This is a topic that everyone should pay attention to who are planning on applying for work in Canada to help with a possible Canadian Immigration process.

I see hundreds of CV’s/Resumes coming across my desk from all over the world. One thing they all have in common is they will never get through the HR department of a company in Canada.

Canada has very strict guidelines on what they can and cannot have on a resume or CV as many places outside of Canada refer to it.

If you want your resume to even get past the first draft you must not do the following.

1. No date of birth
2. No sexual group (male or female)
3. No photos
4. No Religion affiliation
5. No Marriage status
6. No sexual orientation

These are huge issues when it comes to resumes. Canada has policies in place that does not allow people to be judged on race, color, religious beliefs or sexual status.

A Canadian resume contains only facts about your skills, your education and your experience.

When you are writing a resume for Canada or having someone do a professional resume for Canada remember most companies outside of Canada have no idea what an employer looks for here in Canada.

Always try if possible, to keep you resume to the point but highlight your skills for the job and your education that goes directly to the job you are applying for when It comes to Immigration and getting a possible job offer.

If you have gone to University a company does not need to know what high school you went to. If you went to University, they will know you also attended high school.

Always list from most relevant to past experience same as education. Most current education to past education.

When you are listing skills for your experience remember every job has very basic skills that you will acquire so putting them in you resume likely is not needed. However, if you have taken courses outside of your basic skills acquired that’s where you will bring those into your resume. This comes very true in something like tech trades.

Every tech trade needs to know how and are able to write html. So, you don’t really need to put that in a resume. But some of the C++ and other things are not something everyone knows.

Special skills outside of you trade or experience is what gets employers attention.

When applying for a job remember outside of your resume you will also need a good cover letter. A cover letter only covers real specific highlights that you would like to stress. You can always put details of your experience in your workplace but don’t get too wordy. Meaning try to stick to a 1-page cover page and you should always keep you resume to no more then 2 pages at the most.

So, think about it before you apply for work. You have 4 seconds to grad an employer’s attention. If you resume starts off in an odd format it will end up in the garbage. Remember I have hired and interviewed hundreds of people for work and everything starts from a good resume.

Also don’t waste you time applying for jobs that you have no skill set in if it is a professional job those are just the most aggravating resumes.

Many people do not want to pay a professional to do a resume because they think it expensive or a waste of money. Well let me tell you, the investment in a resume is your best first step. Resume writers will usually start in the $125.00 Canadian and up and are worth every penny. If you cannot afford to pay for a good resume then you must consider can you even afford to immigrate.

Well, that’s it. I just wanted to bring attention to the way you approach a resume when trying to apply  for a job to come to Canada through immigration.