Ah, the old job junt. What an ~ interesting ~ adventure. If you’re currently on the lookout for a new desk at a new office with a new boss, firstly – good luck, may the force be with your first impression. Secondly, it’s time you got your resume sorted.
HR teams and recruiters can be fickle beasts. They enjoy a tight submission deadline, enjoy extraordinarily difficult interview hypotheticals and often, for no reason at all, just won’t return your phone call. Not a whisper, not a word.
To avoid getting on the wrong side of your potential future employer, here’s a few should’s and should not’s when it comes to preparing your job application.
Employers genuinely do not care about these things on a resume:
Whether or not you studied online
Honestly, they only care about whether or not you actually completed your education. Most of the world right now is studying online (thanks COVID-19) so zoom classes are in and online study stigma is out. Places like CQUniversity are all about flexible learning, so hit them up if you want to tailor your study style to suit you.
Your face
Actually, for real, please stop attaching your photograph to your CV. Pics on resumes can result in discrimination (whether it’s towards you or toward another candidate) on the basis of race, age, gender or other factors. Also, some HR departments take their discrimination policies so seriously that they don’t even consider resumes with pics. So don’t risk it, leave your face off.
Your grade point average
I don’t have a single clue what my GPA was at uni and I was a delightfully annoying overachiever. No one actually cares – not even your future employer. Don’t get me wrong, you gotta do your best. Don’t like, fail subjects or anything. Just come out the other end of your uni degree with some semblance of understanding about your course material.
On the other hand, they very much do care about these things on a resume:
Your life experience
Can you prove you’re a fully-fledged adult who is capable of taking on responsibility because they’ve experienced real life situations that have made them more emotionally and socially intelligent, resilient and adaptable? Great. Add those life experiences to your resume. Recruiters are all about hiring people with a-grade soft skills (perseverance, dedication etc) so upsell yours.
Your practical skills
Employers love work experience. They love any sort of practical skills. That’s why it’s always a v. good idea to choose a university that prioritises hands-on learning and industry experience. CQUniversity is very pro work-integrated learning and YES IT IS STILL HAPPENING DURING THE PANDEMIC (safely of course). Check it out here.
Your extra-curricular activities
And no, hitting up your local kebab shop every Saturday night doesn’t count. They want to know how your life outside of work and study continues to, well, benefit your work and study. What are you passionate about? What skills are you nurturing? Do you care so much about the environment that outside of your science degree you can be found on beach clean-up duty every Saturday arvo? Or are you so dedicated to good business practices that you’re doing a Social Innovation Program for funsies?
With all this in mind, go forth and impress the recruiters. You’re primed to shine now friends. Don’t let them put your resume in the bin.
