2015 Mentoring Program – Resume Workshop Review

With the greeting words for a Happy Chinese New Year, young professionals from CCPAA witnessed the launch of 2015 Mentoring Program and the first ever ad hoc Resume Workshop. First of all, Fang Li, Service Finance Manager & FP&A at GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy Canada, introduced the program by walking through the 3 visions:

• Bonding: We aim to create a platform, which provides better opportunities to connect with each other and to maintain professional relationships in the program
• Sharing: To achieve our personal or professional goals, we share knowledge or experience learnt to identify the right path.
• Growth: This is the ultimate objective of the program. By participating these networking and development opportunities, everyone will be equipped with a professional toolset, which includes a best career path, the right skills and techniques, and an expanded network.

Hwelen Young, who is the Senior Internal Auditor at eHealth Ontario with over 300 job hunting experience, took over the speech by presenting what is a master resume. A unique master resume is an experience journal that should be tied to a specific job description. One size does not fit all. Meanwhile, it should be presented to provide a solution to a potential problem. The strategies to populate a powerful resume include:

• Knowing the difference between the job in your brain and the job in your heart (your ideal job)
• The 80/20 rule: 80% of your resume should be focused on meeting the requirements, while 20% should include your unique skills that can differentiate yourself.
• Being realistic, being creative, being proactive

To pursue a public servant dream, you should have a long resume, which demonstrate your experience using detailed examples and 5Ws. Then Hwelen reminded us to combine resume and cover letter into one file and to save the file, which should include page numbers, as “JOB TITLE- YOUR FIRST INITIAL LAST NAME”.

Fang and Ismail Laci, who participated in the Financial Management Program, talked aboutan effective networking strategy. At the very beginning, preparing a unique self-introduction is essential. It should consist of your education history, your past experience and the reason why you come to the event. In addition, it should cover details that make people remember you. Before going to the networking event, research is also critical. You should research about the hiring manager and the professionals who are going to the event by checking their profiles on LinkedIn. During the event, special dressing could help people to remember you. Listen carefully and don’t be afraid to ask smart questions. After the event, it is important to write down the notes and send a thank-you letter via email or phone call because these resources would be perfect content in your cover letter when applying for jobs.

The following Q&A and Resume Workshop further demonstrate participants’ enthusiasm and high distinction to the resume seminar.

We also host one to one resume critique for the participants after the presentation, 3 speakers carefully review each resume and provide feedbacks. Later, We have leaned that many of the participants started receiving interviews with the newly edited resume and cover letters. We are glad for these participants and will continue to deliver these programs. If you wish to join the future workshops, please write to us or tell us on Wechat (ccpaa-on). We will host one shortly again shall the demand is reached.