Students

Stories relevant to students seeking advice, updates and relevant information pertaining to landing employment and/or co-op positions

The 10 Second Rule, Now Applies to your Resume

In a sea of names, your resume has less than ten seconds to make an impression on a potential employer.

It’s not your fault that you didn’t make the cut, 10 seconds is a pretty merciless time-frame to make a statement that embodies your entire work ethic and experience!

pile of papers

But, this is the reality of the modern workforce.

These 3 steps ↓ will ensure that YOU pull ahead of the pack and save your application from meeting its doom in the shredder!

  1. Make your resume a template that evolves to every job description.

Unfortunately, this is a lot of work, and not easy if the only time you have to apply for jobs is on your lunch break!

But, it’s worth it. People who are trained to scan through resumes are only going to be captivated by your page, if it begs and screams for the attention it deserves.

This requires passion and effort. It’s important to filter out the careers that you aspire to have from the jobs you would throw your hat in the ring for, just as a second thought.

It is more effective to personalize one resume than it is to simply submit a hundred, without addressing each position individually.

So, scan that job posting a bajillion times and make sure you input all the key words you find into your documents: to pass that ten second test. Tailor your resume to fit each position like a glove!

  1. Use Punchy wording and short sentences.

Don’t:

  • Sacrifice proper grammar
  • Start splicing through the page with fragments.

Do:

  • Make use of bullet points
  • Join ideas together
  • Use sub headings, titles, dates, positions and other labels to improve the ease of navigation for the reader.
  • Trim and tighten lengthy sentences
  • Use synonyms and strong vocabulary
  • Omit repetition
hand holding red pen over proofreading text
  1. Make it hard to look away from

Your resume has to be attractive. Use of white space, consistent fonts, and styles all effect the structural integrity of your resume. This site contains resume builder templates as well as tips and tricks to help “beautify” your CV, even if you’re not a graphic designer.

Graphic designer at work. Color samples.

But, be warned – not all hiring committees are awestruck by a fancy stencil – it is important to assess the formality of the position you’re applying for and use good judgement in formatting your information accordingly.

Remember, Algonquin College co-op students have access to resume workshops through the Co-op Department. Plus, you can follow what’s upcoming on HireAC.

Happy Job Hunting!

5 Skills To Set Yourself Apart from the Rest

You’ve gotten into a great college, are completing your education, and have made the excellent choice to take advantage of co-op- you’re on the road to success! We have one question for you, though: how are your soft skills coming along? You’re thinking to yourself, “Wait a minute. I thought you just said I was on the road to success. What else is there?!”

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How to Network (Without Going to Networking Events)

You’ve probably heard by now that the very best way to find job opportunities is through networking. In fact, it’s estimated that 70 percent of jobs are found by networking, as opposed to using online job boards. What does that mean for you?

It means that taking steps to grow your personal network is the best way to find awesome co-op opportunities, and that doing so will give you so many more opportunities once you graduate. Your network is the single best resource you have for job hunting. So how do you grow it?

Traditionally, articles like this will recommend that you attend networking events. These can be super valuable: you get to meet all kinds of people in your industry as you mingle over hors d’oeuvres and cocktails. You can make some awesome connections this way.

But for some people, networking events are the opposite of fun or useful. Depending on your personality, they may not be the best environment for you to shine and meet awesome people. And that’s why this post exists: to show you other actionable, useful ways to grow your network.

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The Top Resume Mistakes (And How to Avoid Them)

As a co-op student at Algonquin College, you’ll be asked to create a co-op-specific resume before beginning your job hunt. Because the Co-op Department spends a lot of time talking with employers about the things they look for on co-op resumes, we’ve been able to identify the best way to layout your resume for success (you can find the guidelines for this in your Coop1000 modules on Blackboard).

Because we review all your resumes before okaying you to look at jobs, we see a lot of the same mistakes made over and over. And in the interest of helping you build the best resume you can, we’re sharing those top mistakes—and how you can fix them. Read on!

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Prove Yourself at Work with These Tips

When you first start a co-op term, there will be a lot to learn. A new organization, new coworkers, and brand-new tasks mean that you’ll spend your first month or so getting oriented and comfortable with your role.

But as time goes on through your work term, you’ll start to find opportunities to really prove your worth to your coworkers, supervisors, and organization. The benefits of taking advantage of these opportunities are huge—in co-op, it could mean the difference between being hired permanently after your work term, or not.

So how do you go above and beyond at work, and prove that you’re a super valuable member of your team? Here are some strategies to do just that.

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