It doesn't do much to help you, unless you can show some leadership skills via your interests. (e.g. captain of the soccer team, organized a book club, spearheaded a food drive, etc.) The soccer thing at least shows that you probably have some social skills.

Best of luck!

[ClubberLang]

I don't think GPA is all that common on Canadian resumes... I never mentioned it on mine (or included my transcripts for co-op jobs after 3A since mine was dismal). To be honest, I don't even know how to calculate a GPA... Waterloo gives actual percentage grades (or at least they used to).

3A = first half of 3rd year. Since most Waterloo students (at least in Math and Engineering) are on co-op programs, you alternate between school and work every 4 months

I'd be prepared to answer why you didn't do co-op if you get an interview. Won't be a deal-breaker, but pretty much anyone in Canada that would be hiring for an actuarial position knows that generally, UW = co-op experience

[Saniokca]

Thanks for all those who replied!

ClubberLang is right in canada GPA is not very common. Furthermore, right now I am applying for jobs through the waterloo system therefore they will see my marks anyway. I will include it when I apply for positions in US though.

Also I will drop highschool and add soccer referee.

Since I did not get too many bad remarks i guess that I made the best (or close) out of what I have to offer.

Again - Thanks a lot!!!

P.S. my average is 75% which if I converted correctly is 3.0 in US? it's not glamorous but it's not too bad right?

[ClubberLang]

They automagically see your marks now? yikes...

"Back in my day" you actually dropped resume packages off into little numbered slots in Needless Hell err Needles Hall. Darn kids and your stupid SEX, err CECS building! ;)

[SmartActuary]

P.S. my average is 75% which if I converted correctly is 3.0 in US? it's not glamorous but it's not too bad right?


You can get your degree evaluated by world education services in NY. They can figure out your GPA as it is not calculated by directly converting percent into number. They will get the right number for you as compared to US education. It will be higher than 3.0 and should be pretty good.

[a5chen]

Don't like the following:

Financed 100% of education through part-time employment and student loans [this should be reflected in employment history]

Newtonbrook S.S. 2001-2003
Graduated with Honours

PROFESSIONAL PROFILE
Technical
• Successfully completed Communications in Math course

Interpersonal
• Effectively led and managed a team of fellow students in a school project

ACCOMPLISHMENTS
• Ontario Scholar certificate
• Canadian Open Math Challenge and Euclid Contest certificates of distinction
• Captain of Newtonbrook S.S. chess team; 2003 Toronto Region bronze medalists
• Public Relations award
• Top Sales Person award

Newtonbrook S.S.
Calculus Tutor (Volunteer)

INTERESTS
• Reading – psychology behind interpersonal relations
• Soccer – continuously participating in intramural competitions

I'd include objective. I'd question why you didn't complete VEE Stats/whether it's going to be complete by graduation.

Basically, I don't like to see anything to do before University, unless it's extraordinary. Makes me feel like you've done nothing in the last 4/5 years of note to put on here.

Make sure you have a great cover letter, Canada is flooded with graduating actuarial students with higher gpa's, more exams, and probably two years of relevant work experience. I want to know what separates you from the pack.

[Phyrefly]

@ClubberLang: They actually made grades 'optional' again, but all the positions I applied to required grades... so it's still "required".

@Saniokca: Since you're from UW and you're graduating soon, do you know what the norm is for the number of exams passed in your graduating class? I was told it was 3-4 when I came to UW, but after talking with quite a few upper years/grads, that doesn't seem to be the case... :/

[Saniokca]

a5chen,

first of all thank you for replying.

now about your comments:

1) you are not exactly right about the floods in canada that bring GPA's above 75%... there are people yes, but not that many. Same thing goes for exams... A lot of my friends have 2 - rarely 3.

2) You are right about the part with experience but I would think it's mostly waterloo students that are in co-op - however i'm not sure about this.

3) For the last 4 years I have been studying and working on campus and enjoying my life... I don't see that as a bad thing.

:)

[3.14]

It would have to be pretty good to get that much attention from me.


It was never the good or bad resumes that got 30 seconds from me, it was the big stack of 'tweeners that I always had at the end of the first pass. Invariably I'd have more middling resumes than I had available phone screens, and I'd have to decide which to go forward on, on the basis of some pretty inconsequential facts (all else being equal).

And by the way, for those who say not to sweat this too much, I disagree (unless the actual contents of your resume are so fantastic that a 'decent' job of presentation is good enough).

And finally, a big key for me (in line with what someone else said) is the presence and quality of a cover letter.

[a5chen]

I graduated from Waterloo this decade and have interviewed multiple intern and entry level full time students.

GPA really doesn't matter, if you've got exams I wouldn't care if you graduated with a D- average.

Problem is, Toronto is flooded with entry-level actuarial students; in the past 5 years, the number of students graduating out of the actuarial program at waterloo has multiplied 5 fold. You need to stand out from the herd, something to elevate you past the 5 second scan to the 30 second read. You're not even making the 'tweener stack right now.

[Daveed]

Interests is OK, you can leave it if you have room, or drop it. It doesn't do much to help you, unless you can show some leadership skills via your interests. (e.g. captain of the soccer team, organized a book club, spearheaded a food drive, etc.) The soccer thing at least shows that you probably have some social skills.

I strongly recommend that you include your interests. I've been hired on that basis in the past. "It was between you and another girl. I like golfers."