These tools and tips have been developed to help you prepare your résumé for job postings at the municipality. While this guide will not guarantee you an interview, it will help you to market yourself more effectively. An effective résumé will draw a hiring manager’s attention to your most relevant skills and accomplishments to enable you to stand out from other applicants.
Types of résumés
When applying for a job at the municipality, chronological or functional are the best résumé formats as they allow you to quantify your experience in order to be assessed on the basis of merit.
If you are new to the workforce with limited experience, or if all of your experience is in an unrelated field, a functional resume may be a better choice.
Choose the résumé type that presents your qualifications most effectively for the job for which you are applying.
Chronological résumés
A chronological résumé focuses on your work history. It demonstrates all of your work experience, focusing on positions you’ve held, the duration of your employment, and your responsibilities and accomplishments within these positions. This is a multi-purpose résumé that works for most job applications.
A chronological résumé is organized with your most recent information first. For this type of résumé, each work experience should include:
- your position title
- place of employment
- how long you worked there (include month and year)
- a breakdown of your responsibilities or accomplishments
Functional résumés
A functional résumé focuses on your skills. It highlights the transferable skills you acquired from previous jobs, activities, experiences, or volunteer work. It’s most commonly used when you have a large gap in your employment history, have experience in an unrelated field, do not have much work experience, or have never worked before.
Information to include on a résumé
Regardless of the type of résumé you choose to write, there are three important sections that must be included:
1. Personal Information (how to contact you)
Make this the first section on every résumé. Format your name clearly at the top of your résumé and include it in a smaller font at the top of each subsequent page.
Include contact phone number(s) and an email address.
2. Education
List your education starting with the most recent and then work backwards.
Include the name of each educational institution you attended and the degree or diploma awarded.
List any other certifications you’ve received, including those for mini-courses like computer or software courses, first aid, or any other training that might be relevant to the position.
3. Skills and experience
Your résumé should clearly illustrate where you’ve worked, what you’ve learned, and how your skills and experience align with the job. For each job listed include:
- position title
- company name and location (city, province)
- dates you were employed (month, year)
- bullet points to describe your responsibilities and accomplishments for each job
Tip
Write your résumé statements as work accomplishments rather than simply stating your duties. For example, “Coordinated all training requests for the department and met organizational service standards by processing 2,400 training requests within a 24-hour turnaround” is more effective than “Coordinated training requests”.
Other relevant information for writing a résumé
Depending on the format of your résumé, there may be other job relevant information that you wish to include such as:
- additional languages you speak
- related achievements/awards
- interests or activities that say something positive about you
- your job goals