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Latest CanHELP Resumes & Letters Articles

Certain Words & Phrases Could Stop Your Job Search In Its Tracks

posted on: 2012-10-16

If You Can’t Validate, Don’t Bother

Don’t lie.

This may seem obvious, but too often people searching for work will pad a resume without the actual experience to back it up. Most Canadian tourism & hospitality employers look at resumes that have examples which can validate your previous work history.

Do not be vague when describing your previous position and be specific in the examples you give. For instance, ‘I’m a team player’ says nothing whereas, ‘I contributed to the hotel’s profits by spearheading an initiative for the hospitality staff which resulted in five large weddings being booked at our hotel’ has more impact.

Do not be afraid to brag about your accomplishments. Your resume is often the first impression you give before a prospective employer meets you, so make it count!

Demonstrate What You Can Offer

Employers want to know why they should hire you over anyone else. Saying you ’communicate well’ and can ‘take direction’ means nothing to the person reading your resume without specific examples to back up your claims.

The fact that you ‘think outside the box’ does not demonstrate how you do this. Explain how you achieved this in one or two sentences and tell an employer how your experience and creativity will benefit them in their business. Use real examples and figures.

In the above example you can say, ‘by booking these weddings the hotel’s special events team saw a 20% increase in business last year. I believe such an initiative may help improve your profit margin and I would love the opportunity to join your team’.

Don’t Be Too General

Employers look at your past job history and how long you’ve been with each position. If your resume reads like a laundry list of positions, this may not look too favourable to a prospective employer.

If you’ve had to take several positions due to moving to a new town or city, or because you couldn’t find a full-time position with one specific company, be upfront about this. Mentioning ‘I’ve had three part time jobs in the past year but was laid off due to downsizing’ sounds much better than saying nothing at all.

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