Resume & Interview Tips from a Career Coach in Canada

Almost half of Canadians live paycheque to paycheque, with monetary nervousness highest in Ontario in comparison with different provinces. What provides? Hovering grocery costs, a housing disaster, and excessive family debt are some components. 

Our credit counsellors know this all too effectively with the inflow of calls they’ve acquired currently from Canadians looking for assist to get out of debt. 

So what are you able to do? 

The primary lever is to decrease bills and scale back debt. A fast name to our certified credit counsellors can get you began heading in the right direction. However the different lever is to extend your earnings, which could appear like a profession change, increase, or facet hustle. A profession coach will help you enhance your earnings potential with resume assist and interview prep.

In the latest Moolala: Money Made Simple podcast, Credit score Canada CEO Bruce Sellery sat down with Taylor Urquhart, Lead of Certainly’s Job Squad division, to speak about profession teaching in Canada. 

“The Job Squad companions with neighborhood organizations to assist job seekers going through limitations discover their subsequent position,” explains Urquhart. 

Beneath, we’ll cowl some highlights from their dialog, together with profession teaching, resume and interview greatest practices, and how one can elevate your income this yr with Credit score Canada and Indeed.

What’s profession teaching?

A profession coach helps you market your self as successfully as attainable so you possibly can transfer up in your profession, discover new work alternatives, and even swap gears to a distinct subject. They seek the advice of with you one-on-one that can assist you determine your strengths and expertise, fill in any gaps, and tailor your interview expertise, resume, and canopy letter to greatest assist your profession objectives. 

Anybody can profit from profession teaching, whether or not you’re returning to the workforce after a protracted hiatus as a stay-at-home father or mother or seeking to stage up as an govt. Urquhart describes the job search as basically promoting your self — a brand new idea for a lot of, however not not possible to grasp: 

“Typically, a bit of little bit of steering will be wanted to tailor their resume and make it possible for all the nice expertise and belongings they possess are being portrayed in the most effective gentle attainable.”

Right here’s some steering Urquhart shares with Bruce within the Moolala interview:

1. Preserve your resume succinct but related and correct

The 2-page rule for resumes stays related as we speak, as HR professionals favor resumes that get to the purpose. However you continue to have to ensure you seize all the appropriate particulars.

Urquhart’s standards for a successful resume is:

“Being succinct whereas additionally being detailed sufficient that you simply seize the eye of whoever it’s scanning by means of and studying that resume.”

However do you ever discover that the job hunt appears like deja vu? That’s only a pure results of reviewing numerous job advertisements for comparable roles. Many job descriptions on your dream profession will find yourself sharing key phrases inside the job titles, duties, and position descriptions. 

However Urquhart factors out that these frequent components act as a fantastic baseline on your resume:

“You wish to just be sure you’re encapsulating that [those common job details] in your individual skillset and your individual efficiency, and the best way that you’re showcasing your self in order that whether or not it’s the recruiter or the HR supervisor, or whoever it’s scanning by means of your resume, sees these similarities as effectively and hopefully strikes you to the subsequent step of the interview course of.”

One other vital resume tip: don’t oversell your self with experiences that exaggerate your true job historical past — it’ll come again to chunk you ultimately. Your expertise and competency ought to be correct in your resume so that you simply set the appropriate expectations.

You’ve coated relevance and accuracy, however how about succinctness? This comes within the resume edit. Assessment your resume and reduce out something that feels too flowery or irrelevant to the position. 

2. Analysis the employer

Employers admire it if you take the time to study them. This helps you stand out from the a whole lot and even 1000’s of different candidates making use of for a similar place.

“It’s vital which you could pull out some little information or tidbits about that firm, why you wish to work there, why their distinctive mission actually speaks to you,” advises Urquhart.

To begin your analysis, take a look at the employer’s:

• Firm web site: Take a look at the companies web page to know precisely how the group helps its clients. You may also use the web site to study extra about firm values and pointers.
• Information releases: You’ll often discover this on the corporate web site. Pay particular consideration to any neighborhood occasions or associations that you simply would possibly really feel enthusiastic about as effectively.
• On-line mentions: Google the corporate or search their hashtag on social media and see what different business publications spotlight about them.
• LinkedIn: Bonus should you take the time to seek out the hiring supervisor’s LinkedIn profile and ask them related questions on their very own expertise and profession journey!
• Opinions: Take a look at what present and previous employers say and relay any positives again to the interview.

Subsequent cease? The interview.

3. Present continuity between your expertise and new position

Now for these dreaded behavioural and situational interview questions. It’s at all times a good suggestion to contemplate all your related expertise earlier than the interview and craft a story about how these experiences will serve you effectively within the subsequent position.

So, how do you first strategy a situational query like, “Inform me a few time you solved an issue”? Urquhart reminds us to account for the “why” and do your greatest to fulfill it in your response.

“What’s the true cause you assume the employer is asking this? Is that this one thing that comes up incessantly on the job? No matter it may be, use examples, ideally from newer roles, that present some continuity between the work you’ve got completed and work you’re hoping to do with this new employer.”

4. Confidence comes from preparation

Within the age of Zoom interviews, it will not essentially be apparent when you have a sheet of paper with potential interview solutions in entrance of you. Nonetheless, chances are high that you simply received’t pull the wool over an interviewer’s eyes. Why? As a result of confidence is clear — you both have it otherwise you don’t, and looking out down says you don’t.

One of the best answer to calm interview nerves is to organize. As a substitute of holding a sheet of solutions in entrance of you, give your self ample time to apply reciting these solutions. A career coach is a good useful resource to apply interviews (extra on that later). In any other case, you possibly can depend on the mirror or a detailed good friend. 

5. Be proactive and ask questions on the finish

Keep in mind, interviews aren’t a one-way road. Candidates have a possibility to seek out out extra in regards to the position and employer on the finish of the interview. Actually, employers pay shut consideration to the questions you current:

“I don’t assume we’ve ever employed somebody who wasn’t prepared with insightful questions [at the end of the interview],” says Bruce.

Some thought starters are:

• Ask the employer to elaborate on any info you present in your analysis, i.e., firm associations, product distinctive promoting propositions (USPs), work-life stability, worker occasions, and so on.

• What makes the office distinctive from different comparable firms?

• What do you [directed to the hiring manager] like probably the most about your job?

• What’s one thing your organization is actively seeking to enhance (i.e., customer support pace, worker work-life stability, technological adoption, and so on.)

Urquhart recommends a concise follow-up e-mail no ahead of 48 hours after the interview. 

Elevate Your Revenue with Credit score Canada

Confidence, interview expertise, and the artwork of resume writing are just some objects to grasp in your profession journey and the hunt for larger earnings. 

Credit score Canada has teamed up with Certainly to supply quite a lot of assets to assist you together with your profession objectives, together with profession guides (like this one!), a webinar, and even the prospect to win a profession counselling bundle valued at $470 with Certainly’s expert coaches. The prize bundle consists of profession counselling, skilled resume writing assist and a mock interview.

Learn more about how to elevate your income today!